Today’s big announcement from Bayer CropScience is the naming of a new plant manager, along with some shuffling of the Institute plant’s management duties.

Shown above is Steven Hedrick, who was named to the new role of “Head of the Institute Industrial Park.” The other change is the creation of a job as “Head of Bayer CropScience Institute Operations,” and that will be filled by Hank Teschendorf.

Bill Buckner, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience, explained the changes this way in a news release:

We believe these important changes will help us to better achieve our overall objectives at the Institute site. The new role of Head of Institute Industrial Park will allow increased focus on the overarching goals of the site, foremost among them safety and emergency response, while the Head of Bayer CropScience Institute Operations can direct his attention to the site’s day-to-day manufacturing operations.

Bayer’s move effectively ousts Institute plant manager Nick Crosby (above). The company said Crosby “will be taking on a new role in Bayer CropScience’s Industrial Operations group at the company’s North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C.” It said Crosby will be transferring “in the near future.”

Crosby took a lot of heat in the aftermath of the August 2008 explosion and fire that killed two Bayer workers for, among other things, trying to lead the Kanawha Valley public to believe no dangerous chemicals were released in that incident. But in fairness, Crosby was simply keeping with Bayer’s corporate line — that nothing dangerous was released by the explosion and fire.

Maya Nye, a spokeswoman for the group People Concerned About MIC, told me today:

Replacing Nick Crosby is not going to solve the problems that exist at the Institute facility; in fact, shifting management has historically caused safety lapses putting workers and community at risk.  While under his management team’s helm some really poor decisions were made that cost the lives of two workers, it is my opinion that Nick Crosby served Bayer Corporation well — as the scapegoat for sub-standard corporate values and business practices.  Until those are changed, the problems will remain.

But Bayer officials made it clear today that safety and environmental performance concerns were a major factor in their decision to make some changes in the Institute plant’s management structure and management team. Chris Evans, senior vice president for industrial operations at Bayer, told reporters at today’s press conference:

Clearly we wanted to increase our focus.

Hedrick, a Kanawha Vally native who graduated from DuPont High School and later West Point and comes most recently from Bayer’s Baytown, Texas, facility,  himself told the press conference:

… We have an opportunity to improve our standing in this community. I am absolutely committed to the safety of the people who work here and live here.

Here’s some video of Hedrick’s statement at today’s press conference:

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Chemical industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.