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"Everyone at Westlake Chemical is intensely dedicated to protecting the health and safety of our employees and community and safeguarding our environment. We always try to be the best and it is a wonderful honor to have our efforts recognized and affirmed by this award as Best in Louisiana."
Wayne Ahrens, Westlake Chemical Plant Manager, 2016 Best in Louisiana
"I am very proud of our team's strong commitment to excellence and for achieving a second consecutive LCA Best in Louisiana SAFE Award. We all take great pride in the safety culture and safety performance at our site. Our individual and collective commitment to operational excellences means that we will continue to work safely, in a way that protects the environment, our workforce, our neighbors and the families who depend on us."
Angela H. Zeringue, Site Manager, ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Polyolefins, 2015 Best in Louisiana
SAFE is an official program of the Louisiana Chemical Association administered by the LCA Safety & Health Committee. Its mission is to:
As your facility participates each year, you and the other LCA members are creating a powerful analytic tool so you can benchmark your performance, stay safe, and become steadily safer. Our online database extends back to 1995.
The SAFE program has two valuable components – it is first a mechanism that promotes performance improvement and, secondly, it provides an annual competition with recognition opportunities available to all LCA members. At the present time, the SAFE program uses 13 criteria each year to evaluate member performance and present top achievers (by class) with either ‘Best in Louisiana’ or ‘Most Improved’ awards.
Data is shared only in aggregate (peer group mean, all-facility mean, etc.) You are the only one who can see your specific data.
Just submit this form and if your company is a current member of Louisiana Chemical Association, we'll have you and your facility up and running as a SAFE participant in no time.
A Master User can log in to a special user control form. Using this form, the Master user is able to:
If you are the only user defined for your facility, you will be set up as the "Master User."
The SAFE Program was created in the late 1990's when LCA members were under heavy attack from local and national critics, elected and appointed officials (including the governor), DEQ and the media (among others). LCA and individual companies were constantly playing "defense."
LCA's Eight Point Plan today refers to "leading the way in environmental, health and safety." Likewise, process safety is a much more established core value now than in the past. SAFE is based on a detailed review of SAFE program data and the collective judgement of member company professionals. It is intended to demonstrate the more pro-active approach adopted by LCA members. At present, the SAFE Program uses 13 criteria each year to evaluate member performance and present top achievers with either 'Best in Louisiana' or 'Most Improved' awards.
Facilities are ranked by score within their class as determined by number of full time company employees (Class I: 1-100 employees; Class II: 101-200; Class III: 201-400; and Class IV: 401+). Awards are made in each class. "BEST IN LOUISIANA" is presented to the facility with the highest total point score. "MOST IMPROVED" is presented to the facility with the largest improvement in employee and contractor injury rates.
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| Current year OSHA TRIR less than 0.25 | 1 |
| 5 point maximum reduced by the sum of OSHA TRIR for the most recent 3-years (negative becomes zero) | 5 |
Above TRIR scoring is applied separately to both full-time and resident/core contract employees.
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| Number of reportable Tier 1 PSE is equal to the best in your peer group | 2 |
| Tracking T-1, T-2, and T-3 Process Safety Events | Possible tie-breaker |
| Achievement | Points |
|---|---|
| Current year number of CERCLA reportable releases to all media is equal to or better than the prior 4-year average | 1 |
| Current year number of numerical permit limit exceedances AND/OR numerical permit discharge limits (ALL media permits combined) is equal to or better than the previous 4 year average | 1 |
| Current year TRI pounds (indexed to million pounds of salable production) released to all media (excluding off-site transfers & on- or off-site treatment) is equal to or less than your prior 4-year average | 1 |
In the event of a tie: first, we will examine PSE T-2 and/or T-3 tracking for a positive winner. If no winner is found, we will proceed to OSHA TRIR values, then explore comments for outstanding work, and finally review history of participation in SAFE and other LCA projects and committees, etc. to determine a winner.
Numerical permit limits include any hourly, daily, or annual mass or concentration limits in an air or water permit for the facility.
The number of times that any of these are exceeded in a calendar year would be what gets reported for this metric. This would include all air and water permits collectively for the facility (i.e., site-wide) as many facilities have more than one air and/or water permit.
Examples include exceedances of maximum hourly (lb/hr) air emission limits, annual (tpy) air emission limits, and maximum daily (lb/day) water discharge limits.
A Process Safety Event (PSE) is defined in the 2nd edition of American Petroleum Institute's Recommended Practice 754.
Please refer to our detailed explanation for further information and definitions of the three tiers of PSE. Do not use the old ACC-defined PSI.
SR = (total days away from work + total days restricted activity) x 200,000/(total all hours worked).