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Safety
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Industrial safety
Focus on prevention by identifying and controlling risks.
Arkema’s safety initiative, rolled out around the world under the “Safety In Action” banner, oversees in particular the deployment of safety management systems which include the prevention of major risks as well as safety at the workstation.
The initiative revolves around three complementary areas:
A technical component, dealing with major risk prevention. It essentially involves continuously consolidating Arkema’s technical expertise in process safety to design safe plants and improve the performance of existing ones.
A component concerned with the quality of our production operations, including the deployment of safety management systems tailored to the specific needs of each plant, and modeled directly on the Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) implemented across Arkema. ISMSs are regularly audited and certified by external auditors based on the International Safety Rating System (ISRS).
An occupational health and safety component, focusing on improving behavior by heightening the awareness of every player in Arkema’s industrial facilities, both Group employees and subcontracted employees.
The same initiative throughout the world to establish a shared safety culture.
The long-term improvement of industrial safety performance is closely linked to fostering a joint safety culture throughout the Group. This is the core objective of the "Safety in Action" program which reflects Arkema’s commitments and pools its various safety initiatives. This ambitious program involves every Group site and employee around the world, individually and collectively as part of their respective teams. It includes the monitoring of specific indicators that help measure the progress achieved and define new improvement areas.
FOCUS 2009
Safety, an ongoing battle
With a total recordable accidents of 5.9 per million hours worked and a lost-time accidents* of 2.7 per million hours worked in 2009, we did not improve on our 2008 performance. “After several years of steady improvement, these results reflect strikingly different situations at Arkema,” says Jean Morch, Arkema’s Vice President, Safety, Environment and Quality. While Arkema sites in China report very good indicators, certain industrial sites, especially in France, have more worrisome records. This shows that when it comes to safety, the battle is never definitively won. Our goal for 2010 is to bring our TRIR down to 5.3 and our LTIR to 2. The first prerequisite for success is to be demanding of our teams, our coworkers and ourselves. The safety of everyone depends on it.
* “Lost-time accident” refers to any evetn causing bodily injury or psychological shock to an employee in the course of his/her duties and resulting in time off work.
Transportation Safety
Opt for the most relevant transportation method, and increase the number of audits.
As a logical extension of its industrial safety initiative, Arkema strives to identify and minimize the risks involved in the transportation of its products. Wherever possible, Arkema opts for river transportation, which offers many logistics advantages with excellent safety conditions and a lesser impact on the environment. Arkema also uses the combined road-rail method where suitable. The same concern has made Arkema one of the main partners of Modalohr, a trans-Alpine rail service, with over 10% of the freight using this rail network.
Arkema has a team in its Industrial Safety Department dedicated specifically to transportation safety. For a number of years, suppliers have been required to undergo audits based on the rating system specific to each transportation mode: SQAS (Safety Quality Assessment System) for land transportation, CDI (Chemicals Distribution Institute) for maritime transportation, and EBIS (European Barge Inspection System) for inland waterway transportation.
Product stewardship
Market products that are useful to the community, safe, and do not endanger health or the environment.
Product stewardship means making sure that products do not jeopardize human health, safety or the environment at any stage in their life cycle, i.e. development, industrial plant design, production, logistics, marketing, use, and end of life.
The job of Arkema toxicologists and ecotoxicologists is to continuously improve what we know about the properties of the chemicals we produce. They work in particular with other professionals in the field through international programs. These programs aim to optimize our knowledge of the inherent dangers of the substances under study, and assess potential exposure levels during their life cycle in order to eliminate all risks to users.
Quick-FDS, product information on the internet
Material safety data sheets (MSDS's) are mandatory documents that provide customers with information about the risks of using hazardous chemicals in the workplace. They are sent out systematically when a customer places an initial order, or whenever their data is significantly revised. Material safety data sheets are designed to help customers take the necessary health, safety and environmental precautions in the workplace.
With Quick-FDS, MSDS's are now available on the internet. The system allows data to be amended automatically, updated versions to be distributed systematically, and emailed enquiries from customers to be responded to without delay. Already accessible in many countries, in 2005 the system was extended throughout Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Hungary, Poland), Turkey and China.
Arkema and the Reach Project
From its creation, Arkema has supported the objectives of the Reach Project: we strongly believe in the need for a joint European Union regulation on managing chemical substances, and accordingly have always worked closely with the lawmakers, through French and European industry associations, to help draft an effective, workable regulation. We are making sure that we will be ready as soon as it comes into force. Arkema has already initiated substitution programs for some of these substances, well before Reach is due to come into force.
