Linde North America's Buffalo Plant Receives Responsible Care Certification Plant Supplies Industrial Gases To Customers Throughout U.S. Northeast And Canada
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Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S., January 27, 2009 - Linde North America has received certification of its Buffalo, New York, 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 Buffalo plant, in operation since 1989, separates air cryogenically to produce 220 tons per day of oxygen, 550 tons of nitrogen and 20 tons of argon. These products are liquefied and trucked to hospitals, food processors, metal fabricators, industrial gas distributors, and military installations, as well as to steel, glass and glass fiber manufacturers in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario, Canada. The plant employs 40 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 Buffalo plant joins six other Linde production locations certified in 2008 under the Responsible Care® program. The others are: Cartersville, Georgia; South Bend, Indiana; Kittery, Maine; Toledo, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; and Vancouver, Washington. Linde's corporate headquarters in Murray Hill, NJ, also was certified.
Buffalo cluster manager, Jack Pederson, said, "This certification validates that when employees focus on safety, truly operate as a team, perform their jobs professionally and pay attention to detail, they are able to demonstrate to all stakeholders what a world-class organization they are part of. All members of the team did a great job in achieving this recognition and should be very proud of their efforts."
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 for Linde, said, "Congratulations to the management team and its staff at our Buffalo plant for the great effort they've given to meet the rigorous requirements for this award. This accomplishment - combined with those of the other locations that have received certification - confirms that we have best in class processes in safety, health, environment and security which are being well executed at the plant level."
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 communications
908-771-1512
Peter.gavigan@linde.com
