San Jacinto College CPET joins with Performance Contractors to offer hands-on safety workshop
The Partnership of Petrochemical Leaders held its first student engagement event, a contractor safety workshop, at the LyondellBasell Center for Petrochemical, Energy, & Technology in December.
The program was developed and executed in partnership with Performance Contractors Inc., a top contractor with deep roots in the petrochemical industry.
"The workshop was an absolute success," said Jeff Pearce, CPET education and workforce coordinator. "Performance Contractors helped develop and execute the workshop in record time. Their leadership and willingness to step up and get deeply involved with our students was very encouraging and motivating for the students and CPET teams involved."
The workshop engaged students from the process technology, instrumentation, electrical, and inspection technology programs at CPET. The hands-on, fast-moving event had students completing specific safety-oriented tasks in a limited amount of time. Participants were divided into three groups that rotated in a tightly organized schedule through scaffold safety, confined space safety, and process unit safety. Performance Contractors provided a team of seven leaders to guide the students through the course.
"This was absolutely the best day of the semester," said Ashley Zhang, CPET student. "Thank you to everyone involved for bringing this hands-on safety training in for us. This semester has definitely been a struggle, but this event was great at educating us on some very important skills and bringing us together as a group."
After completing the workshop, students all received certificates for four hours of safety training to add to their industrial experience and resume.
"The field leaders from Performance Contractors were patient, engaging, and willing to share their hard-earned experience and knowledge," said John Suarez, director of CPET resources and contractors. "Students overwhelmingly applauded the Performance team and asked when they could return for more, having found the experience to be relevant, beneficial, and fun."
Founded in November 2020, the Partnership of Petrochemical Leaders is a consortium of leadership in the petrochemical industry from both the owner and contractor areas. The partnership offers the Petrochemical Leadership Academy, the Expert Speaker Series, student and community engagement, and industry engagement, workshops, and forums. More workshops are being scheduled starting spring 2021.
