Valero 2005 Annual Report Download - page 21

VA L E R O E N E R G Y C O R P O R AT I O N 19
produce cleaner fuels and further reduce emis-
sions at its refineries are planned for this year
alone.
These projects include major investments to
produce clean gasoline and diesel that meet the
EPA’s new fuels standards, which dramatically
lowered the sulfur content in motor fuels. The
company also continues to install the latest
control technology to protect the environ-
ment, such as state-of-the-art scrubber units
that even further reduce emissions to keep the
air clean.
As a result of its efforts to improve efficiency
and operational reliability and invest in the
latest environmental control technology, Valero
estimates it will reduce its greenhouse gas emis-
sions by nearly 2 million tons per year by 2008.
At Valero, environmental excellence, safety and
reliability work hand in hand to make Valero
a better refiner. And that helps make the com-
pany a better investment!
President Greg King [right]
gets a first-hand look at the
safety programs in place at a
construction site at the Valero
Houston Refinery. This plant
is one of 10 VPP Star Sites in
the Valero system and one of
only 20 in the nation.
At Valero, all employees, from top
management to the newest hire, have a hand
in the safety of the company’s operations. Not
only are they committed to safety, they take
ownership of it.
In fact, a group of Texas City employees took
so much ownership that a few years ago they
took the initiative to research and recom-
mend that their refinery participate in OSHA’s
Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). They set
their sights on achieving certification as a VPP
Star Site, a designation reserved only for the
best industrial safety and health programs in
the nation.
Upon hearing about the program, Valero’s top
management not only threw their support
behind the Texas City employees, they chal-
lenged every refinery to pursue Star Site certi-
fication.
And, each one has accepted the challenge.
In the past year alone, Valero has added its
two Corpus Christi plants and its Ardmore
and St. Charles refineries to its stable of certi-
fied facilities, bringing its total to 10 VPP Star
Sites. Earning this designation is so rigorous
that only 20 of the nation’s 149 refineries have
achieved it, and Valero now owns half of them.
“Valero has set a new standard for
safety and health excellence in the
refining industry.”
-- John Miles, OSHA Regional
Administrator, Corpus Christi
VPP Celebration, November 2005
VPP is so effective that it has ushered in a new
era in safety at Valero. It has been a major fac-
tor in the company’s continually improving
safety record, especially in 2005.
Valero’s U.S. refining system had a total
recordable incident rate (TRIR) that improved
to a record low of just .76, which is a 23 per-
cent improvement over its 2004 TRIR, and
53 percent better than the three-year industry
average of 1.6.
Also, eight Valero refineries completed the year
without any employee lost-time injuries, and
six had no contractor lost-time injuries.
Environmental safety is as high a priority at
Valero as the safety of its workers and neigh-
bors. In fact, the company has invested $2.4
billion in environmental projects since 1997.
An additional $1.3 billion in projects to
VALERO’S TOTAL RECORDABLE
INCIDENT RATE (TRIR)
.76
2005
VLO U.S.
Refineries
2004
VLO U.S.
Refineries
.99
Valero’s current TRIR of its U.S. refineries is 53% better than
the 3-year industry average recorded by the National Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
Numbers do not include former Premcor refineries since they were not part of Valero in 2004 or for
the full year in 2005.