Home > About Newfield > Sustainability & Responsibility > Safety

A Coordinated Safety Program

Safety and concern for the environment are core values at Newfield Exploration Company. The expectation that each Newfield employee or contractor should leave work at the end of a work day to return home safely, and that our operation's efforts are done with environmental sensitivity, are simple goals. To assure these goals are accomplished takes the commitment of our Company, employees, contractors and adherence to proven Company and industry standards.

Management is involved in Newfield's safety program. Annually, each division prepares a report on its environmental and safety activities. Performance versus goals is discussed along with the setting of new goals, with critiques to help assure improvement.

We believe our safety record at Newfield is a good one that includes our contractors - but any accident is one too many. At Newfield, we gauge our safety performance using the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines for categorizing workplace injuries, which includes the "Recordable Injury Rate" and the more serious "Days Away, Restricted or Transferred" (DART) category. This is a much stricter measurement than only "Lost Time," which is the "days away" portion of the DART. In our statistics, we include our international and contractor accidents.

For the oil & gas industry, an increased emphasis on safety awareness and formal company programs have resulted in improved safety statistics over the years. Overall, several specific Newfield programs are helping our efforts. They include:

- A long history of Safety and Environmental Management Programs(SEMP) that has grown with Newfield. This helped lay the foundation for the spread of the latest information across the company's regions.
- A continuous review and evaluation of Newfield's plans and procedures in regards to safety and the environment.
- Monitoring of activities and comparing them to historic performance while implementing new programs as needed.
- A good safety and environmental basic training for both new employees and contractors.
- And finally, an aggressive rig-auditing program to help upgrade the rig fleets for all domestic operations.

By using the rig audit process, mechanical, safety, regulatory and environmental issues are identified and addressed by both the rig contractor and Newfield supervisors. Relying on a single source for these audits gives us a high level of consistent reporting across the company, which provides consistent internal benchmarking. This way, we know we're comparing apples to apples. As a result of this program, several rigs and drilling rig contractors have been dropped for safety issues and failures to make timely repairs. More suitable rigs and rig companies have been brought on board. This system helps assure that Newfield works with service providers that are aligned with us when it comes to the important issues of safety and environmental protection. In most cases, the drilling company welcomes the audit and actively works with Newfield to bring their equipment up to acceptable standards.

Safety Statistics

Overall, our 2007 safety statistics continued to improve with an overall decrease in OSHA recordable statistics down by 47% and the DART (Days Away Restricted or Transferred) rate down by 56%. This is a continuation of a trend that shows improvement for the last five years as shown below:

Year	Recordable	DART
2003	2.88	2.36
2004	2.64	1.95
2005	2.62	1.68
2006	2.00	1.32
2007	1.53	1.03
*2008	1.57	1.11
2009	1.02	0.76

(Accident rate per 200,000 man hours)
*Improvement due to Safety Leadership Training and emphasis on total reporting company wide.

These statistical trends include:

- Newfield combines statistics on injuries for both employees and contractors for a more valid perspective on overall safety trends.

- Included in the statistics are contractor services such as drilling/workover/well servicing/stimulation/offshore barge & vessels/and construction personnel injured on Company operations.

- All companies in our industry need long-term, effective safety programs. In 2006, Newfield won the Minerals Management Service's 2005 Safety Award for Excellence (SAFE) "High Activity Category" recognizing safe operations in the Outer Continental Shelf - the most coveted of operational recognitions in the offshore industry. We were in very select company as a finalist for this award.

Minerals Management Service Awards

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) presented Newfield the National 2005 Safety Award for Excellence (SAFE) "High Activity Category" recognizing safe operations in the Outer Continental Shelf at the MMS Industry Awards Luncheon in Houston during April 2006.

Newfield had been a finalist for this award four times over the previous seven years and previously won in 1997.

Newfield's past award wins also include:

MMS National SAFE Award History

• Winner National SAFE Award 1997 - Small Producer Category
• One of 5 Finalists for 1998 - High Activity Category
• One of 5 Finalists for 2000 - High Activity Category
• One of 3 Finalists for 2002 - High Activity Category
• One of 5 Finalists for 2003 - High Activity Category

MMS District SAFE Award History

• Lafayette District SAFE Award 1996 - For all Operations in District
• Houma District SAFE Award 1997 - For Operations at EI 182A
• Lafayette District SAFE Award 2000 - For all Operations in District
• Lake Jackson District Award 2001 - For Production Operations

Since 1983, the MMS has been presenting the SAFE Awards, by districts and regions, as well as nationally. Potential SAFE Award winners at the national level are screened through a two-step process comprised of statistical analysis and in-depth meetings involving MMS Headquarters, Regional and District personnel to determine a company's overall performance on the Outer Continental Shelf. (In 2007, Newfield sold its offshore assets and its current activities no longer qualify us for consideration even though our offshore safety record is still exemplary.)

