Pushing for reciprocal standards: safety veteran looks for ways to better assess contractors working in one of the most risk-prone cities in America.

Texas City holds the dubious distinction of the being the only city in American history ever to be destroyed by an industrial disaster. On April 16, 1947, a chain reaction of explosions killed 500 people and injured more than 1,000. Most of the city was either flattened or burned. Property damage was $125 million in 1947 dollars.

Texas City was rebuilt, and remains a center of the oil and chemical industry. Process safety has come a long way in 60 years, but one factor has resisted advanced solutions. Refineries and chemical plants need few workers during normal operations, but many hundreds during scheduled maintenance "turnarounds."

Certifying that all those workers are properly trained and free of criminal records or drug and alcohol abuse is a low-tech problem that has eluded high-tech answers until R. Ronald Sokol, executive director of the Contractors Safety Council of Texas City, led the effort to develop the Contractor Assurance Process.

There are several innovations in the CAP. One is that every subcontractor coming onto the plant site is registered on its own, rather than by the general contractor as has often been the case. "That way you end up with a sub of a sub of a sub," said Sokol. "Under CAP everyone is on their own." Contractor certification is the cornerstone of the five-point program. The others are worker fitness for duty, owner requirements, safety training, and craft skill assessment.

"Contractors always say they can handle any project," said Sokol. "CAP allows the owner to assess contractors based on the quantified and qualified data in the system. Next it allows the owner and the contractor to access the OSHA requirements for a job. It also allows owners to adjust the system appropriate to the level of risk." Auditors verify that a contractor is in compliance. The audits are valid for three years, and are accepted by all owners in the CAP. National Compliance Management Systems of Hutchinson, Ran., handles the audits. The National Center for Construction Education & Research of Gainesville, Fla., handles the craft skill assessment. The Contractors Council hopes to be able to license the supporting software by early 2009.

Sokol credits the pilot program to the Amoco refinery in Texas City. At one time it was the largest in the country. "But it was too much for one company to keep up." Sokol convinced seven other plants in the area to participate in a scale-up of the program, and commit to reciprocal certifications. Two other safety councils also participated in an affiliation called the Contractor Safety Association.

Amoco is now part of BE and Tom Williams project safety manager for the refiner credits Sokol with "dealing with a recurring issue at the point of entry. CAP makes it easy for contractors and gives us a significant level of risk reduction." While many process plants are self-insured, said Williams, CAP has been a factor for contractors' workers' comp. "Carriers have definitely seen the benefit, and premiums are lower for the participating contractors," he said.

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Two years ago the BP refinery suffered a major fire that killed 15 workers and injured another 180 people, both employees and contractors. Federal investigators found that contractors were in no way responsible for the accident.

Cookie McKee, administrator for the Cleveland, Texas-based Association of Reciprocal Safety Councils, recalled previous attempts, all unsuccessful, to instill standards on subcontractors. Yet Sokol never wavered, McKee said, even when people told him that he would never get plant owners to agree on reciprocal standards for contractors.

"Today there are 15 signatory safety councils across the country, and our training curriculum is taught at 38 locations," she said. "Insurance companies should love that because the process is a known quantity."