The Challenge
Contra Costa County Health’s Hazardous Materials Programs division oversees regulatory compliance and public safety across industrial facilities in Contra Costa County, California — including the Martinez Renewables refinery, a Marathon-affiliated renewable fuels facility in Martinez, California.
CCHHMP sought an independent, statistically defensible review of the refinery’s safety culture maturity with the explicit goal of identifying gaps before they contributed to a personal injury or process safety incident. The engagement carried unusually high stakes: findings would be reviewed by CCH Hazmat staff, refinery leadership, an ISO/CWS Ad Hoc Committee, and presented publicly to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors during a 45-day public comment period.
CCHHMP lacked a standardized, evidence-based methodology for measuring refinery safety culture maturity beyond auditing documented procedures.
The assessment required statistical rigor capable of withstanding both technical and public scrutiny across multiple stakeholder audiences.
Martinez Renewables was simultaneously transitioning from a legacy management system to a new Operational Excellence Management System, requiring the assessment to evaluate both current maturity and readiness for that transition.
The Solution
Motive Power served as prime contractor managing the full engagement lifecycle across three phases — Plan, Do, and Analyze and Report — with B-Safe Management Solutions engaged as a specialized subcontractor for safety culture methodology and statistical analysis.
Developed the Assessment Strategy and Plan, including interview protocols and data collection methods, and prepared a safety culture Maturity Model evaluating organizational maturity across ten domains on a five-point scale.
Engaged 191 personnel — 68% of Martinez Renewables’ total workforce — across document reviews, on-site workshops, structured interviews, and an online survey.
Conducted statistical analyses including ANOVAs and regression analyses, and calculated reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s Alpha 0.75 to 0.92) confirming the assessment’s internal consistency and credibility.
Developed nine actionable recommendations grounded in statistical findings and the refinery’s existing improvement initiatives.
Managed the full multi-stage public review process including ISO/CWS Ad Hoc Committee presentation, Board of Supervisors public meeting, and a structured 45-day comment period.
Produced an ADA-compliant Final Report incorporating all public and Board feedback, formally accepted by CCHHMP on February 18, 2026.
Key Metrics
The Results
Gave CCHHMP and Martinez Renewables an objective, externally benchmarked safety culture baseline for the first time — placing the refinery in the 40th percentile relative to global industry peers.
Identified Productivity Before Safety, Just Culture, and Safety Leadership as statistically validated predictors of personal injury and process safety incidents, giving the refinery a prioritized roadmap for targeted intervention.
Surfaced a previously undocumented divergence in safety perception between Operators and other workforce segments, enabling targeted follow-up rather than a generic, organization-wide initiative.
Successfully navigated a high-visibility public review process — Board of Supervisors presentation, public comment period, and multi-stakeholder revisions — resulting in formal report acceptance without derailment.
