 |
| Koch
Nitrogen Company operates this facility in Enid, Okla., which produces free ammonia, UAN and
urea. |
|
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| At its bulk-loading terminals, Koch
Carbon can load and unload ocean vessels, barges, rail cars and trucks and can also blend, dry,
screen or crush material for customers. This facility, located near Chicago on the Calumet
River, has more than 1 million tons of storage capacity and handles 4.5 million tons of cargo each
year, including various grades of coal and petroleum coke, as well as gypsum, salt, fertilizer
and other dry bulk materials. |
Partnership Overview:
In the fall of 2001, Koch Industries, Inc. approached OSHA about expanding its relationship through
a Partnership Agreement between certain Koch companies and OSHA. The Partnership Agreement was
established in January 2003 and subsequently renewed in March 2006. This Partnership facilitates the
relationship by communicating the commitment to develop strong EHS management systems and to strive
toward workplace safety and health excellence. Koch’s partnership sites allow OSHA to reach out to a
diverse industry spectrum and to impact safety and health in a meaningful way. The lessons learned
from the partnership site participation will be used to further impact health and safety globally at
all Koch company sites.
Partnership Goals and Objectives:
- Prevent and reduce employee injuries and illnesses
- Develop baseline data
- Use EHS Management System to develop management practices for various health and safety hazards
- Review injury and illness information, identify causal factors, and implement fixes
- Expand awareness of the value of EHS management systems
- Identify opportunities for management and staff to participate in site EHS management system
implementation
- Highlight successes to emphasize value of safety and health
- Recognize sites that improve their EHS management systems or develop innovative approaches
- Enhance ergonomic program management
- Integrate ergonomic principles into existing EHS management system programs
- Establish systems that identify ergonomic risk factors, evaluate and control ergonomic risk, and
share best practices in ergonomic program management
- Improve communication and knowledge sharing between OSHA and Koch
- Enhance local relations between OSHA and Koch
- Share best practices and lessons learned
- Identify at least two case studies that advance the knowledge of the practical implementation and
impact of EHS management systems
- Attend and network at conferences
- Increase VPP participation
- Identify potential VPP sites
- Seek mentors for facilitation of VPP application
- Use tools such as OSHA Challenge to track sites’ progresses to VPP participation
- Increase participation in SGE program
- Enhance contractor safety
- Share and encourage use of information about best practices in EHS management systems (i.e., OSHA
e-tools or small business publications) with Koch company contractors
- Develop site training for contractors as appropriate
Partnership Results:
In 2005, the partnership completed its third successful year. First, the partnership made strides
towards its main goal, the prevention and reduction of employee injuries and illnesses. Its sites
continued to outperform their respective industry average injury and illness rates. While there was
a 7% increase in the overall one-year Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR), from 2.6 in 2004 to 2.8, the
Days Away, Restricted, and/or Transferred Case Incident Rates (DART) decreased 24% to 1.3 from
2004’s 1.5. The increase in the TCIR is attributed to the fact that the partnership had 12 sites
with excellent rates leaving the partnership due to divestiture and adding on two more sites that
had above-average rates. OSHA does not see a problem with the increase in the year to year TCIR rate
and fully expects, with past performance as an indicator, that the rate will decrease as a result of
current and future partnership efforts.
Despite the increase in the TCIR, an analysis of the facilities’ rates and their respective BLS
industry averages shows the partnerships’ TCIR and DART, both for 2005 and its three-year averages
(2003-2005), outperforming their respective industry counterparts.
