The American Chemistry Council (ACC) presented its highest honor June 7 to member companies Celanese Corp. and Ethyl Corp. The companies received ACC's Responsible Care Company of the Year Award for enhancing performance improvement and sustainability throughout their companies.
To be eligible for the award, companies must show exemplary achievement in meeting a number of Responsible Care performance requirements, including a safety performance rating in the top 10% of companies in their size category, with zero significant process incidents in the previous year and no fatalities in at least three years, a positive trend in performance measures and a demonstrated commitment to product stewardship goals. The company also must actively promote the Responsible Care ethic to stakeholders at the local, regional and national levels.
Celanese exceeded each of its five-year goals, with an energy-intensity reduction of 26%, greenhouse-gases reduction of 35%, waste intensity reduction of more than 70% and an air-emissions reduction of more than 40%. Most significantly, Celanese's 2010 global OSHA injury rate was 0.15, surpassing its 2010 goal of 0.22, ACC says.
Ethyl's Houston plant is on track to reduce its hazardous waste production by approximately 70% (more than 200 tons) from 2010. Ethyl also implements an active Safety Observation Program to capture and correct items with potential adverse effect, investigates all incidents that take place and ensures that all employees are aware of potential workplace hazards. Ethyl's commitment to safety has been acknowledged by the National Safety Council, which gave the company its Perfect Record Award for safety performance last year.
Responsible Care companies reduced hazardous releases to the air, land and water by 71% since 1988 and have a worker safety record that is three times better than the average of the chemical manufacturing sector as a whole, according to ACC.
For more information, visit http://www.americanchemistry.com.
