230332 Inadequacy of the Contractor Selection Process and its Impact on Worker Health and Safety: The US Chemical Safety Board Xcel Cabin Creek Hydroelectric Plant Investigation

Monday, November 8, 2010

Donald Holmstrom, JD, Investigation Supervisor , Investigations-Denver, The US Chemical Safety Board, Washington, DC
Cheryl MacKenzie, MS, Human Factors , Investigations-Denver, The US Chemical Safety Board, Washington, DC
Mark Kaszniak, Engineer , Investigation, The US Chemical Safety Board, Washington, DC
Vidisha Parasram, MPH EOH , Chemical Incident Investigator, US Chemical Safety Board, Washington, DC
Randy McClure, CIH , Investigation, The US Chemical Safety Board, Washington, DC
A Contractor's OSHA Experience Modification Rate, EMR is often used as a criterion for selection to perform high risk maintenance and other work activities. However, the EMR rate is an inadequate indicator of a contractors' ability to perform a job safely, yet industrial facilities continue to use it as an indicator of safety when selecting contractors. In some instances, contracting facilities will maintain a low EMR rate, and remain in professional trade associations, despite having a record of worker injury and fatalities. Findings from the US Chemical Safety Board investigation demonstrate the complexity of the contractor selection process when five contractors were killed and three others were injured in a permit-required confined space at the Xcel Cabin Creek facility in Georgetown, CO in 2007. This paper will discuss the repercussions of relying solely on inadequate evaluative means of contractor selection and offer recommendations to improve the contractor selection process.

Learning Areas:
Occupational health and safety
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
1) Assess the inadequacy of contractor selection process. 2) Discuss the findings from CSB investigation regarding contractor selection. 3) Evaluate recommendations that can more accurately indicate a contractor safety record.

Keywords: Occupational Injury and Death, Occupational Safety

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract Author on the content I am responsible for because I supervised the investigation being discussed.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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