- 2005 TCIR: In 2005, the partnership achieved a TCIR average of 2.8
- 17% above the preceding year’s
- 7% below the baseline of 2.99
- Compared against the national BLS averages, the partnership performed 19% below their industry
counterparts
- 2005 DART: In 2005, the partnership achieved a DART rate of 1.3
- 14% below the preceding year’s
- 19% below the baseline rate of 1.6
- Compared against the national BLS averages, the partnership performed 3% below their industry
counterparts
- 2003-2005 TCIR: For the 3-year average, the partnership achieved a TCIR rate of 2.9
- 4% below the baseline rate of 3.0
- Compared against the national BLS averages, the partnership performed 1% below their industry
counterparts
- 2003-2005 DART: For the 3-year average, the partnership achieved a DART rate of 1.2
- 25% below the baseline rate of 1.6
- Compared against the national BLS averages, the partnership performed 2% below their industry
counterparts on the average
Other notable events and achievements of the Koch Industries National Partnership
in 2005 include:
- Field Ergonomic Guide Published
- OSHA/Koch collaboration addresses partnership goal of reducing ergonomic-based injuries which
comprise a majority of the injuries partnership-wide
- Partnership-wide distribution planned for 2006
- Contractor Safety Training Provided by Industry and OSHA representatives in March 2005
- VPP Activity
- Koch Carbon facility in Corpus Christi, Texas achieved VPP Star Status
- C. Reiss coal terminal submitted their VPP application and had their on-site assessment
- Koch Nitrogen facility in Enid, Oklahoma conducted their first VPP gap assessment
- Divestitures of partnership sites
- 12 partnership sites were sold in two separate sales
- 2 Koch Nitrogen sites were added
- Partnership Management Team is continuing to identify additional sites for participation in the
partnership
Field Ergonomic Guide Published
By looking at the data from this year and the years past, the majority of injuries and illnesses
were associated with ergonomics and walking/working surfaces. To address this, one of the
partnership’s objectives in achieving the partnership goal of reducing ergonomic injuries was to
publish and implement a field ergonomic guide. The ergonomic task force, which was formed by the PMT
in late 2004, met this goal by publishing a draft version and working with one of the newest
partnership sites – the KNC Beatrice, NE ammonia plant – to get feedback on its effectiveness.
Training was provided to the plant’s safety team who then began using the guide to help identify
ergonomic risk factors. The safety team provided suggested improvements, which the task force
incorporated into the guide. The PMT plans to roll out the new version of the ergonomic field guide
to all partnership sites in 2006. The publication of the guide shows the goal of improved
communication and knowledge sharing between OSHA and Koch being met.
Contractor Safety
One partnership objective focused on enhancing contractor safety. This involved providing training
to both partnership and non-partnership site representatives in best practices in contractor safety.
The committee successfully conducted a training session in March 2005 that involved subject matter
experts in contractor safety from OSHA, Koch, and Monsanto. Training was conducted using Video
Teleconferencing technology at Koch’s Washington D.C. and Wichita offices. The event was well
received by all attendees. This effort demonstrates a spirit of cooperation not only between Koch
and between OSHA but between other industry safety leaders as well. Later in the year, Koch Minerals
Services established a team that specifically focused on making improvements in their contractor
program across all their sites. The contractor safety training session shows improved communication
and knowledge sharing between OSHA and Koch as well as the increased awareness of the value of EHS
management systems, both of which are two of the partnership’s goals.
VPP Activity
VPP participation remained a major objective of the PMT in 2005. One partnership site achieved VPP
recognition and several sites were actively working toward VPP participation, with assistance from
the PMT. Addressing the goal, the partnership achieved the following:
- Koch Carbon’s Petroleum Coke facility in Corpus Christi, TX achieved VPP STAR status.
- C. Reiss coal terminal in Green Bay, WI submitted their application and had their on-site
assessment
- Koch Nitrogen’s facility in Enid, OK conducted their first “VPP gap assessment” and started
working with a Region VI OSHA compliance assistance specialist
One of the objectives to increase VPP participation was to have the sites improve their baseline
assessment scores. The PMT agreed that instead of focusing mainly on the scores, the facilities
should instead focus more on opportunities for improvement in areas where improvements are needed
based on their current risk profiles.
Divestitures and Additions to the Partnership
Due to the divestiture activities by partnering Koch companies, twelve facilities left the
partnership in 2005. Divested partnership sites include:
- Three Koch Hydrocarbon, LP facilities: Medford, OK; Hutchinson, KS; and Conway, KS
- One Koch Hydrocarbon Southwest, LLC facility: Mont Belvieu, TX
- Eight Koch Materials Company facilities: Billings, MT; Boise, ID; Catoosa, OK; Dodge City, KS;
Garden City, GA; Gloucester, NJ; Reading, PA and Saginaw, TX.
Responding to the departures, the PMT agreed to add two Koch Nitrogen Company sites, Dodge City, KS
and Beatrice, NE to the partnership. Furthermore, the PMT also began working with other Koch
companies to identify opportunities for adding additional sites to the partnership or to encourage
involvement in other cooperative programs such as OSHA Challenge or VPP Corporate. One of these
companies, Koch Pipeline, chose to pursue involvement in the OSHA VPP Corporate Program as a way of
getting their sites into VPP. The partnership management team anticipates working with other Koch
companies in 2006 to identify opportunities for involvement in the strategic partnership or some
other type of cooperative OSHA program.
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