NewsOK member benefits

Power Play: Cooperation with regulators makes industry safer

Adam Wilmoth: The oil and natural gas industry and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently partnered to improve safety on rig sites throughout the state.

By Adam Wilmoth | Published: December 28, 2012 Comment on this article

Seventy-one companies participated in the voluntary safety training. They identified and corrected 2,500 hazards and trained 9,800 workers, according to David Bates, OSHA's Oklahoma City area director.

“This is an example of how OSHA and the industry work well together,” Bates said at the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association annual meeting earlier this month.

An open dialogue between all parties also can help ensure rules make sense and accomplish their set goals.

Cooperation with regulators is essential for the industry, and it makes business sense, said Rand Phipps, chairman of the mid-continent association.

“OSHA doesn't need to be issuing rules and regulations in a vacuum,” he said.

“They need to know what's going on in the field and what things work and don't work.”

Page 2 of 2