Linde North America's North Carolina Plant Receives Responsible Care Certification
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Eighth production location certified in 2008
Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S., February 3, 2009 - Linde North America, Inc. has received certification of its Midland, North Carolina, air separation plant under the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® program.
Linde North America, Inc. is a member of The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company. The ACC is an association of producers, manufacturers and suppliers of chemical products.
The Midland plant, in operation since 2002, separates air cryogenically to produce 255 tons per day of oxygen, 655 tons per day of nitrogen and 13 tons per day of argon. These products are trucked to hospitals, food processors, metal fabricators, industrial gas distributors, and natural gas well service companies, as well as to electronic component and glass fiber manufacturers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The plant employs 38 people.
Responsible Care is a globally recognized management system aimed at helping companies improve performance in areas such as safety, health, environment and security. Certification is mandatory for all ACC member companies, which must undergo headquarter and facility audits by an independent, accredited auditor to verify that they have a structure and system in place that manages and measures performance. Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) is Linde's independent auditor.
The Midland plant is the eighth production location certified in 2008 under the Responsible Care® program. The others certified are: Buffalo, New York; Cartersville, Georgia; South Bend, Indiana; Kittery, Maine; Nashville, Tennessee; Toledo, Ohio; and Vancouver, Washington. Linde's corporate headquarters in Murray Hill, NJ, also was certified in 2008 under the program.
Howard Schultz, Midland cluster manager, said, "We are proud to be selected from the dozens of plants in the Linde network to participate in the ACC Responsible Care certification program. The standards set out for this certification is how we operate every day. And now all employees at the Midland plant will receive the recognition for which they have all worked so hard."
The Responsible Care management system offers an integrated, structured approach for driving continual improvement in seven key areas: community awareness and emergency response; security; distribution; employee health and safety; pollution prevention; process safety; and product stewardship.
Implementing the Responsible Care system is a multi-step process. Companies must first plan - identify, assess and evaluate potential hazards and risks associated with their products, processes and operations - and establish goals and objectives to address any significant hazards or risks. Next, they must do what they have planned, checking their progress along the way to measure performance and take necessary corrective actions. Communicating with employees and other stakeholders, including neighbors and customers, along the way also is essential.
R. J. Frame, head of risk, process safety and product stewardship, said, "Although it was very challenging to meet all the criteria at all of our facilities selected for certification in 2008, it was a very rewarding experience. Working toward - and receiving - these certifications falls right in line with our goals as a high performance organization and our vision to be the leading gases and engineering company."
The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with more than 50,000 employees working in around 100 countries worldwide. In the 2007 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 12.3 billion (USD 18.7 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards earnings-based and sustainable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services.
Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment - in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development. For more information, see The Linde Group web site at www.linde.com
Contact:
Peter Gavigan
Linde corporate Comunications
908-771-1512Peter.gavigan@linde.com
