07.19.19
The Plano, Texas office of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP's Performance Pipe division earned Start Site designation by the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the company announced.
All 18 of the company’s eligible U.S. locations now hold the highest VPP certification for maintaining among the industry’s lowest recordable incident rates.
OSHA presented Performance Pipe’s Plano office with its VPP Star certificate during a celebration held on-site. The company is one of North America’s largest polyethylene pipe producers. Between its manufacturing and administrative operations, Performance Pipe far outperforms national averages for the pipe-fitting sector when it comes to RIR, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show.
“We congratulate Plano for achieving VPP Star status and advancing Our Journey to Zero initiative to maintain top safety results as a company,” said Kate Holzhauser, VP of environment, health, safety and security. “Thanks to them, we are now one of a handful of U.S. private employers with all eligible sites VPP Star certified. This remarkable achievement reflects our relentless focus on safety performance and reinforces one of the main goals of our operational excellence strategy: Eliminate high-severity/high-potential process and personnel safety events.”
As detailed in its latest sustainability report, Chevron Phillips Chemical set record low combined employee and contractor RIR for five consecutive years across its U.S. operations. Its 2018 performance was a 29 percent improvement from 2017. Performance Pipe’s Plano office has operated for 13 consecutive years without a recordable injury. The accomplishment exemplifies the qualities OSHA seeks for designating its highest VPP certification. Companies vying for the distinct Star status must exceed minimum OSHA standards and continue to develop improvement programs.
“As a VPP Star Site, our Plano office has undergone a transformational effort to engage employees through diverse safety tools that raise general safety awareness,” said Mike Zeglin, Performance Pipe GM and president. “I could not be prouder of their hard work and enthusiasm to reach this outstanding goal to keep our people, contractors and neighboring community safe.”
OSHA introduced VPP in 1982 to promote effective safety and health initiatives in the workplace. VPP Star site recognition is OSHA’s topmost honor for exemplary worksites with comprehensive, successful safety and health systems. Companies who earn this distinction rank at or below their respective industries’ national average for injury and illness rates.
Among its most recent safety accolades, Chevron Phillips Chemical received 21 safety awards from the Texas Chemical Council for 2018 performance. Chevron Phillips Chemical also is the 2019 recipient of ACC’s Responsible Care Initiative of the Year Award for its "Our Journey to Zero" initiative.
Further, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers celebrated five Chevron Phillips Chemical plants in Texas with the 2018 Elite Silver Safety Award. The latter recognizes the nation’s top five percent of refining and petrochemical manufacturing centers when it comes to personnel and process safety performance.
