The following is a brief history of our company.  The Petroleum Education Council (PEC), a Louisiana based company, was incorporated in April of 1993 with a board of ten oil companies and ten contractors.  One year prior to its incorporation, Charlie Carr, with the encouragement of several oil and gas operators, worked to bring about the organization.

The first task undertaken by the PEC was to standardize a safety orientation program that the participating operators and contractors could agree upon.  This had become very important because the MMS had “requested” that the operators ensure that the contractors have a safety orientation before entering an operator’s property.  Before the formation of the PEC, operators were instituting their own individual safety orientation with no way of checking on the redundancy of training being presented to the contractors.  This redundancy of the safety orientations was a hardship for both the operator and the contractor.

In a short period of time the PEC Basic Awareness Orientation program was established.  It quickly became an industry standard and training classes started a few months after incorporation.  Operators, independently of each other, requested that contractors have a PEC Basic Orientation or its equivalent. The PEC was a huge success and the orientation became a benchmark for the E&P industry.  Anyone who worked in the Gulf of Mexico for any of the major oil companies, no matter what type of work was to be performed, was required to complete the PEC Basic Awareness Orientation.  To date, over 100,000 employees have successfully completed the course.

In November of 1996 the participating operators in a new venture, standardized the protocol for a safety audit, which they called the SHERP (Safety, Health and Environmental, Review Process).  SHERP was established to be a shared audit with the information and cost being split among participating operators.  Also, during this time frame, the Conoco Contractor Task Team had been working on a Standardized Safety Questionnaire (SSQ) that they hoped would take the place of multiple operator questionnaires.  Because of the number of operators and contractors involved, the questionnaire was given to the PEC.

To keep from putting PEC at risk with the new venture, it was decided that a new company should be formed to manage the dealings with the SSQ and the SHERP.   This led to the formation of Premier Safety Management.  After the SSQ and SHERP got on their feet in 1997, PEC and Premier Safety Management merged to become what is known today as PEC/Premier Safety Management, Inc.  Each year, more and more operators began to use the services of the SSQ and SHERP resulting in continuing growth.  To date, the Standardized Safety Questionnaires of over 18,000 companies are housed and maintained in the on-line SSQ database.

In 2000, PEC/Premier obtained a contract with the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) to be a training provider through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the OPPS program was born!  The Oil Patch Preparation System (OPPS) program is an 8-day class that not only prepares a person to work offshore, but also assists them in gaining employment into our industry.  The certifications offered through this program are OSHA and MMS mandated and operator required.  To date, PEC has trained over 600 students through the WIA and have successfully placed over 500 in oilfield jobs with an average wage over $10.00 per hour.  Our currently OPPS program has expanded to include students from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

With PEC/Premier’s established relationship with the Louisiana Department of Labor, the next step was to begin writing Incumbent Worker Training Grants for its customers.  PEC’s first grant was approved and became a success in 2003. Since then, we have successfully written, submitted, and administered numerous grants for our customers.

In 2006, PEC/Premier Safety Management opened a new Consulting Division that provides specialized expertise in quality, environmental, health and safety compliance and management.  Our team of professionals applies many years of experience in helping companies identify and assess, so they may efficiently manage risks to human and material resources.  Knowledgeable experts conduct compliance and systems audits, develop programs and procedures, and mentor clients as they develop and implement their Environmental, Health and Safety processes.

In November 2008, we moved into our new corporate office pictured below.  Our new building allows us to better serve the needs of our customers.  PEC/Premier’s vision is to be the world leader in Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental Training, Consulting and Contractor Safety Management.  As we continue on into 2009 and beyond, we will continually strive to accomplish this goal and the growing demands of our valued customers.