Linde's Illinois plant receives Responsible Care® Certification

MURRAY HILL, N.J. and NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J., Feb. 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Linde LLC has received certification of its Hartford, Illinois, air separation plant under the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® program.

Kevin Conner, production manager for the Hartford plant, said, "The Responsible Care Certification is a measure of our Hartford colleagues' commitment to safety, as well as being a good neighbor to our community, environmentally responsible and second-to-none as a supplier of products and services to our customers. They did a great job handling all the details associated with ACC certification."

Linde LLC 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. Linde has been a member of the ACC since 1951.

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. Since 2008, 24 Linde plants in North America have been certified under the program.

The Hartford plant has been operating since 1995 producing oxygen, nitrogen and argon. Gaseous oxygen and nitrogen are shipped to refineries, metals and steel customers via a 20-mile network of pipelines. The liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon are delivered by truck to a variety of end-users including hospitals, food processors and metals fabricators in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Linde employs 35 people at the plant.

Holly Jerdi, head of Health, Safety and Environment for Linde North America, said, "I congratulate all my colleagues at the Hartford plant for this accomplishment. Their efforts were invaluable in the process that places Linde among the leaders in the U.S. when it comes to sustaining the practices specified in the Responsible Care management system."

The Responsible Care management system offers an integrated, structured approach for driving continuous 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.

In the 2013 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of  $23.1 bn (EUR 16.655 bn), making it the largest gases and engineering company in the world with approximately 63,500 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable 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. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.

For more information, see The Linde Group online at www.linde.com

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SOURCE Linde North America

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