Birla Carbon awarded for prioritising employee safety

Carbon black manufacturer Birla Carbon has been acknowledged by the International Carbon Black Association (ICBA) for exceptional safety performance in the industry. Gold and bronze awards of ICBA’s ‘Safety Recognition Program’ went to 12 Birla Carbon plants across North/South America, Europe and Asia, as well as their Marietta R&D Laboratory in the US.

The non-profit ICBA initiated the Program to acknowledge outstanding safety records maintained by international carbon black manufacturers, as the industry regards employee safety a pre-condition for successful operations. The Program is structured to stimulate interest in safety activities, enhance public awareness, and to promote round-the-clock safety amongst an on-site workforce.

Participating companies had their previous year’s safety performance data reviewed by the ICBA Board of Directors appointed by member companies, and were then awarded accordingly in three categories. Over 40 global facilities have received ICBA’s certificates, and sites that meet more than one award criteria receive the highest recognition:-

Bronze Awards were given to sites that achieved zero Lost Work Days (LWD) relating to employee injury or illness for the work year; Silver Awards were given to sites that demonstrated greater than 50% improvement from the previous year on top of zero LWD cases and zero medical aid or OSHA recordable incidents; Gold Awards were presented to sites that implemented a company-specific safety management system, received an external safety or environmental management system certification recognition (ISO 45001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, OSHA VPP, or equivalent) and achieved more than three years of zero LWD cases at the facility.

Birla Carbon is the flagship business of the US$44.3 billion Aditya Birla Group. The company provides a complete portfolio of products across ASTM grades and specialty blacks to meet the specific end requirements across tyre, rubber, inks and other industries.

Joe Gaynor, Chief Legal, Risk and Sustainability Officer at Birla Carbon, has thanked ICBA for the honour and reiterates that safety is crucial to management at Birla Carbon, “Our policies and processes are written and implemented while heeding to the safety of our staff, safe handling of carbon black and safe management of the manufacturing facilities.”