A family affair

The Talco field in East Texas achieves a 40-year safety record using a simple formula: people looking out for people.

“Some folks may think we’re lucky,” says Greg Strickland, field foreman at ExxonMobil’s Talco field in East Texas, “but we believe we make our own luck.”

Employees at the Talco field have worked hard to make their own luck, and it has paid off. Talco has celebrated 40 years of operation without a “lost time injury,” or LTI – an injury causing an employee to miss work.

Strickland attributes the accomplishment to ExxonMobil’s emphasis on safety, its training programs and a “family atmosphere” that has long been a part of life at the Talco field.

“We’re a very close-knit group,” says Patricia Carter, senior operations technician. “For years, employees at Talco have socialized outside work, and their children have gone to school together. We all know each other.”

Carter says that since the early days of the Talco field, experienced employees have taken new workers under their wing. “The old-timers taught the new people how to do things without getting hurt,” she says. “It’s the same today.”

Greg Strickland says the safety culture at Talco goes beyond the effort to achieve good statistics. “Our employees want to make sure we all go home safe,” he says. “Friendship and mutual trust go a long way toward making that happen. No one has hard feelings if they’re corrected for doing something the wrong way because they know it’s for everyone’s good.”

Small town, big changes
The Talco oil field was discovered in 1930 and is named after the nearby town of Talco, a farming and ranching community about 130 miles east of Dallas, with roots to 1856 and a population of about 500.

In 1936, change galloped into Talco when drillers struck oil not far away. Overnight, the quiet little community turned into an oil boomtown.

In the words of one resident, “People went crazy. There was no place for them to sleep, no place for them to eat, but still they came to Talco.”

The Humble Oil & Refining Company, a predecessor company of ExxonMobil, acquired an interest in the Talco field the same year oil was discovered. Since that time, East Texas production fields have become an important training ground for engineers, geologists and geophysicists from Humble, Exxon and ExxonMobil.

For many, working in these production divisions, as they were called, was a significant career development assignment and often included responsibility for Talco. A number of those employees went on to senior leadership positions, including Exxon Mobil Corporation’s Senior Vice President Mark Albers.

“The safety achievements of Talco employees during the past four decades is truly outstanding,” Albers says, “and I congratulate everyone associated with attaining this milestone. Their accomplishments are a reflection of ExxonMobil’s unwavering commitment to achieving superior safety, health and environmental performance.”

More than a number
Talco’s 40-year accomplishment is impressive, and it proves an important point, says Randy Cleveland, manager of ExxonMobil's U.S. production.

“The company has always set very high standards for safety performance,” he says. “Talco’s achievement in working 40 years without a lost-time incident is remarkable in itself. But the larger lesson is this: By working together, we can meet and surpass our safety goals. That means a safer work environment – and a better life – for everyone.”