Advancing Worker Safety
Jessica Lutz
Posted February 6, 2019
Earlier this week, API President and CEO Mike Sommers and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey announced the start of new training courses on pipeline construction safety in West Virginia, Ohio and California as part of a groundbreaking partnership that was launched less than a year ago.
If you ever have the chance to visit an industry company’s production site, field office or corporate headquarters you would be hard-pressed to overlook how safety is integrated into everything that industry does, from daily processes and routines to plans, preparations – and yes, training programs.
Sommers:
“Safety remains the number one priority for the natural gas and oil industry and we are constantly striving to do more to reach zero incidents – starting with the construction of pipelines and finishing with the delivery of energy to U.S. consumers. The training programs we’re collaborating on are the foundation of our mutual priorities of safety, job growth and economic opportunity for American workers.
“The benefits of America’s energy revolution are built upon the hard work of highly skilled craft tradesmen and women across the nation – and it’s our priority to cultivate a culture of safety for them. Together, we have brought about an American energy revolution that has delivered positive change to America’s workers, consumers and the environment.”
API and NABTU launched the Pipeline Construction Safety Training Program last April, combining the best practices of both the natural gas and oil industry and the building trades unions to establish a program that is relevant to all construction of natural gas and oil infrastructure. This program is one of many successful initiatives that continues industry’s long-standing commitment to worker safety, and contributes to the continued decline in industry’s incidence rate of occupational injuries and illnesses – a rate significantly lower than the rate for the rest of the U.S. private sector.
Sommers:
“Our organizations represent the safest, best-trained, skilled workers out there, and these training programs we’re rolling out help make sure those workers can take full advantage of energy infrastructure opportunities. One-third of today’s construction industry workforce is employed on natural gas and oil projects. With these training courses, that commitment to safety and environmental stewardship starts even before we break ground; it starts in the training process.
“These courses, and the collaborative commitment to safety behind them, is just more indication that energy production and infrastructure development are compatible with environmental progress, and with safe, thriving communities.”
About The Author
Jessica Lutz is a writer for the American Petroleum Institute. Jessica joined API after 10+ years leading the in-house marketing and communications for non-profits and trade associations. A Michigan native, Jessica graduated from The University of Michigan with degrees in Communications and Political Science. She resides in London, and spends most of her free time trying to keep up with her energetic Giant Schnauzer, Jackson.