Oxy Promotes Road Safety in Oman

Oxy Oman participates in the Oman Road Safety Exhibition, an annual event to raise awareness and educate schoolchildren about road safety. Oxy sponsored the 2011 Exhibition, which drew more than 40,000 visitors. The company hosted an interactive display that provided information on how to reduce traffic accidents, and distributed colorful booklets, puzzles, table calendars and playing cards illustrating principles of road safety. The Royal Oman Police praised Oxy’s playing cards as one of the most creative ways of communicating these important messages to the general public.

Unsafe driving is a significant concern in Oman, where in 2011 traffic accidents resulted in the loss of more than 1,000 lives, as well as thousands of injuries. The issue affects almost every family in Oman, including some Oxy employees and contractors.

Following the successful Exhibition, several schools requested additional supplies of the educational materials, and Oxy continues to distribute them to schools as part of the company’s effort to promote road safety in Oman.

Saving Lives with the American Red Cross

In 2011, Occidental of Elk Hills teamed up with the American Red Cross (ARC) for its annual Super CPR event, which offered free adult and infant CPR training to the greater Bakersfield community. Oxy is proud to be a gold corporate sponsor of the ARC’s Kern Chapter and contributed to the Super CPR event with both monetary donations and employee volunteer time.

Since its inception in 2005, the program has trained thousands of people in CPR, with classes offered in both English and Spanish. With Oxy’s support and the efforts of about 100 volunteers and instructors, the 2011 Super CPR event enabled nearly 700 individuals to acquire life-saving skills at this day-long event.

Sustaining Our Safety Culture

In addition to providing high-quality training, Oxy also encourages innovation to reinforce our culture of safety. For example, Oxy Permian supplements the company safety training with an array of customized activities, as part of a program that was updated in 2010.

“People Observing Work for Risk Reduction,” also known as Enhanced Power2, teaches behavior-based safety observation in order to reinforce effective safety habits and encourage peer support and accountability. Participants learn to identify and document situations and behavioral factors that either pose, or reduce, a safety risk. The resulting feedback is continuously analyzed for trends and drives future training.

Targeting managers and supervisors in the employee and contractor ranks, Oxy Permian offers an intensive two-day program on “Essentials of Safety Leadership Training.” The course, developed with outside safety experts, blends conceptual content with practical breakout sessions. More than 1,000 Oxy Permian staff and contractors have participated in the program over the past two years.

Oxy Permian employees created a web-based “Safety Toolbox” to share information, video lessons and performance metrics. In addition, to further encourage participation, employees have established a recognition program to acknowledge colleagues for innovative projects such as the development of a well control simulator. The program also recognized similar projects submitted by 15 contractor service companies in 2010.

Oxy Permian’s safety culture gets an additional boost from a 24-hour video surveillance well-monitoring system that already covers 75 percent of Permian’s workover rigs. Instruments monitor wind speed and direction, temperature and alarms, and cameras allow personnel in Midland and Houston control rooms to coordinate with workers in real time. Further deployment of this system is ongoing.

Picture: From a control room in Midland, Texas, Oxy Permian personnel can monitor activity at workover rigs throughout the business unit.

Oxy Colombia Program Encourages Workers to BE-SAFE

Oxy Colombia’s Health, Environment and Safety department uses a behavior-based program to reinforce safe work practices and prevent unsafe behaviors. The Behavior-Based Safety Program, known as BE-SAFE or Asegúrate, teaches employees and contractors to be active observers and safety promoters. These specially trained personnel engage with fellow employees and contractors to provide positive, peer-to-peer feedback on safe work practices. In 2010, 447 Oxy Colombia employees and contractors served as BE-SAFE advocates after three days of training on safe work practices, effective communication and positive feedback.

Based on the methodology of the Behavioral Science Technology Institute and modified for Oxy Colombia, the BE-SAFE program has had consistently positive results. In 2010, for example, Oxy Colombia’s operation in Llanos Norte achieved the lowest accident rate for contractors in its history.

