The Louisiana Chemical Association (LCA) recently unveiled the recipients of the association's "Best in Louisiana" SAFE awards, which are given to four Louisiana chemical plants that have achieved outstanding performance in employee and process safety and environmental stewardship.
The Class 4 (over 400 employees) "Best in Louisiana" winner was given to ExxonMobil Chemical Co.'s Baton Rouge Chemical Plant.
The Class 3 (201-400 employees) "Best in Louisiana" award was earned by Shintech Louisiana.
For Class 2 (101-200 employees), the "Best in Louisiana" title was awarded to LyondellBasell Lake Charles Polymers, which celebrated its 60th year in operation in October 2019.
In Class 1 (100 or fewer employees), the winning plant was Lonza in Lake Charles.
SAFE stands for "Serious About Fostering Excellence." This was the 24th year the annual SAFE program has quantified safety practices and results at LCA member companies. Average OSHA accident and injury statistics for all LCA member facilities now represent less than one-fifth the levels when LCA began the SAFE program.
Sixty-six facilities at 44 companies, employing a total of 19,652 chemical workers, took part in the 2019 SAFE project. Participating employees contributed well over $1.6 billion in wages to the Louisiana economy last year, and those wages in turn created and supported an estimated 106,000 other Louisiana jobs.
SAFE participating facilities had an average OSHA safety score in 2018 that was 36-percent higher than the American Chemistry Council's national average. All four winning companies, employing a total of 1,610 people, turned in employee incident rates that were either zero or nearly zero.
For more information about the SAFE program, visit www.lcasafe.org or call (225) 344-2609
