Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told employees they needed to reinforce safety standards after a growing number of injury near-misses in an internal video message on April 29, according to a Reuters report.
This was just weeks before three workers died due to a fire on one of the company’s oil platforms offshore Angola.
“We’ve seen a concerning increase in serious near-misses, especially over the last few weeks,” Wirth said in the video, which Reuters said it had viewed. “Some of these events could have resulted in fatalities.”
The warning came after Chevron announced in February that it is laying off up to 20% of its workforce to cut costs.
In the two-minute video titled “do it safely or not at all,” Wirth told staff to double down on safety practices, regardless of challenges inside and outside Chevron.
“I know there’s a lot going on right now, with changes underway both inside the company and in the world around us,” he said, as quoted in the Reuters report. “I learned some people feel that speaking up and stopping work is risky in the current environment. It is not.”
Wirth also said the company was working to reinforce and recommit to a focus on safety.
On May 20, a fire broke out on a Chevron-operated deepwater platform about 60 miles (97 km) off Angola’s coast. Three workers died and another 15 workers were injured.
Last year, the company recorded 12 serious injuries and one fatality, according to its corporate sustainability report.
Some of the injured workers from the Angola fire are still receiving treatment, said Clay Neff, Chevron’s recently named president of upstream, in a separate video message to staff on May 30, which has also been viewed by Reuters.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway and the company expects to learn more in the coming weeks, he added.
In his May 30 video addressing the Angola incident, Neff echoed Wirth’s earlier message, telling staff that there was an increase in reported incidents across the business that could have resulted in serious injuries or fatalities, many involving routine daily tasks.
“These were close calls where seconds or feet could have changed everything and they are stark reminders no one is immune,” he said.
Neff called on employees to understand risks, do proper planning and understand what skill sets are required. “Nothing matters more than everyone going home safe,” he was quoted as saying.
