Princeton Junction, NJ – March, 2013 – MISTRAS Group, Inc. employees at the Shell Oil Refinery in Martinez, California recently observed their 16th consecutive year of recordable-injury-free work. That 16-year mark equals more than 1.5 million man hours of work.
“Safety records and goals are achievable when everyone in the organization is involved in the subject matter. Managers and Supervisors primary focus should always be keeping employees safe while at work. The employees focus is the safety of themselves and their fellow crew members while achieving their everyday tasks. Peripherally, our employees are also looking out for everyone’s safety on the jobsite,” said Mike Price, General Manager for the MISTRAS Benicia lab that services the Shell Martinez evergreen site.

“The commitment to safety is a continuing tradition for the people that work there,” Price said. “We’ve had different project managers, different employees, but they’ve all managed to stay focused on the goal – doing the job safely and doing the job right. That’s why the record continues.”

MISTRAS has been awarded the Shell “Eagle Award” for Excellence in Safety three times in the last 16 years and was nominated this year in the large contractor category for the sixth time in that period. The company has worked at the Shell Martinez location for the past 19 years.

“It’s all about teamwork. If you don’t have the leadership to keep people focused you don’t see success; but you also need the skilled, experienced, mature individuals on site to execute, be disciplined, and look out for each other,” said Chris Smith, Group Vice President, Corporate Compliance. “In locations with good records, the workers have a good relationship with one another. It’s a family and they’re comfortable with being open and honest with each other. It’s a culture and attitude driven from management down to the employees, who pick it up and run with it.”

The Benicia lab has also received safety awards from Chevron, Tesoro, and Phillips 66 in recent years.

“The good news is (Benicia) is not alone,” Smith said. “We see similar success across the MISTRAS organization. It speaks to the engagement we have with the customer. Our customers deserve some credit too.”