NEW ORLEANS—The International Carbon Black Association has recognized 50 global carbon black production and research facilities for meeting benchmarks in safety performance.
The New Orleans-based group said in a news release that the achievements were even more impressive because of dealing with the challenges associated with the COVID-19 global pandemic.
"I would like to congratulate the ICBA Safety Award recipients for their continued focus on safety of our employees globally," ICBA President Wesley Wampler said in the release. "It takes significant effort, persistence and dedication, in spite of the current challenges, to achieve these results."
The intent of the awards is both to acknowledge the member companies' safety records as well as to educate policy makers and the public about the carbon black industry's focus on employee safety. "Our collective goal is for every person to go home the same way they arrived at the worksite," the association said.
The program is voluntary, with participating companies submitting safety performance data from the prior year, which is then certified by the company's member on the ICBA Board of Directors.
Awards are given in three categories:
- Bronze Awards are given to sites that achieved zero lost workday cases for their workers during 2020.
- Silver Awards go to sites that meet requirements for Bronze Awards or achieve more than 50 percent improvement from the prior year, plus have no medical aid or OSHA recordable incidents, or improve at least 50 percent; have zero fires or property damage incidents with impact greater than $100,000; and no regulatory citations for safety-related events, audits or activities.
- Gold Award winners meet all of the above criteria, plus received an external safety or environmental management system certification recognition; or implemented a company-specific Safety Management System; and achieved more than three years with no lost workday cases at the facility.
A total of 43 sites received Gold Awards, three earned Silver and five were awarded Bronze.
Broken down by company:
- Cabot Corp. earned 16 Gold and one Bronze;
- Continental Carbon Co. received one Gold and One Silver;
- Birla Carbon earned 12 Gold;
- Orion Engineered Carbons were honored with nine Gold, two Silver and one Bronze; and
- Tokai Carbon Co. received four Gold and three Silver.
The ICBA is a scientific, non-profit association founded in 1977.
