Linde North America's Toledo Plant Receives Responsible Care® Certification


Plant supplies hydrogen for cleaner-burning fuel production

Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S., January 8, 2009 - Linde North America has received certification of its Toledo, Ohio, hydrogen plant under the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® program.

Linde North America 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 Toledo plant, which began operating in 2006, is located at the Sunoco refinery site in Toledo. It supplies up to 120 million standard cubic feet a day of hydrogen to the Sunoco and BP oil refineries for cleaner-burning fuel production. It also supplies high pressure steam to the Sunoco refinery for general use. The Linde plant employs 12 people.

The hydrogen helps both refiners meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for producing cleaner-burning, lower sulfur gasoline and diesel fuels.
The Toledo plant joins five other production locations certified in 2008 under the Responsible Care® program. Those locations are: Cartersville, Georgia; Kittery, Maine; Nashville, Tennessee; South Bend, Indiana; and Vancouver, Washington. Linde's corporate headquarters in Murray Hill, NJ, also was certified.

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 headquarters 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 Toledo plant is surrounded by residential neighborhoods, which intensifies our responsibilities in terms of safety and the environment," said Bob Flage, operations manager for the plant. "The plant's successful certification shows how committed Linde is to Responsible Care by safely serving our customers and protecting our employees, neighbors and environment."
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.

Charlie Koehler, vice president of safety, health, environment and quality for Linde North America, said, "The management team and its staff at our Toledo plant are to be congratulated for the great effort they've given to meet the rigorous requirements for this certification. This accomplishment - and those of the other locations that have received certification - validate 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

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