KuraSafe in Action: Strengthening Safety Culture at Kuraray America’s PVOH Facilities
For Andrea A. Sonpon, Health, Safety, Environment & Security (HSES) Manager with PVOH, strengthening safety culture means understanding that every site has its own journey. Leading HSES at our La Porte and Bayport, Texas sites, she sees firsthand how employee feedback helps identify strengths, uncover opportunities, and guide meaningful improvements. Alongside her team, Stephanie Carcamo and Shane Blackburn, SMP, Andrea helps translate site feedback into practical actions that support safer work across both sites.
| At both Bayport and La Porte, safety culture comes to life through everyday behaviors that help teams stay aware, speak up, and support safe work across the site.
As Kuraray America, Inc. (KAI) recognizes #NationalSafetyMonth, Andrea shares how KuraSafe continues to evolve at each site. While each location is at a different point in its safety culture journey, both are using employee input to strengthen engagement, encourage continuous improvement, and build a culture where every voice contributes to safer work.
Safety Culture Starting with Daily Actions
| At both Bayport and La Porte, safety culture comes to life through everyday behaviors that help teams stay aware, speak up, and support safe work across the site.
Each site completed the First Impression Analysis (FIA), providing deep insights into how employees experience safety culture day to day. The findings highlighted existing strengths while identifying opportunities to further strengthen communication, follow-through, and employee confidence in our ‘safety in action’ approach.
What the FIA Helped Identify
At Bayport, the FIA highlighted strengths and growth opportunities around:
✅ The site has a strong sense of peer-level trust and team belonging.
✅ Employees care deeply about the site and one another and many are embracing the shift towards a more proactive, engaged safety culture.
✅ The site is building strong cultural momentum, grounded in visible safety standards, mutual respect and real pride in the workplace.
Opportunity: Reinforcing confidence that all employee concerns will be heard and addressed
At La Porte, the FIA highlighted strengths and growth opportunities around:
✅ Strong peer trust around safety
✅ Active employee engagement in safety culture efforts
✅ A shared view that safety is central to the site’s culture
Opportunity: Improving communication across shifts and departments
| Together, the findings give both sites a clearer path forward: build on the areas where employees already see strong safety culture at work, while focusing attention on the communication and follow-up practices that help turn feedback into action.
How SCIT Builds on FIA Insights at Bayport & La Porte
The FIA insights have helped guide the Safety Culture Improvement Team (SCIT) process, where employee volunteers review feedback and help identify practical next steps. The teams are supported by an outside consultant, which helps maintain an open forum for discussion and gives employees space to share ideas, concerns, and recommendations.
At Bayport, the SCIT process is moving into its first workshop in July with a 14-member team that will meet monthly to discuss employee input and help shape the site’s next safety culture priorities.
At La Porte, SCIT is already active with 14 employees who meet monthly. The team includes employees with a wide range of experience, from those with more than 20 years at KAI to those with less than one year. That mix of perspectives helps the site evaluate ideas from different points of view and move feedback into practical follow-through.
Recognizing Contractor Safety at Bayport
Since the site’s startup in 2015, Bayport contractors have maintained a zero-injury record, reflecting a sustained focus on safe work practices across the full worksite.
Making Employee Feedback More Visible
| A strong safety culture depends on more than encouraging employees to speak up. It also depends on what happens after they do.
At La Porte, one action already in place is a QR code suggestion box, which allows employees to submit questions and improvement opportunities directly to site management. Employee submissions are reviewed regularly during weekly management meetings, with updates and responses shared during the site’s monthly safety meeting.
Both sites also use e-Tracker, an electronic safety observation tool, giving employees a real-time way to document hazards, recognize safe behaviors, and capture opportunities for improvement.
Looking ahead, Bayport will use upcoming SCIT workshops to bring more employee voices into the conversation, while La Porte will continue building on SCIT feedback to strengthen communication, teamwork, and confidence in day-to-day operations.
| Together, those efforts reinforce a simple but important idea: when employees can see that their feedback is heard, reviewed, and acted on, safety culture becomes something they help shape every day.
Safety as the Cornerstone
Across KAI, “Safety is the cornerstone of everything we do” means every task begins with a commitment to identifying and managing risks so the work can be completed safely.
For both sites, KuraSafe is not about reaching a final endpoint. It is about continuing to learn from the people closest to the work and using those insights to make safe work stronger every day.