By Mark Rea

Nearly 150 members of the Texas industrial construction industry gathered in Houston recently for the Gulf Coast User's Council Conference.

The daylong event was sponsored by the Coastal Bend Business Roundtable, Golden Triangle Business Roundtable, Greater Baton Rouge Industrial Managers Association, Greater New Orleans Business Roundtable, Houston Business Roundtable and Southeast Texas Plan Managers Forum.

Houston Business Roundtable chairman Andy Jones of the Shell Deer Park Refinery welcomed the attendees.

Three keynote speakers kicked off the conference, giving perspectives from the viewpoint of the owner, contractor and chemical company. Presentations were offered by Morris Gelb, chief operating officer of Lyondell; Ted Kennedy, president of BE&K Inc.; and Vikki Medley of Chemical Marketing Associates.

Following their addresses, a panel discussion included an informative question-and-answer session with Gelb, Kennedy and Medley.

Other presentations during the conference included a craft training panel discussion with area training directors from the Associated Builders and Contractors and moderated by Bill Bobo of HBR; updates from National Center for Construction Education and Research president Don Whyte and Association of Reciprocal Safety Councils administrator Cookie McKee on their respective organizations; and a discussion about industry Internet portals was handled by Russell Melancon of the Southeast Texas Plant Managers Forum.

Scott Watjus and Walter Almon, past and current chair of the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable, respectively, offered a talk about turnaround management. Watjus, who retired from Motiva Enterprises in Port Arthur last year, and Almon of E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co. Inc. of Beaumont, told the audience that excellent management of turnaround activities at any plant site is critical because of the amount of money that can be spent in a short amount of time.

They indicated that the GTBR has a subcommittee, the Construction Industries Institute, which put on a half-day seminar in May on turnaround planning and execution. What was covered included five Ps: "Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance."

Watjus and Almon also covered several general subjects involved in turnarounds, including safety, planning and scheduling, contracts and strategy, mobilization, implementation and skills assessments of contractor craftspersons.

Daniel Bennet, president of Compass Educational Holdings, Construction Crafts Division, gave the audience a new approach toward craft training.

Through its unique accelerated craft training programs and recruiting strategy, the Decker College School of Construction Crafts is attracting new individuals into the workforce and providing them with quality craft training in a significantly reduced timeframe, at no cost to the contractor.

"One of the most valuable resources on any construction project is the craft workforce," Bennet said. "Currently, contractors must recruit their craft workforce and also carry the cost and responsibility of training that workforce. The typical training scenario for a construction student is two hours per night, two nights per week, for four years, with a dropout rate of approximately 50 percent after the first year, as high as 85 percent through the fourth year, and costly craft workforce turnover."

The Decker approach, Bennet said, recruits new individuals into the industry and helps them become skilled and employable as soon as possible through recruitment and education with such unique craft training programs as a one-month boot camp and 39-week craft externship.

Also on hand was Dick Myers of the Coastal Bend Business Roundtable, who provided an update on the Construction Users Roundtable; and John Durkay of Beaumont-based Mehaffy Weber PC, who gave an informative talk about safety issues, including contract employee background screening.

Durkay told conference attendees that many problems arise from misconceptions about safety issues. Some misperceptions include: Harm must come from someone outside your facility or that knowledge of everyone inside your facility will prevent harm.

He also discussed the Industrial Safety Training Council, chartered by the Southeast Texas Plant Managers Forum to create a program for background screening of contractor employees. Durkay said simple credit checks can be the quickest and most inexpensive way to determine initial maximum identification information, and Social Security and nationality confirmation.

Melancon later moderated a discussion about safety issues.

Work Force Development Awards were also part of the event. Wayne Oswald of Dow Chemicals handled the honors of passing out the various awards.