- This same emphasis on safety is shared by our contractors. For example, we have nurtured long lasting relationships regarding drilling rig providers who possess a similar philosophy on health, safety and environmental, regulatory concerns, management and operational performance. Attention to these areas lessens turnover, allows for better equipment maintenance and encourages an atmosphere where safe, environmentally friendly operations are the norm. Employees are empowered to make their ideas known about properly conducting operations.

To further ensure a consistent safety message across the regions, Newfield's regional HS&E representatives conduct quarterly meetings to review actual performance, share experiences, set goals and provide a forum to generate consistency and improvement to Newfield's safety efforts across regional boundaries.

Comprehensive Safety Manual

We also have distributed a new Stop Work Authority Policy. This has put in writing what has always been a key part of our safety program. This policy gives authority to anyone on location to stop a job for safety reasons. Should it be invoked, plans must be put into place to allow the job to proceed safely. It is company policy that there will be no negative impact for an employee or contractor who initiates this policy. When it comes to safety at Newfield, no employee or contractor should ever be fearful to speak up to help ensure a safe, environmentally friendly and regulatory compliant operating environment.

Additionally, we've initiated Safety and Environmental Management Program (SEMP) meetings for our regions. Production foreman, production engineers, HS&E representatives and other operations managers are standardizing Newfield's approach to safety. One outgrowth of these meetings was the development of the Facility Design Guidelines. This tool provides Newfield with consistency and ensures our facility designs are built to the standards and recommended practices of the industry.

Challenges and Improvement Efforts

There are challenges ahead of us in regards to safety. We continue to proactively work to rid hazards from the workplace. Our employees and contractors are coordinating and cooperating with each other to eliminate on-the-job injuries. This partnership is the winning combination in protecting the life and safety of each of us. It is also a partnership that reaches across all geographic locations.

We encourage every employee and contractor employees to bring forward ideas on how to improve safety in their area and/or within the Company. We encourage employees and contractors to share their thoughts on safety with supervisors and management. In regards to safety we all share the mindset and reach for the same simple goal of going home safely at day's end.

Examples of the sharing of a safety mindset are the special safety seminars hosted by the Rocky Mountain region for its Monument Butte, Utah, employees with Billy Robbins. Robbins, a safety motivational speaker, gave his "Hooked on Safety" presentation at field locations during 2007 to an attentive audience of employees and contractors.

Newfield also has brought Dr. Joseph L. Mancusi, an outstanding motivational speaker/trainer to help inspire employees concerning leadership and safety. Dr. Mancusi founded the Center for Organizational Excellence, Inc. in 1985

Stop Work Authority Policy

Environment, Health and Safety Policy

Gas Star 2006 Reporting Summary & Benchmarking Report

Gas Star 2007 Reporting Summary & Benchmarking Report

Newfield Working with Others on Safety and the Environment

Newfield places great importance to its employees participating in industry and regulatory workgroups to help design and implement regulations and industry standards. This also helps the Company stay up to date on the newest safety/environmental regulations and issues. Some of the groups with active Newfield participation include:

• IPAMs (Independent Producers Association of Mountain States) Denver Office
• OSHA MCEPS (Mid-Continent Exploration and Production Safety) Tulsa Office (Executive Committee)
• Mid Continent Oil and Gas Association Environmental Committee - Tulsa Office
• Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association Environmental Committee - Tulsa Office
• IADC Advanced Well Control Training Curriculum - Houston Office (Development of Curriculum)
• Deepwater Well Control Guidelines - Houston Office (Development of Guidelines)
• Offshore Operators Committee - Houston Office (Executive Committee, Environmental and Technical Sub-committees)
• AXPC (American Exploration and Production Council) Houston Office (Chairman and environmental committees)
• API (American Petroleum Institute) - Houston Office Various workgroups involved in Writing and Rewriting Recommended Practices)
• OSHA STEPS (South Texas Exploration and Production Network) Houston Office

Compensation and EH&S

Environment, health and safety (EH&S) performances are measures used by Newfield to help annually determine both compensation and bonuses for its field employees in each of the Company's operating regions. While the method of determining the impact to compensation and bonuses varies among our regions and with individual area management, the overall Company emphasis is clear that conducting operations safely and with concern for the environment is an operating objective for our workforce. Our employees are rewarded for good performance in these areas.