Respons O u r Survival This is a fragile planet. As individuals, we all have to act responsibly to safeguard the balance of nature and protect our environment for future generations. That means conserving resources, reducing waste, and recycling used products. It means, in effect, changing our way of life. Manufacturers of essential chemical products have an inherent responsibility to preserve the environ! ..-.. m e n t ' t 0 encourage safety, / / .'• ") and to enhance the health y'" ' and welfare of our emplyees / and communities. Recognition y' ' of this led the Chemical ' y • Manufacturers Association to / develop the Responsible Care 7 initiative — a new way of life for the / chemical industry. As an industry, we're well aware how \ much our involvement has helped — from ,' protecting wildlife, to cleaning up the air and y water, to safeguarding the health and welfare of people. Through the ongoing, comprehensive f efforts of Responsible Care, we have become \ more responsive, efficient and effective, to the V -; t ' extent that we have invited the public to become involved with us and learn more about our industry. While the first steps have been taken, much remains to be done. Implementing the Codes of * Management Practices, the basic process by which Responsible Care" actually works, continues to be a major task. To this end, we are devoting significant resources to the development and j implementation of "bottom line" performance \ measurement and verification \ systems. j"^i>^ OxyChem played a key role in drafting the codes. We set up appropriate programs and accelerated existing ones within the company to implement the codes. As a starting point, we conducted a / series of employee seminars to foster better understanding of Responsible Care.
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• OxyChem is a registered trademark of Occidental Chemical Corporation
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And we developed a library of materials to inform and educate people both inside and outside our company.
Community Awareness and Emergency Response For years, OxyChem has been an industry leader in safety. Part of that leadership includes a program of emergency response, Jfr, developed in close association with rf/fy our plant communities. Since our concern for safety extends beyond the bound aries of our plants into surrounding communities, / : \ ] we developed -^W^ a Chemical ' J l~" N Emergency .. ^g^^' v Response Plan - . ^MÊÊf^^ (CERP) as a way of training personnel to deal with emergencies away from our facilities. The Responsible Care initiative is both comprehensive and detailed. To be sure OxyChem could measure up to its guidelines, we conducted a simultaneous emergency disaster drill at two of our petrochemicals plants, testing all aspects of handling an emergency on multiple levels. The idea was to find out just how we would cope if two major accidents occurred at the same time at different facilities, miles apart. One of the objectives was to determine how well we could conform with a key element of Responsible Care^ — the proper handling of emergencies in our plant communities, including correcting the / problem, taking care of injuries, and notifying the proper external agencies, emergency response organizations, community leaders and OxyChem personnel. The drill tested communication procedures and capabilities at various company levels — plant, division, group and corporate. While the results identified some areas that could be improved, for the most part the various j$¥ levels came through with flying colors — and -*','':'f. the drill reinforced the appropriateness / of procedures already in place. y As for community —" . awareness, we have a long^N standing tradition of k active involvement
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in the areas in which we operate. Outreach programs are ongoing at many of our plant locations. These range from informal get-togethers and plant tours, to sponsoring community advisory panels, to being strongly represented in organizations like United Way, Adopt-a-School and Junior Achievement. _. Process and Employee Safety Developing a comprehensive, company-wide program for continuous improvement in process safety was identi fied as one of OxyChem's major priorities and is now being implemented. A detailed study to , identify resources J ^ j needed to complete upgrading all of our ; sites to an "in-place" status was completed in 1994. Acting on the study's ' recommendations, we expect to reach 100% \.^ implementation of our basic M · 7 ' Process Safety Management systems by the end of 1995.
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As for the safety of our employees, we've reduced our on-the-job injury and illness rate by 67% over the last five years, simply by concentrating on the fundamentals. We're proud to say that 1994 was, by any measure, our safest year ever. Our ultimate goal is to record a year with no employee injuries. If 1994 is anything to go by, we are well on our way.
An Ongoing Commitment OxyChem is currently spending more than $100 million a year to protect the environment. While acutely aware , of the need for continuous .; ~ }> improvement, -' we can already point to a number y\of accomplishments. "Î-* " A few examples: in 1993, two years \ ahead of schedule, we '[ ^ * met the USEPA's \/ «V 50% reduction goal ^ x for the Voluntary „ ss *v Release Reduction ^\:" ' Program; our hazardous ^ air emissions have « dropped more than 10% a year since 1989 and V xi process modifications have reduced releases of \ carbon tetrachloride, an ozone-depleting substance, by 38% since 1989, with an 82% reduction expected by the end of 1995. What lies ahead? OxyChem has set its sights on further enhancement of our pollution prevention efforts. This includes ensuring that our Environment Management System encompasses the proposed international ISO 14000 Environmental Standard. It is only through such serious commitment to both the spirit and letter of Responsible Care that we're going to survive — as a company, as an industry, as a society. And it's only by turning in a conscientious environmental record that we'll all become winners — making our world a healthier, cleaner, safer place. Today, tomorrow and over the long haul.
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The chemical operations of Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Responsible Care
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