The International Carbon Black Association (ICBA) recently awarded 12 Birla Carbon plants and a R&D Center with certificates of recognition for achieving a level of safety performance above industry average. Eleven plants and the Marietta R&D Laboratory received the gold award while one plant received the bronze award. This includes Birla Carbon plants across North and South America, Europe and Asia. A total of 44 global carbon black manufacturing facilities received this recognition as part of the ‘Safety Recognition Program’ from ICBA.
Outstanding Safety Records Maintained
The ICBA began this recognition program to acknowledge the outstanding safety records maintained by carbon black manufacturers around the globe and to educate policymakers and the public about the carbon black industry’s genuine regard for making employee safety a pre-condition for successful operations. The program identifies facilities that go the distance to protect the carbon black industry’s most precious resource – its work force.
Making Facilities Safe Places to Work
Speaking about the recognition, Joe Gaynor, Chief Legal, Risk and Sustainability Officer, Birla Carbon, said, “At Birla Carbon safety is a key component of everything we do. Our policies and processes are written and implemented keeping in mind the safety of our people, safe handling of carbon black and safe management of the manufacturing facilities. I want to congratulate the Birla Carbon plants who have given so much emphasis on building a culture of safety within the organization.” He further added, “I also take this opportunity to thank the ICBA for recognizing the effort of all carbon black manufacturers in making their facilities safe places to work.
Participating companies submitted their previous year’s safety performance data which has been certified by the company’s member on the ICBA Board of Directors. The awards were given in three categories. The sites that meet more than one award criteria received the highest recognition.
Bronze Awards given to sites that achieved zero Lost Work Day (LWD) cases for their employees during the calendar year of 2018. LWD case is a work related injury or illness resulting in one or more lost work days for the employee following the day of the injury.
Silver Awards recognizes sites that met the requirements of the Bronze awards or demonstrate greater than 50% improvement from the previous year; and achieved zero medical aid or OSHA recordable incidents or greater than 50% improvement from previous year. Zero fires or property damage incidents with an impact greater than US$100K and zero regulatory citations for safety related events, audits or activities.
Gold Awards were presented to sites that met the criteria for Silver awards and received an external safety or environmental management system certification recognition, such as ISO 45001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, OSHA VPP, or equivalent 3rd party management system certification recognition; or implemented a company-specific safety management system and achieved more than three years with zero LWD case at the facility.
The Safety Recognition Program of ICBA is designed to stimulate interest in safety activities, enhance awareness, and to promote safety 24 hours a day at the plant level.
Source: Birla Carbon