When you think of Texas, many people think of oil and gas. It is an accurate association, since there are millions of people in the state currently working in the industry. However it is the recent production increases due to new advancements in technology that has certain parts of the state seeing unprecedented growth. For an example of that growth, look no further than South Texas. Eaglefordshale.com recently wrote an article that provided research from the University of Texas at San Antonio that showed that employment in Karnes County increased by 260%, and local sales tax revenues recently doubled in Dimmit County due in large part to increased oil and gas activity. With so much exploration, new growth opportunities, and employment being found especially in areas that are smaller in size, it is no surprise that many oil and gas companies are putting significant focus on the safety of their workers and the surrounding communities.
Texas Defensive Driving in Oil and Gas
One area of safety that is getting particular attention is driver safety. You have a situation where there are roads and infrastructure that are not necessarily setup and ready to meet the new demands being put on them and it is creating dangerous results. To combat these driver safety issues, both the state and the oil and gas companies are making efforts to improve things. There is legislation being considered currently that would improve the funding to make necessary improvements and repairs to roads across the state, and the oil and gas companies are putting their focus on safety programs for their fleet drivers. These safety programs include Texas defensive driving courses that go beyond the typical six hour in class features. Many also require applicable behind the wheel training, exams, and data collection technologies that indicate unsafe driving patterns.
Give Safety a Hand
There are also driver safety awareness programs and campaigns that are helping put focus on the issue. For example, WorkersCompensation.com put out a press release recently announcing that Texas Mutual Insurance Company has launched the “Give Safety a Hand” campaign that provides brochures, radio commercials, and other public education information about how to be a safer driver. They are trying to turn around tragic statistics, for example nearly 60 percent of oil and gas industry fatalities are driving related crashes.
Awareness efforts go a long way, especially in the area of driver safety. Texasdrivesafe.com applauds the efforts of Texas Mutual Insurance Company, the Texas Oil & Gas Association, the STEPS Network, and the numerous oil and gas companies with extensive driver safety programs that doing their part to help the roads across Texas safer.
