NORTH SALT LAKE — Safety becomes a focus as soon as you enter the grounds.

Large signs with messages such as “Safety — it’s your job for life,” and “Safety is about people, not numbers,” greet visitors and employees alike.

An introductory video at the administration building further emphasizes safety, with statements such as, “accidents don’t just happen, they are caused,” and “safety at Chevron depends on you.” The message is emphasized even further on the card employees carry with them signed by Mark E. Sullivan, refinery manager at Chevron Products Company, which reads in part, “Do it safely or not at all.”

“My number one responsibility as a manger is to run a safe, reliable and environmentally sound facility,” said Sullivan. “It permeates the way we do business.”

In light of the recent explosion at Silver Eagle refinery, Sullivan and Dan Johnson, manager of state and government affairs at Chevron, met to answer questions about those very concerns.

“When these kinds of incidents occur, it justifiably puts the spotlight on how the industry performs and how various companies perform,” said Johnson. “It’s important for people to ask questions because what’s at stake here is the health and safety of the community and our workforce.”

Regulations from OSHA, the Chemical Safety Board, the EPA and the State of Utah, are all in place, and reinforced and enhanced by the company’s own standards. There are five certified inspectors keeping an eye out on piping and pressure vessels, another three or four for the rotating equipment. There are assessment and audits, executive summaries and continual improvement plans.

“You could do a several volume discourse on safety procedures," said Mike Aston, environmental manager at Holly Oil refinery. “We have full-time inspectors whose sole purpose in life is to go through and inspect equipment and ensure its integrity. That’s all they do — make sure the pipe walls and the vessel walls are thick enough to contain the material in them.” There are numerous other safeguards, he said, as extensive as “the vocabulary in Webster’s dictionary.”

Joel Elstein, refinery manager at Flying J/Big West refinery, said the safety incentives are not just followed to meet standards, but to ensure the safety of the 145 people who work there.

“We spend a lot of time focusing on the behavior of employees and the equipment and facilities,” said Chevron’s Johnson. “We really attempt to operate our system to the highest standards – and it starts with our employees.

“We train ourselves to be able to handle any situation,” said Johnson, who emphasized the large buffer zones around the plant, the fact that it has its own fire department, and the many upgrades and improvements over the years.

“Upsets can occur,” he said. “It’s all about breaking molecules and producing petroleum products for jet planes, cars and trucks. It’s highly technical but we have a lot of well-trained, qualified people who continually maintain and observe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”



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