Mid-Continent Employees Go the Distance for the American Cancer Society

Employees of Oxy’s Mid-Continent business unit participated in the 2010 American Cancer Society Relay for Life, a 5K walk in Grand Junction, Colorado. As in recent years, Oxy personnel participated in the event and also assisted with its organization. Employees and their families hosted monthly potluck planning dinners to boost participation, and worked with local event planners and sponsors. The 2010 Relay for Life raised more than $220,000 in total to support the American Cancer Society’s work in fighting cancer through research, education, advocacy and assistance to cancer patients and their families.

The Mukhaizna Clinic: Vital Regional Resource

The Mukhaizna Clinic is one of the primary means by which Occidental of Oman demonstrates its commitment to the well-being and social welfare of its workforce, neighboring communities and the nation of Oman.

Oxy Oman opened the clinic on September 1, 2005, as a healthcare facility for our personnel working at the nearby Mukhaizna Field. Today, in addition to Oxy employees, contractors and their families, the Mukhaizna Clinic offers its full complement of services and care to local residents.

With the nearest government clinic approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) away, area residents are taking advantage of the Mukhaizna Clinic’s proximity and wide range of services. The number of community patients multiplied almost 10-fold between 2005 and 2010. In total, nearly 27,000 people — including 1,865 from surrounding communities — have received care since the clinic opened.

After passing through the welcoming entrance, patients find a waiting room, a doctor’s office, an emergency room and an additional treatment room. The clinic is equipped to handle everything from routine doctor visits to emergency operations.

Thriving production at the Mukhaizna Field and area population growth make our Mukhaizna Clinic a vital regional resource — not only for providing urgent medical care, but also in promoting safety and wellness in the workplace and the broader community.

OxyChem Partners with Children’s Medical Center

OxyChem is an ongoing supporter of Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, one of the nation’s largest private, not-for-profit pediatric healthcare providers. Through 2010, OxyChem’s cumulative donations to Children’s Medical Center to facilitate patient care and research totaled $250,000. Patient care at Children’s Medical Center ranges from simple eye exams to specialized treatments for heart disease, hematology-oncology and cystic fibrosis. As the primary pediatric teaching facility for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Children’s Medical Center is instrumental in developing treatments and therapies for pediatric diseases and provides hope and healing for thousands of children and their families.

Oxy Walks for Breast Cancer Awareness

Employees at Occidental of Elk Hills and Vintage Production California volunteered their time for the 2010 Lace’n It Up walk benefiting Links for Life, a breast cancer awareness organization based near Oxy’s operations in Kern County, California. With Oxy’s support, the walk has become the signature event promoting breast cancer education and awareness in Kern County. The event raised approximately $31,000 in 2010, up from about $12,000 in 2009. Proceeds will provide mammograms for uninsured or underinsured women under the age of 40 and support an array of other Links for Life services, such as a wig boutique and research library. In addition to participating in the 2010 walk, Oxy employees assisted with registration, security and clean-up.

The one-mile walk began four years ago as a single event in downtown Bakersfield. In 2009, Oxy played a key role in getting other local companies involved, and a second walk was added on the Bakersfield River Walk trails adjacent to Occidental of Elk Hills’ offices. A third walk in east Bakersfield was launched in 2010.

Supporting a Vital Resource for Burn Patients in California

Oxy has made a $200,000 commitment to the Grossman Burn Center at San Joaquin Community Hospital (SJCH) in Kern County, California, where Oxy Elk Hills is located. Designated for the center's inpatient facility, the donation reflects Oxy's commitment to protect the safety and health of its employees and neighboring communities. The Grossman Burn Center "will be life-changing for those who have suffered from burns," said Bill Albrecht, president of Oxy Oil and Gas – USA. "It will offer added relief to families that can now have their loved ones close by." Said Robert J. Beehler, SJCH president and CEO, "Oxy has demonstrated once again that this is a community that rallies around important causes."