IMPROVED CONTRACTOR SAFETY TRAINING URGED

A study has urged the U.S. petrochemical industry and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to improve the safety training of contract workers at refineries and chemical plants.

The John Gray Institute, a component of Lamar University, Beaumont, Tex., prepared the study under a $1.3 million grant from OSHA. The agency plans to submit the study to a peer review process that will take 6 weeks.

The study was commissioned after an Oct. 23, 1989, explosion and fire at the Phillips 66 chemical complex in Pasadena, Tex., killed 23 persons, including four contract workers, and injured 232 others.

Reps. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.) and Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) urged President Bush immediately to implement the study's prime recommendation that the government form a national task force to improve workplace safety and health in the petrochemical industry.

The study also recommended that OSHA improve its data collection on petrochemical plant safety, establish and implement safety and health training standards for all petrochemical industry employees, and require plant management to assume responsibility for the safety and health of all workers-direct hire and contract-at the work site.

OSHA noted it is preparing a rule requiring thorough safety management programs for the petrochemical industry. Hearings were held on the standard last February, and the agency expects to issue a final rule by Nov. 15.

It also is conducting a special emphasis program on safety in the petrochemical industry, including targeted inspections, consultation programs, and training and outreach on worker protection.

DATA INSUFFICIENT

The John Gray study collected data from four sources: a national survey of plant managers, nine plant level case studies, a survey of 600 direct hire workers and 600 contract workers, and a survey of 300 contracting firms.

It found the petrochemical industry's injury and incident data were incomplete because they do not include the experiences of contract workers.

"Moreover," it said, "the existing injury reporting system does not provide an adequate data base for capturing those events that are most proximate to events that may lead to catastrophic accidents such as near misses, fire, and explosions that do not result in on the job injuries.

"Existing data are not adequate to support analyses of root causes of incidents at the plant level and, therefore, are of limited value for preventive or problem solving purposes."

The study found contract workers account for 32% of the work hours performed during nonturnaround periods and 54% of the work hours during turnarounds.

It said 73% of direct hire workers and 61% of contract workers have regular contact with one another in their workplaces.

"There is, however, wide variability in the use of contractors across plants and across work activities," the study said. "In the case studies, for example, contract workers comprised from as low as 9% to as much as 44% of the work force during nonturnaround periods.

"In the average plant, contract workers account for 50% of the work hours performed in major renovation activities, 37% of the work hours in turnarounds, 22% in maintenance and repair, 40% in specialty work, and 9% in operations."

The study found during the past 5 years the use of contract workers has increased 19% in renovation, 14% in turnarounds, 3% in maintenance, and 20% in specialty work, and dropped 7% in operations.

"The contract workers are, on average, younger, less educated, less experienced in the petrochemical industry and with their employer, lower paid, and more likely to be of Hispanic origin.

"The case studies also found that contract workers are more likely to have English language or communications difficulties. Contract workers also receive less safety training than direct hire workers, are less likely to be unionized or covered by a labor-management safety and health committee, and less likely to participate in safety discussions with others on their work site."

SAFETY MANAGEMENT

Plant managers reported that 38% of employees in the industry work in plants that have no formal procedure for considering safety in the contractor selection process.

Among contractors, 34% said they submit information on their safety and health programs as part of the selection process, 40% submit OSHA injury statistics, and 63% submit workers compensation experience modification rate statistics.

"Larger plants and contractors bidding on larger projects were more likely to include these data in the selection process than smaller plants or bids on smaller projects."

Data from all sources showed that, on average, contract workers receive less safety training than direct hire workers. This finding applies to prework or initial training and annual safety training.

It said workers with different levels of risk exposure require different levels of safety training.

However, contract workers were found to be performing some of the more risky and hazardous work in these plants, such as renovation, turnaround, and maintenance. And the training contract workers receive is less effective in reducing the probability of injury than the training received by direct hire workers.

The report said, "The highly adversarial and traditional nature of labor relations observed in this industry serves to limit the potential for constructive negotiations and problem solving on safety and health issues.

"Moreover, the traditions built into the U.S. labor relations system inhibit problem solving across the boundary of the employer and employee organizations that represent direct hire employees and contract workers in the union and nonunion sector.

"At the plant level, the same separation of labor relations from safety and health issues impedes direct and open discussion of decisions surrounding the use of contract workers and perpetuates a climate of uncertainty, distrust, and lack of communication, particularly in unionized plants."

The study said labor/management committees have been the traditional vehicles to give employees a voice in safety issues, and plants with such a committee have lower direct hire injury rates.

OTHER FINDINGS

The study found direct hire employment in the case study industries fell from 165,200 workers in 1979 to 118,100 in 1989.

In the nine case studies, contract workers made up an average 37% of the hourly employee population. In two of the plants they outnumbered direct hire employees, accounting for 57% and 54%, respectively, of the total workforce.

The report found 32% of contract workers are 29 years old or younger, compared with only 7% of direct hire employees.

It said 21 % of contract workers did not have a high school education, compared with only 4% of direct hire. And 26% of contract workers had some college education, compared with 39% of direct hire employees.

The report found 45% of contract workers have 5 or fewer years of experience in the industry, compared with 16% for direct hire workers. Workers with less experience are considered to be the ones most vulnerable to occupational injuries.

It said 18% of contract workers have been with current employers less than 1 year, compared with only 4% of direct hire employees. And 10% of contract workers have been with current employers more than 10 years vs. 53% of direct hire workers.

Among contractors, 76% said responsibility for on site safety and health training rests mainly with them.

Asked about their accidents and injury experiences at work sites in 1989, 16% of direct hire employees and 20% of contract employees needed on the job first aid for an injury, 9% of direct hire and 15% of contract had an injury that required a doctor's attention, and 7% of direct hire and 10% of contract workers had an injury that resulted in lost time or light duty.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.