Linde North America’s Alabama plant receives Responsible Care Certification

Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S.– Linde North America has received certification of its Decatur, Alabama, plant under the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care® program.

Linde North America 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.

Last year, Linde began the certification process with its headquarters facility in Murray Hill, New Jersey. During 2008, the company also completed certification of eight of its production plants located throughout the US. The Decatur plant is the last of four locations scheduled for certification in 2009 in order to satisfy the ACC’s requirement for membership. The Linde plants in Delta, Ohio, Price, Utah, and Terrell, Texas, received certification earlier this year.

The Decatur plant, in operation since 1998, produces 10 million cubic feet per day of hydrogen and 175 tons per day of carbon dioxide. The plant supplies hydrogen and carbon monoxide to petroleum producers and beverage-grade carbon dioxide to food processors and carbonated beverage companies throughout Alabama.

Alabama plant cluster manager, Brian Forsyth, said, “We are proud at Linde Decatur to receive the ACC’s Responsible Care Certification. It recognizes Linde as a leader in safety, healthy working conditions, and environmental responsibilities. Our employees, customers and the community in which we operate can be assured that we are committed to ongoing continuous improvements in these areas.”

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.

The Responsible Care management system offers an integrated, structured approach for driving continual improvement in seven key areas: community awareness and emergency response; security; distribution; employee health and safety; pollution prevention; process safety; and product stewardship.

Warren Arenz, head of safety, health, environment and quality for Linde North America, said, “I congratulate the entire team at our Decatur plant, who worked very hard for this certification. Recognition of the Decatur plant demonstrates the employees’ total involvement in Linde’s commitment to sustaining the practices specified in the Responsible Care management system.”

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.

The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 52,000 employees working in around 100 countries worldwide. In the 2008 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 12.7 billion (USD 15.9 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based 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. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.