The Vinyl Institute Recognizes Leading Companies for Outstanding Health, Safety and Environmental Performance

These awards are based on facility performance according to federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable incidents, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), other regulatory permit performance, and the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory data for air and water during the 2016 calendar year.

"The Vinyl Institute members' commitment to continually improve in the areas of worker safety and environmental performance is the hallmark of our industry," said VI President and CEO, Richard Doyle. "Their focus on safety training, process improvements, and technological advancements have made the North American vinyl resin and monomer industry one of the safest manufacturing industries with an OSHA occupational injury and illness rate that is less than half the rate of the overall chemical industry and one fourth the rate of overall manufacturing. In addition, the vinyl industry has experienced an 83 percent reduction in unit vinyl chloride emissions while our industry's PVC resin production in the U.S. has increased by 91 percent."

Each year the Vinyl Institute proudly recognizes facilities in the vinyl and EDC/VCM categories that have achieved outstanding performance in four categories: Safety Excellence, Safety Performance, Environmental Excellence and Environmental Honor. For the second year, the VI included and recognized the health safety and environmental performance of companies with facilities involved in plasticizer production, additive production and PVC and chlorinated PVC compounding.

The Vinyl Institute's Safety Excellence Awards are based upon federal OSHA recordable incidents, which are defined as an occupational injury or illness resulting in medical treatment.  The awards, which recognize plants with five or more consecutive years with no recordable incidents, were presented to (in alphabetical order):

• Eastman Chemical Company Plasticizer/Additive Manufacturing plant, Texas City, TX (5 consecutive years of performance)
• ExxonMobil Chemical Company Plasticizer/Additive Manufacturing, Baton Rouge, LA (5 consecutive years of performance)
• Formosa Plastics Corporation PVC Compounding plant, Point Comfort, TX (6 consecutive years of performance)
• OxyChem EDC plant, Geismar, LA (6 consecutive years of performance)
• Oxy Vinyls Canada PVC plant, Niagara Falls, Ontario (9 consecutive years of performance)
• Westlake Vinyls PVC plant, Geismar, LA (7 consecutive years of performance)

The VI's Safety Performance Awards recognize efforts to improve worker safety based upon OSHA's recordable incidence rate. This award, which recognizes plants with no recordable incidents for the reporting year, was presented to seven companies representing 27 facilities.  The recipients (in alphabetical order) of this award for performance during 2016 include:

• Eastman Chemical, Plasticizer/Additive Manufacturing plant, Chestertown, MD
• Eastman Chemical, Plasticizer/Additive Manufacturing plant, Texas City, TX
• ExxonMobil Chemical Company Plasticizer/Additive Manufacturing plant, Baton Rouge, LA
• Formosa Plastics Corporation, VCM plant, Point Comfort, Texas
• Formosa Plastics Corporation, Specialty PVC plant, Point Comfort, Texas
• Formosa Plastics Corporation, PVC Compounding plant, Point Comfort, Texas
• OxyChem, EDC plant, Geismar, LA
• Oxy Vinyls, VCM plant, Deerpark, TX
• Oxy Vinyls, PVC plant, Deerpark, TX
• Oxy Vinyls, VCM plant, La Porte, TX
• Oxy Vinyls Canada, PVC plant. Niagara Falls, Ontario
• Oxy Vinyls PVC plant, Pasadena, TX
• Oxy Vinyls PVC Plant, Pedricktown, NJ
• Shintech PVC plant, Freeport, TX
• Shintech PVC plant, Addis, LA
• Shintech EDC/VCM plant, Plaquemine, LA
• Shintech PVC plant, Plaquemine, LA
• Teknor Apex PVC/CPVC Compounding plant, Jamestown, North Carolina
• Teknor Apex Plasticizer/Additive Manufacturing plant, Brownsville, Tennessee
• Westlake Chemical Plasticizer Manufacturing plant, Aberdeen, MS
• Westlake Chemical PVC Compounding plant in Aberdeen, MS
• Westlake Chemical Lake Charles South EDC/VCM plant, Westlake, LA
• Westlake Chemical Lake Charles South EDC plant, Westlake, LA
• Westlake Chemical PVC/CPVC Compounding plant, Prairie, MS
• Westlake Vinyls PVC plant, Geismar, LA
• Westlake Vinyls VCM plant, Geismar, LA
• Westlake Vinyls PVC plant, Calvert City, Kentucky

The Vinyl Institute's Environmental Excellence Awards are based on outstanding track record of performance for five or more consecutive years under EPA's NESHAPs, and other environmental permit requirements. The following facilities (in alphabetical order) demonstrated continued outstanding performance in 2016:

• Formosa Plastics Corporation EDC plant, Point Comfort, TX (5 consecutive years of performance)
• Formosa Plastics Corporation PVC Compounding plant, Point Comfort, TX (6 consecutive years of performance)
• K-Bin Inc PVC Compounding plant, Freeport, TX (5 consecutive years of performance)
• OxyChem, EDC plant, Convent, LA (5 consecutive years of performance)
• OxyChem EDC plant, Geismar, LA (6 consecutive years of performance)
• Teknor Apex PVC Compounding plant, Pawtucket, RI (5 consecutive years of performance)
• Westlake Chemical Company PVC plant, Aberdeen, MS (5 consecutive years of performance)
• Westlake Vinyls EDC/VCM plant, Calvert City, Kentucky (9 consecutive years of performance)

The environmental criteria for the VI's Environmental Honor Award include emissions reduction under the NESHAP, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for air and water.  The Environmental Honor Award is presented to two plants, one in the PVC category and one in the EDC/VCM category. The facilities achieving this award for performance during 2016 were:

• EDC/VCM category: Westlake Vinyls VCM Plant in Geismar, LA
• PVC category: Formosa Plastics Corporation Specialty PVC plant, Point Comfort, TX

2017 VI Gottesman Award and Partner of the Year Award Recognitions

In addition to the Health, Safety and Environmental Awards, the VI bestowed the Roy T. Gottesman Leadership Award and the Partner of the Year Award to two individuals during the Vinyl360 conference earlier this month.

The Roy T. Gottesman Leadership Award was established in honor of the Vinyl Institute's founding director, and recognizes outstanding service to the vinyl industry during a person's career. This year's Roy T. Gottesman Leadership Award recipient was Dick Heinle, vice president and general manager, Vinyl Division, Formosa Plastics Corporation, USA, for his continued dedication and service to the vinyl industry.

And the VI recognized Ricky Silver, president and chief executive officer of Silver-line Plastics Corporation, as Partner of the Year for his contributions to the vinyl industry's outreach and educational efforts. Under Mr. Silver's leadership, Silver-Line Plastics was the first plastic pipe manufacturer to be certified under Plastic Pipe & Fittings Association's stringent "Sustainable Manufacturing Conformity Assessment Program for Plastic Piping Components."

About the Vinyl Institute

The Vinyl Institute (VI), founded in 1982, is a U.S. trade association representing the leading manufacturers of vinyl resins, vinyl chloride monomer, vinyl additives, and modifiers. The VI works on behalf of its members to promote the benefits of the world's most versatile plastic, used to make everything from pipe for water infrastructure to building materials such as cladding, windows, flooring, roofing and wallcovering. The vinyl industry in the United States employs more than 350,000 highly skilled employees at nearly 3,000 facilities, and generates an economic value of $54.4 billion. For more information, visit: vinylinfo.org

SOURCE The Vinyl Institute

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