Rodeo and Sweeny win top AFPM safety honors

Four Phillips 66 refineries have been honored by the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers for outstanding safety performance in 2023. Two — Rodeo and Sweeny — captured AFPM’s Distinguished Safety Award, the industry’s highest safety honor.

For Sweeny, which lies 50 miles south of Houston, it was the third straight year winning AFPM’s highest honor. 

“Year after year, Phillips 66 shows up in AFPM’s top awards, and it’s a testament to the culture of our company that places importance on sending everyone home safe, every day, above everything else,” said Todd Denton, senior vice president, HSE, Projects and Field Operations Support.

AFPM’s Distinguished Safety Award is presented to eligible U.S.-based sites that demonstrate exemplary, long-term safety performance, program innovation and leadership.

Ponca City Refinery took Elite Platinum honors, which represents the top industrial sites among those who were in the running for a Distinguished Safety Award. Lake Charles Refinery secured Elite Gold, which recognizes facilities with safety performance in the top five percentile.

“I am extremely proud of our workforce at Sweeny, Rodeo, Lake Charles and Ponca City for maintaining the highest levels of operating excellence,” said Rich Harbison, executive vice president of Refining. “The national recognition is well deserved.”

In addition to the Distinguished Safety Award, Sweeny also garnered AFPM’s Innovation Award for the refinery’s annual Safety Days event, where workers get hands-on training by experienced coworkers on a variety of common safety systems within the refinery.

“Our employees own safety at Sweeny,” said Ben Way, Sweeny HSE manager. “We don’t have to ask them to be involved — they take the initiative. They are not afraid to speak up about ideas, safety issues or concerns.”

Rodeo was honored for a year in which it was converting its refinery into one producing renewable fuels. The Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex recently announced the start of commercial scale production.

“Our goal at Rodeo is to get everyone home safely,” said Jolie Rhinehart, Rodeo’s vice president. “Achieving that goal in a year is an exemplary achievement, but for Rodeo in 2023 it was a remarkable achievement.”

AFPM is a leading trade association for U.S. refiners and chemical manufacturers. The awards are part of a program developed by the AFPM Safety and Health Committee to promote safe operations in the refining and petrochemical industries.