Oct. 13, 2003 — Every year Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducts a recordable-injury rate survey, which documents the number of persons injured per 200,000 per year, among the nation's oil refineries.
According to Hovensa's newly arrived Vice President of Environmental Health and Safety Richard Smullen, last year Hovensa ranked No.16 in national safety rankings according to OSHA's records. This year however, they have moved up to No. 4.
On Friday, in the auditorium of the refinery, a brief ceremony awarded those that lived up to the safety standard. The refinery's Area 3 , an operations area that has crude and treatment units and is very high-risk, was given the Presidential Award in honor of five years of no recorded injuries. Area manager Chris Smith and supervisor Attley Marshall accepted the award for their division.
Every quarter Hovensa acknowledges employee's achievements with a ceremony. In an atmosphere of camaraderie and healthy competition, the employees of the units with no injuries are eligible for gift certificates of $100 to any of the 15 participating restaurants on the island. There are door prizes and even those who are working and cannot attend the ceremony are eligible. Hovensa, on a whole, had gone 75 days as of Friday with no injuries, according to Smullen.
Smullen, who has been at Hovensa for a month, said he intends to push the refinery to No. 1 on OSHA's list as he did at Lyondell-CITGO Refining Co. LLP, where he was previously employed as the environmental health and safety manager in Houston. Now at No. 1, the Tulsa-based CITGO is owned by PDV America Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Hovensa's Venezuelan oil producing partner Petroleos Venezuela S.A.
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