Document GzD0MvOqDdwM5b7M5amgD16RY

Interoffice Communication To VCM Plant Employees From Date Subject J. A, DeBernardi February 8, 1982 Advisory Committee Meeting - December 16, 1981 The year 1981 has passed into history at the VCM Plant. A brief review of the year is appropriate to give some perspective as to our plant's progress. Positive performance gains were in the areas of safety, energy conservation and environmental control. Progress in these areas was made possible by the individual effort and commitment of each plant employee. The negative side of our performance during 1981 relates to total VCM production and plant operating costs. The production shortfall was outside of our direct control and resulted from depressed market conditions caused by the economic recession that took hold about mid-year. Operating costs, although also negatively impacted by reduced production rates, were also hurt by poor performance in areas which we can control. As has been the case in the past, the challenge for 1982 continues to be to work toward the achievement of a record of progress and accomplishment at the VCM Plant. Continued effort and emphasis by all plant employees in the areas where progress was made in 1981 will be necessary to assure our direction in these areas remains positive. It goes without saying that in those areas which produced negative results in 1981, the level of awareness, effort and commitment will require improvment to correct the past year's per formance and get our direction back on a positive track. The outlook for 1982 at present remains pessimistic. This being the case, it can also be predicted that competition in the PVC and VCM markets should be fierce during the coming year. Those producers with efficiently produced, low cost product will be the ones who will make it through 1982 and be in a position to continue as producers in future years. We have been in this situation before and have come out a winner. With the commitment and dedication of each of our employees I am sure we will do it again in 1982. Attached you will find comments related to the questions asked at the December 16, 1981 Advisory Committee meeting. J. A. DeBernardi br Distribution Bulletin Boards/Supervisors R. D. Gamblin R. w. Seymour D. L. Norwood H. D. Garrison R. A. Conrad CCR 000067386 Advisory Committee Meeting December 16, 1981 Employees attending J. Cochran P. Leger D. Derouen K. Vincent 1) When will employees receive their W-2 forms used for income tax purposes ? Can these forms be made available to employees sooner than they presently are ? Comment W-2 forms for VCM Plant employees were mailed to the plant from Ponca City on January 21. They were received on January 25 and distributed to plant employees on that day. The law provides that this information be in a wage earners hands by February 1 of the year following the taxable year of the W-2 form. The entire Company's run related to W-2 forms is made at one time on the Ponca City computer. Normally this run occurs on a weekend near mid-January each year. A change in this scheduling is not possible due to scheduling demands related to computer time and programming requirements. 2) Can the security gates at the secondary system, and the gate at the road to the secondary by the chlorine unloading rack be left open now that a security gate is located at the GSU sub-station on Trousdale Road extension Comment Steve Ashby has recently issued a letter to the plant bulletin boards re lated to this question. The gates mentioned in the question can be left open now that security for the plant is provided by the Trousdale Road gate being locked. 3) Some Policy Guides appear to be missing from the shop and controlroom areas, is there a reason for this ? Comment On a yearly basis, the Office Manager reviews all Plant Policy Guides to assure that the books are up to date and contain the revisions made during the year that were sent to Guide holders in the plant mail. This review process was begun by Jim Brunson in December. The process related to Maintenance, Operations and Laboratory Guides was completed on February 3. Office and Warehouse Guide review will complete by March 1. CCR 000067387 4) Flame retardant clothing is issued to welders in the Refinery. Can the same program be started at the VCM Plant ? Comment A clothing program has been instituted at the Refinery. Participation in the program is voluntary with operations and maintenance employees eligible to participate. The basis of the program relates to the potential hazard in a refinery for flash fires* due to the large number of flanmable gases and liquids handled in the processes and the use of fired equipment to process these streams. The flame retardant clothing being used offers the wearer involved in a fire evolution a higher degree of protection than most standard work clothes. In the case of hot slag however, burns can still occur as the heat decomposes the cloth. Our plant welders are issued welding sleeves and vests as part of their protective equipment. Additinal clothing protection for special, difficult welding situations or positions is available in the toolroom for employee use. Therefore, the need for issuing flame retardant clothing to plant welders cannot be justified. 5) During plant clean-up campaigns, the effort is normally by the Mechanical section. Why doesn't the Instrument/Electrical section participate in these efforts ? Comment Clean-up activities in our plant are the responsibility of each employee on a daily basis and not reserved for any specific department or section within our organization. Normally, our plant housekeeping efforts are readily apparent by the well kept appearance of the plant. The need for any type of clean-up campaign activity by anyone can be eliminated by each person doing their job, on a daily basis, related to housekeeping. Area clean-up after conclusion of a maintenance job is the responsibility of the people doing the work. Various equipment and materials used in operational activities should be put in order by the people using them following completion of the activity. A clean, orderly and well kept plant, shop, warehouse, laboratory, or office should not require clean-up campaigns if each person is doing their complete job, which includes housekeeping. 6) The Instrument and Electrical section would prefer their performance appraisals be conducted as in the past, rather than using the procedure adopted in 1981. Can this be done in 1982 ? Comment I have reviewed this situation with the supervisors and department heads involved in the performance appraisal sessions in 1981. No significant advantage related to the 1981 procedure over previous year procedures was found. Therefore, we will return to the pre-1981 standard format for these activities as requested by the Instrument and Electrical section employees. CCR 000067388 7) Can the accounting classifications for work time missed by employees be reviewed for consistency ? The wrong classification for time missed could make an employee's attendance record look bad. Comment The classifications related to work time missed will be reviewed to assure consistency of these classifications between departments and sections in the plant. 8) It appears that training of Instrument personnel in the repair of circuit boards, micro-processor boards, etc. could save the company money. Are there any plans for training in these areas ? Comment I believe that the specialized, sophisticated repair work described in the question falls outside the scope of normal plant instrumentation repair. Our training will continue to be directed at keeping our instrumentation group up to speed on the repair of the existing and new instrument systems in our plant using in-plant as well as outside plant training seminars. The ability to trouble shoot and keep our electronic and pneumatic systems functioning at peak performance levels will continue to keep us challenged and occupied. The addition of the new Provox unit included in the oxy revision project will add to this challenge in 1982. We will continue to send defective circuit boards and microprocessor boards back to the manufacturer for repair as we have done in the past. CCR 000067369