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Governor’s Safety awards presented; most go to oil industry firms
Petroleum News Alaska
Air Logistics of Alaska Inc. has received one of eleven Governor’s Safety Awards of Excellence for completing eleven consecutive years without an accident.
The Fairbanks-based helicopter operator received the award for 2001 at a March 20 luncheon in Anchorage.
Air Logistics, which provides contract and charter transportation services, has had an injury rate of 0.25 per 100,000 flying hours since it was established in 1977. The industry average is 30 times that figure. The company flies in Alaska’s challenging weather from bases in Deadhorse, Valdez, and Anchorage, as well as Fairbanks.
The company received the same award for 1998 and 2000, plus a Governor’s Special Recognition Award for 1998 and 1999. Contractors recognized Contractors for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. won awards across the spectrum, and awards also went to major oil companies operating in the state, as well as service firms.
Davis Constructors won an award for its safe work on a new office building at Alyeska’s Valdez Marine Terminal. The building was the first major facility of its type since the original buildings were completed prior to pipeline startup in 1977.
Davis had to blast a large boulder close to the pipeline itself, and deal with poor soil conditions, but managed 34,100 hours worked without a lost time accident or requirement for first aid. There was only one restricted duty case for one day during the whole job.
Peak Oilfield Service Co. was another recipient of a safety award for its Valdez Marine Terminal work.
Peak’s work is some of the most dangerous at the terminal. It includes cleaning tanks, pipes and sumps, which means working with dangerous vapors, cramped conditions, and harsh weather.
But the Industrial Services Division project team led by Dick Dore and John Savage has had no lost time accidents in more than 400,000 hours of tank and pipe cleaning jobs over nearly 10 years. Two awards to VECO Two departments of VECO Alaska Inc. that work on pipeline-related work were honored jointly for their safety achievements. The units receiving the Governor’s Safety Awards were the engineering department and the fabrication shop for the pipeline.
Company managers set new safety standards several years ago for the fabrication shop after safety problems surfaced, asking employees to come forward with suggestions and setting safety as the number one goal.
In February, VECO’s engineering department reached an impressive mark of 3 million hours without a lost time accident over more than eight years.
The department provides engineering design and related services for maintenance and improvements for the 800-mile line.
With security issues coming to the forefront in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the work of Doyon Universal Services’ security team is getting more attention, and that unit received another safety award. Doyon works hard to keep workers looking out for each other in the challenging job, and the team has cut lost work days by 76 percent. Incidents and near misses have been communicated all along the pipeline and to other Doyon security teams to boost safety. North Slope awards Heading to the North Slope, the Prudhoe Bay Group of Norcon Alaska Inc. was honored for a significant reduction in accident frequency and seriousness.
The group cut is lost time injuries from a rate of 3.6 in 1999 to zero in 2000. That came as workers at every level got involved in the safety program, bringing Norcon’s safety record well below the level for the industry nationwide.
Baker Hughes Alaska got a safety award for work at two of its subsidiaries, Baker Hughes Inteq and Baker Hughes Centrilift. The Centrilift unit reached a milestone of seven years without a lost time injury, auto accident or recordable environmental incident, while Baker Hughes Inteq Alaska hit two years without a lost time injury or recordable environmental incident. Those achievements came under a company program designed specifically for Alaska that emphasizes safety as the foremost concern.
Schlumberger Oilfield Services received a safety award for the company’s reduction in motor vehicle accidents through a driver safety program that was extended to include subcontractors and spouses. Schlumberger also set up loss prevention teams to identify workplace hazards.
The laboratory quality control team at the Williams Alaska refinery in North Pole got an award for an outstanding safety record stretching back more than five years with no lost work days or workers’ compensation claims. BP receives HSE award BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. rounded out the awards for the oil industry with one for its improvement in HSE performance over the last three years.
The achievement came from more thorough orientation for new employees on safety issues, mentoring by senior workers, and performance improvement plans. There has also been an effort to align HSE programs across the North Slope with BP working with Phillips and Alyeska Pipeline to complete the Alaska Safety Handbook.
Outside the oil industry, a safety award went to Alcan General Inc. for its outstanding safety record on completing the Rabinowitz Courthouse in Anchorage, the Teeland Middle School in Wasilla and its current work on the new Dimond High School in Anchorage. The middle school and courthouse projects were completed with no lost time injuries.
A special award was presented to Melody Larson, who works as the Adopt-A-Highway coordinator for the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Larson received the Governor’s Special Achievement Award for producing a 10-minute safety video for volunteers who pick up trash along the roadway. She produced the video with a budget of just $3,000, saving the state thousands of dollars.
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