Air Products Dedicates New Pipeline Training Facility in Texas

Global Training Grounds Allow for Pipeline Technicians to Prepare in Real World Environment

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Mar 05, 2014, 03:04 ET

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., March 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products (NYSE: APD) today dedicated a new pipeline safety training facility located in La Porte, Texas which will allow for the hands-on training of its pipeline technicians who regularly install, inspect and maintain the company's pipeline operations around the world. The training facility is strategically located in the United States Gulf Coast, as Air Products has substantial pipeline operations in the region, including the world's largest hydrogen plant and pipeline network system.

"Safety is and has always been a core value at Air Products. This training facility reinforces Air Products' dedication to safety for our employees that work on our pipelines and for the communities near where we operate them. There are approximately 60 tasks performed at specific times on our pipelines, with most requiring hands-on training. This facility will allow our global pipeline technicians to receive necessary training, and to do so in a safe manner without having to use active pipelines serving customers," said Richard Boocock, vice president, Global Operations at Air Products.

The facility has a sampling of all the required tasks a pipeline technician would encounter in the pipeline environment such as: a customer industrial gas delivery and meter station; cathodic protection, including buried anodes and a test station; buried pipeline probing and foreign pipeline crossing; a pipeline coating station and associated welding, brazing and ultrasonic testing, among other pipeline training features. The facility also includes working with automatic shut-off valves (ASV), which is an additional Air Products preventative measure installed on most of its pipelines around the world. In the event of a pipeline disruption, the ASVs can be turned off to isolate certain segments of pipeline needing attention. The training facility uses compressed air for industrial gas simulation.

The new Air Products pipeline training facility is being dedicated to Thomas D. Fritsche, a 36-year company employee and pipeline specialist who initiated the concept. "Tom felt very strongly about this facility. It is a process improvement because it significantly lessens risk to in-service pipelines by qualifying and evaluating pipeline technicians in a staged, controlled area. It also greatly decreases potential damage, no matter how remote, to a live pipeline, facility, or disruption in product supply to customers," said Andy Gutacker, Gulf Coast pipeline manager at Air Products.

Globally, Air Products' pipeline operational expertise is evidenced by the over 40 year safe operation of its network of systems. Pipelines offer a safe, robust and reliable supply of industrial gases to a variety of industries around the world. Air Products' industrial pipelines typically transport gases including oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and water/steam.

For more about Air Products' pipeline safety programs, please visit www.airproducts.com/pipelinesafety.

About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE:APD) provides atmospheric, process and specialty gases; performance materials; equipment; and technology. For over 70 years, the company has enabled customers to become more productive, energy efficient and sustainable. Recognized as one of the world's most innovative companies by both Thomson Reuters and Forbes magazine, more than 21,000 employees in over 50 countries supply effective solutions to the energy, environment and emerging markets. These include semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, coal gasification, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and adhesives. In fiscal 2013, Air Products had sales of $10.2 billion. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.

NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release regarding important risk factors. Actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors not anticipated by management, including risk factors described in the Company's Form 10K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2013.

SOURCE Air Products