SAFE Program
What is SAFE?
Serious About Fostering Excellence (SAFE)
SAFE is an official program of the Louisiana Chemical Association administered by the LCA Safety & Health Committee. Its mission is to:
- Promote continuous improvement in safety and environmental performance
- Build a valuable database of peer norms for plant safety and environmental data
- Honor outstanding performance with annual awards.
As your facility participates each year, you and the other LCA members are creating a powerful analytic tool so you can benchmark your performance, stay safe, and become steadily safer. Our online database extends back to 1995.
The SAFE program has two valuable components – it is first a mechanism that promotes performance improvement and, secondly, it provides an annual competition with recognition opportunities available to all LCA members. At the present time, the SAFE program uses 13 criteria each year to evaluate member performance and present top achievers (by class) with either ‘Best in Louisiana’ or ‘Most Improved’ awards.
The History of SAFE
The SAFE Program was created in the late 1990's when LCA members were under heavy attack from local and national critics, elected and appointed officials (including the governor), DEQ and the media (among others). LCA and individual companies were constantly playing "defense."
LCA's Eight Point Plan today refers to "leading the way in environmental, health and safety." Likewise, process safety is a much more established core value now than in the past. SAFE is based on a detailed review of SAFE program data and the collective judgement of member company professionals. It is intended to demonstrate the more pro-active approach adopted by LCA members. At present, the SAFE Program uses 13 criteria each year to evaluate member performance and present top achievers with either 'Best in Louisiana' or 'Most Improved' awards.
SAFE Winners
SAFE Requirements
What Data is Collected?
- Number of employees at the facility (2006 to present)
- OSHA TRIR for full-time employees (1995 to present)
- OSHA TRIR for contractor employees (1995 to present)
- Number of CERCLA reportable releases to air (1995 to present)
- TRI number of chemicals released on-site (1998 to present)
- TRI total pounds released on-site (1998 to present)
- PSE Tier 1 and PSE Tier 2 counts (2017 to present)
- Number of permit exceedances (1995 to present)
- Tracking indicator for PSE Levels 1, 2 and 3 (2017 to present)
- Total pounds produced for sale (2000 to present)
- Data is shared only in aggregate (peer group mean, all-facility mean, etc.) You are the only one who can see your specific data.
How are SAFE Awards Determined?
Facilities are ranked by score within their class as determined by number of full time company employees (Class I: 1-100 employees; Class II: 101-200; Class III: 201-400; and Class IV: 401+). Awards are made in each class. "BEST IN LOUISIANA" is presented to the facility with the highest total point score. "MOST IMPROVED" is presented to the facility with the largest improvement in employee and contractor injury rates.
| Occupational Safety | |
Achievement |
Points |
| Current year OSHA TRIR less than 0.25 | 1 |
| 5 point maximum reduced by the sum of OSHA TRIR for the most recent 3-years (negative becomes zero) | 5 |
Above TRIR scoring is applied separately to both full-time and resident/core contract employees.
| Process Safety | |
Achievement |
Points |
| Number of reportable Tier 1 PSE is equal to the best in your peer group | 2 |
| Tracking T-1, T-2, and T-3 Process Safety Events | Possible tie-breaker |
| Environmental | |
Achievement |
Points |
| Current year number of CERCLA reportable releases to all media is equal to or better than the prior 4-year average | 1 |
| Current year number of numerical permit limit exceedances AND/OR numerical permit discharge limits (ALL media permits combined) is equal to or better than the previous 4 year average | 1 |
| Current year TRI pounds (indexed to million pounds of salable production) released to all media (excluding off-site transfers & on- or off-site treatment) is equal to or less than your prior 4-year average | 1 |
In the event of a tie: first, we will examine PSE T-2 and/or T-3 tracking for a positive winner. If no winner is found, we will proceed to OSHA TRIR values, then explore comments for outstanding work, and finally review history of participation in SAFE and other LCA projects and committees, etc. to determine a winner.
