We were thrilled to announce the winners of UPA’s inaugural Environmental and Safety Awards at our annual meeting on March 25th. And we are pleased to present them here:
Environmental Leadership Awards
The Environmental Leadership Award went to Rachel Agnew and the Chevron team for their air action telework program. Beginning in May 2021, the Chevron Salt Lake Refinery implemented a program, “Air Action Telework,” to encourage employees to telework on bad air quality days. Air quality is a particularly important issue in Utah, and the Chevron Refinery is committed to doing their part to support cleaner air. The aim of the program is to reduce vehicle-related emissions in line with State of Utah recommendations. When the state forecasts a Mandatory Action Day, the program applies, and employees are encouraged not to drive that day. Chevron conducted an employee survey in November to learn what employees thought of the program and they received overwhelmingly positive results, including folks asking for additional tips to improve air quality. Even more, 98% of respondents are telling family and friends about the program. Congratulations, Rachel, and thank you Chevron!
Our second Environmental Leadership Award was a joint accolade going to Jerry Dismukes and Ron Allred from Caerus for their efforts to identify leaks and lower emissions. Ron, Jerry, and their colleagues have piloted two projects aimed at lowering methane and VOC emissions. The first is using air skids on production locations to replace gas-pneumatics associated with traditional separators. The second is solar-power pumps that can replace chemical- and heat-traced pumps traditionally run off gas actuation. The anticipated benefits from these projects are multi-faceted and have large implications in the non-attainment area, including a dramatic reduction in both methane and VOC emissions on a per pad basis, fewer LDAR components to monitor, a reduction in maintenance needs, and all with a payout in well under a year. Congratulations, Jerry, Ron and Caerus!
Safety Action Award
Congratulations to Berry Petroleum’s Utah Operations Team for winning the Safety Action Awards for their work on the revised Winter Tire Program. In early 2020, Berry’s Chief Operations Officer challenged Berry’s Health and Safety Team to reduce their overall rate of motor vehicle accidents (MVAs). As the team reviewed vehicle-related incident data, the research showed that the majority of MVAs in Berry’s Utah asset occurred during the winter months – specifically, 75% of accidents occurred in the winter months and of those, 36% over the last five years were related to traction issues. In late 2020, all field vehicles were fitted with studded snow tires from October to April. Preliminary results indicate an overall reduction in incidents: Vehicle Incident Rates (VIRs) for Berry’s Utah Asset are down 75% over the last year even though exposure (24,000 miles per driver) remained relatively flat year over year. An added bonus is a cost-savings of approximately $36,000 due to reduced vehicle claims. Great work!
Step Change in Safety Award
The Step Change in Safety Award goes to Pro Industrial for the development of their Tagin Tech system and the SATELLITE and EVAC technology which use cloud-based systems in the event of an evacuation to provide first responders real time information for rescue decision-making. Tagin Tech has significantly reduced the time and error in human generated muster reports and works with facility badging and security systems that prevent unwanted individuals from entering to also track who exists under an evacuation scenario. Congratulations on your safety innovation!
