The American Chemistry Council (ACC) presented its Responsible Care Sustained Excellence Award and Responsible Care Leadership Award, recognizing four companies for outstanding leadership under the chemistry industry’s environmental, health, safety, and security performance initiative. 

Representatives of the award-winning companies accepted the honor before an audience of the industry’s top executives at ACC’s annual meeting in Colorado Springs, CO. Infineum, USA L.P, and Celanese Corp. received the Responsible Care Sustained Excellence Award, while Afton Chemical Corp. and Honeywell received the Responsible Care Leadership Award.

“American Chemistry makes the products that will help us achieve society’s vision for a better environment, safer and more secure workplaces, and healthier lives,” said ACC president and CEO Cal Dooley in presenting the awards. “Infineum, Celanese, Afton Chemical, and Honeywell are leading by example.  Their accomplishments under the Responsible Care initiative echo the call made by our elected leaders, partners in industry, and the American people to deliver measurable and meaningful improvements to environmental, health, safety, and security performance.”

Through the Responsible Care initiative, the chemistry industry has reduced environmental emissions by more than 80 percent and achieved a worker safety record that is four times better than the average of the U.S. manufacturing sector.

In the small company category (up to two million worker hours), ACC’s awards panel selected Infineum USA L.P. as the recipient for the Responsible Care Sustained Excellence Award. Celanese is the award recipient in the medium company category (2-20 million worker hours). To be considered for the Sustained Excellence Award, a company must perform in the top 10% of its size category in terms of employee safety statistics. The winner is chosen on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative measures that demonstrate sustained performance excellence over time. This award is the most prestigious given under ACC’s Responsible Care initiative.

"We are proud to be recognized by the American Chemistry Council as a company that puts safety in the forefront," said Infineum Bayway Chemical plant manager John Englishman. "Providing a safe work place for our employees and publicly acknowledging our commitment to operations integrity are essential elements of good corporate citizenship and helps promote enhanced industry standards.” For more information on Infineum, visit www.infineum.com.

“We are extremely proud to receive this honor as safety is a core value,” said Celanese chairman and CEO David Weidman, “Within Celanese, safety is viewed as a precondition for all that we do.” For more information on Celanese, visit www.celanese.com.

The Responsible Care Leadership Award recognizes companies that have demonstrated leadership in several areas of Responsible Care including promoting the ethic of Responsible Care, communicating to stakeholders, use of Responsible Care Partners, leadership in product stewardship, and RCMS/RC14001 implementation and certification status. To be considered for this award, companies must meet defined safety performance requirements, demonstrate a positive trend in performance metrics, and complete security requirements on time. The recipient of the 2009 Responsible Care Leadership Award in the small company category is Afton Chemical Corp.

In accepting the award, Warren Huang, president of Afton Chemical said, “Afton Chemical has a history of dedicated commitment to safety and environmental stewardship. These are core values for us. I appreciate the ACC Award as recognition for the daily implementation of these principles by every Afton employee, and I would like to thank all for their efforts. Afton’s people, systems, and products are among the industry’s best and we will continue to strive for even better performance in the future.” For more information on Afton Chemical, visit www.aftonchemical.com.

The Responsible Care Leadership Award winner for a medium size company is Honeywell.

“Winning this award recognizes the achievements and efforts of our entire organization, from our headquarters to the plant level,” said Andreas Kramvis, president and CEO of Honeywell Specialty Materials. “Responsible Care is, and will continue to be, a primary base that drives performance and behaviors in our company. We consider it nothing less than our license to operate.”

For more information on Honeywell, visit www.honeywell.com.