Environment & Safety
The safety of our employees, contract employees, customers, neighbors and the environment is our highest priority and a core business value. NuStar Energy L.P. is committed to achieving the highest standards of safety and environmental excellence throughout our organization. It is every employee’s responsibility to conduct business in accordance with this commitment, and management’s responsibility to provide the resources, equipment, training, and tools to ensure continued improvement. And, we’re proud of the results we’ve achieved thanks to our employees' commitment to this mission.
2009 was another great year for NuStar as we further established ourselves as a leader in safety and environmental performance! In fact, we finished 2009 with zero lost-time injuries! This is a first for our company, and it is something that is rarely achieved by any company.
We also had outstanding performance with regard to our total recordable injury rate (TRIR), which is based on the number of recordable injuries that occur per 100,000 man hours worked. Our TRIR was among the best in our industry in 2008, but we still dramatically improved it last year, going from 0.76 in 2008 to 0.31 in 2009 – a 59% improvement! To put our TRIR in perspective, the pipeline industry average is 1.6, the terminal industry average is 6.4, and the refining industry average is 1.1. So, no matter which industry you compare it to, our safety record continues to be far better than average.
And while safety performance was outstanding across the system, our Pt. Tupper, St. Eustatius, United Kingdom, Amsterdam, Central West, Gulf Coast, and Corporate Office employees recorded zero recordable injuries and of course zero lost-time injuries!
What's more, we continued to improve our environmental performance. We had a 7.4% decrease in the number of reportable releases, making this the fifth consecutive year in which we've improved in this category.
As NuStar Energy L.P. continues to grow, safety will remain our highest priority. Our safety program will continue to evolve and improve as best safety practices are shared among all of our facilities, with the constant goal of achieving safe, accident-free facilities throughout our system.