October 22, 2008—A case study developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and The Dow Chemical Company Alliance shows how Dow’s contractors reduced their recordable injury rate by more than 90 percent at Dow’s Freeport, Texas facility.
The case study, “Contractor Safety Case Study: Texas Operations Contractor Alliance for Safety” at Dow Facility in Freeport, Texas,” describes how Dow and 15 contractor companies formed the Texas Operations Contractor Alliance for Safety (TOCAS). The organization consisted of senior managers from Dow’s Texas Operations and from its on-site contractors who could authorize implementing safety and health management systems within their own companies.
In 1994, TOCAS had an annual recordable injury rate goal of 3.43, says OSHA. By 2007, the rate dropped to 0.20. Dow’s recordable injury rate for contractors at Freeport reportedly improved by 95 percent from 1995 to 2007.
Because of the success of the TOCAS contractor safety and health organization at the Freeport, Texas, location, it is now in place at three other Dow facilities in Texas and at two in Louisiana.
