Vulcan Materials Company: Social Responsibility 2000 Report

INTRODUCTION

Letter from Don James
Chairman & CEO

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Overview

Good Neighbors

Corporate Citizenship

Employee Volunteers

PROTECTING NATURAL RESOURCES

Wildlife Habitats

Land Reclamation

Recycling

Improving Product Quality

LEADERSHIP IN SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Leadership Roles

SHE Staff

Measuring Our Success

FOCUS ON SAFETY, HEALTH,
AND THE ENVIRONMENT

	Construction Materials - Occupational Health
	Construction Materials - Safety
	Construction Materials - Protecting Resources
	Chemicals - Occupational Health
	Chemicals- Safety
	Chemicals -Protecting Air, Land & Water
	Audits

SAFETY, HEALTH, AND
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Printable Version

We work hard to promote the safe production, distribution and use of chlorine and related chemicals -providing their benefits to society while eliminating unsafe practices. In fact, the chemical industry in the United States is one of the safest: The occupational injury and illness rates for American Chemistry Council member companies are currently 4.5 times better than rates for the U.S. manufacturing sector as a whole.

Our safety challenges match those faced by any other modern producer of industrial chemicals. Under federal regulations, we are required to address operating practices, plant layout, maintenance, ventilation, and extremes of temperature, noise and vibration. We must also meet OSHA 's safety standards for operating and maintenance procedures.

Any successful safety program must determine the likely major causes of accidents and then develop ways to address them. For these purposes, Vulcan 's Chemicals Group uses two management systems: behavioral-based accident prevention and process safety management.

Behavioral-Based Accident Prevention

Behavioral-based accident prevention for uses on identifying and correcting unsafe behavior in the workplace. Workers trained in identifying "at-risk behavior" observe fellow employees at various tasks and provide immediate feedback. Entering reported at-risk behaviors into a database allows us to analyze the information for trends and develop more effective corrective action plans.

Process Safety Management

Process safety management assesses hazards related to plant processes and updates safety factors. Our program is based on the Responsible Care Process Safety Code and OSHA's Process Safety Management Standard. It has been developed and is maintained with extensive staff and financial resources, as well as substantial community input.

Safety management requires commitment by everyone. The accompanying charts compare Vulcan's Chemicals Group results with statistics from companies that are members of the American Chemistry Council. The higher OSHA recordable incident rate at Vulcan Performance Chemicals facilities acquired by Vulcan in the middle to late 1990s is being addressed with aggressive safety programs at these facilities.

One of our safety goals is achieving an OSHA recordable rate of 1.5 by 2005. Our goal for a zero lost-time accident rate is already in place. Regrettably, Vulcan Chemicals experienced its first fatality since 1986 when a vehicle crossed the road median and hit a Vulcan truck head-on.

A notable example of our commitment to safety excellence is our Port Edwards facility: It has completed 32 years without a lost-time injury, a record unparalleled in the U.S. chloralkali industry. And on January 3, 2001, our Geismar plant had exceeded more than 3 million work hours without a lost-time accident.