Alliance -- An OSHA Cooperative Program<< Back to Region V


 
I. Alliance Background

Date Signed         April 20, 2004

Date Renewed:   June 9, 2006

Alliance Overview

The purpose of the alliance was to use the collective education and experience of the OSHA – WOTA team to Agreement between the ExxonMobil Contractors’ Association, ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery and the OSHA’s Calumet City Area Office to improve safety performance with the "Contractor Community" at the ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery, increase participation by small contractors in the contractor safety meetings, and address hazards specific to contractor activities in the refinery by utilizing the resources of the alliance members

Implementation Team Members

Chairman of the ExxonMobil Contractors’ Association - currently Ryan Winkelman. Previous chairmen were Ralph Topete, Dan Golaszewski and Joe Winkelman

ExxonMobil Contractor Coordinator – Currently John Trammel

OSHA- Calumet City Area Office – William Coulehan

II. Implementation Team Meetings

Implementation Team Meetings were held in conjunction with the monthly ExxonMobil Contractors’ Association meetings and with separate evaluation meetings with alliance members. Most recent meetings were May 8th, 2007 and July 17, 2007.

III. Activities and Products

Evaluation Period.

This report summaries Alliance activities since June 10, 2006 through to July 30, 2007.

Alliance Activity.

Alliance Activities include presentations on:

    OSHA’s New Recordkeeping Standards,

    Hexavalent Chrome

    General Industrial Hygiene exposures during contractor activities in a refinery environment

    NFPA 70 E and arc blast / arc blast hazards

    Elements of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs.

    It should be noted that one of the participating contractors has been approved in the new VPP Program in Construction / Mobile Workforce. The process to apply to VPP began, in part, through alliance activities.

Alliance Products.

Alliance activities have been incorporated into procedures and policies for contractor activities in the refinery as opposed to the production of “stand alone” products through the alliance.

IV. Results

Initial alliance activities resulted in increased participation in the Contractors’ Association and opened channels of communication between OSHA and contractors involved with repair and maintenance activities at heavy industrial sites. Historically this has been industry group with limited contact with OSHA.
 
Type of Activity (Conference, Training, Print an Electronic Distribution, etc.) Number of Individuals
Reached or Trained
Training - Recordkeeping 55
Training – Hexavalent Chrome 45
Training – NFPA 70 E 40
Training – VPP / Safety Program 40
Training – IH issues for contractors in refineries 50
General Safety / OSHA issues during Contractor Association Meetings 90
TOTAL 320


V. Upcoming Milestones

Recent conversations with the Implementation Team and with members of the Contractors’ Association have been unable to identify new activities for the alliance to pursue. It should be noted the alliance has successfully continued through changes in refinery management and through regular changes in the leadership of the Contractors’ Association. Although the Implementation Team and participating contractors were unanimously pleased with past alliance activities and results, without new projects and areas of interest to pursue in the future it was decided not to renew the alliance at this time.

Report Prepared by: William Coulehan – OSHA Calumet City

For more information, contact the Office of Outreach Services and Alliances at 202-693-2340 or go to www.osha.gov.