Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Business Journal and Other Publications Q1 2016 Business Journal | Page 29

Most folks I’ve met acknowledge how important both the refinery

Ondriezek, received the Governor’s “Stop Work Authority” award,

and the energy industry have been and continue to be to the Wy-

which was developed to encourage workers to personally stop po-

oming economy. I appreciate that acknowledgment, but our goal is

tentially unsafe work. While doing a routine inspection of his unit,

not for the city of Cheyenne to just tolerate us. We are privileged to

John noticed a potential issue and had the courage to bring it up to

operate in this community, and we want to be a positive force in the

his supervisors. This led to the decision to safely shut down the

local economy.

unit for investigation. We believe it’s critical to empower our workers to participate and make decisions that will result in keeping our

In my 27 years in the refining business, I’ve witnessed some incred-

employees safe.

ible changes in the dynamic energy industry. When I began my career in 1989, the prevailing business model placed production over

HollyFrontier can work to improve safety at our facility, but we can’t

safety—an image that still shapes the public’s view of us.

make industry-wide changes alone. That’s why, over the past few
years as a member of the Wyoming Refinery Safety Alliance, we’ve

Thankfully, the industry has and continues to evolve toward safe

been working with the Governor’s Office and Wyoming OSHA to

production. At HollyFrontier, we believe this evolution isn’t just B