HOUSTON, February 24-During 2002, for the second year in a row, Lyondell Chemical Company and its joint venture, Equistar Chemicals, LP, set new individual plant records for employee safety performance and received the "Performance Improvement Award" for safety from the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
The ACC recognized the companies for achieving a 25 percent reduction in total recordable incident rates over the most recent five-year period. Lyondell and Equistar ended 2002 with a combined 0.52 incident rate for their 6,750 employees worldwide.
Company officials credit management commitment and employee involvement as the driving force behind the company's achievement. Mike White, vice president, Responsible Care for Lyondell, said creating a company culture that focuses on safety has been especially helpful when merging the various safety programs brought together with Lyondell's acquisition of ARCO Chemical Company and major ownership position in Equistar Chemicals, LP.
"Getting everyone on the same page when it comes to safety has required a substantial investment of time and effort, which is now showing its value," noted White. The key to our success was the formation of a Safety Management Committee made up of plant managers from across the enterprise and a few key safety managers. Working from the position that "All injuries are preventable," these managers defined our approach to achieving an injury free workplaces at all of our facilities. The progress we've made towards this goal over the past two years has been a result of their personal commitment, leadership, and involvement, which in turn worked to ensure the involvement, participation, and ownership of the entire workforce.
"We are constantly working to improve safety and environmental performance while providing gains in efficiency, reliability and product quality through our Operational Excellence program," said Jim Bayer, senior vice president, Manufacturing for Lyondell Chemical Company.
"We have many systems, policies, and procedures directed toward making sure that our workplaces are safe and reliable. In addition we have learned that you need everyone's commitment to a set of shared beliefs and principles in order to have sustained high performance. This year's record reinforces our belief that it is possible to achieve an injury free workplace."
