LOUISIANA CHEMICAL ASSOCIATION

2007 PROGRAM

(recognizing LCA members' environmental and safety performance
and community outreach during calendar year 2006)

July 2007

A. OBJECTIVE

The objective of LCA's award and recognition program known as "SAFE" (Serious About Fostering Excellence) is to promote the continuous performance improvement of all LCA member facilities.

The SAFE program works to achieve this objective by providing recognition opportunities for LCA members who, during the previous calendar year, achieved superior results in employee and contractor safety, environmental performance, and community outreach/involvement.

B. RECOGNITION OPPORTUNITIES

LCA promotes and recognizes SAFE award winning companies in multiple ways:

1. At LCA's Annual Fall Membership Meeting;
2. Via the Internet at www.lca.org;
3. With a news release sent to media outlets;
4. With written articles and/or photographs published in "The Alliance," and other publications;
5. With information in LCA's Annual Report;
6. With displays in the LCA offices;
7. With information distributed via LCA's Environmental Affairs and Health/Safety committees.

Awards will be distributed to facility representatives attending LCA's 2007 Annual Meeting scheduled for October 3-5, 2007 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New Orleans (and will be mailed to others).

Best in Louisiana

All participating facilities have an opportunity to compete for "BEST IN LOUISIANA" recognition. Based upon information submitted in the official application form, a "BEST IN LOUISIANA" award will be presented to one facility in each of four plant size categories as follows:

Class One: 1-100 full time company employees;
Class Two: 101-200 full time company employees;
Class Three: 201-400 full time company employees;
Class Four: 401+ full time company employees.

Most Improved

This award recognizes one company in each of the four size classes (enumerated above) which has achieved the highest level of improvement in safety over the past 3 years.  

The award is based on attaining the lowest three year weighted average TRIR and having had no fatalities. The weighted averaging results in 56.25 percent of the total coming from 2006, 31.25 percent from 2005, and 12.5 percent from 2004, so greater emphasis is placed on the most current scores.  In case of a tie, the facility with the lowest 2006 TRIR will be the Most Improved for 2006. The award is not available to companies which have also won Best in Class.

C. RECOGNITION CRITERIA

A summary of the "Distinguished Achievement" and "BEST IN LOUISIANA" criteria is presented in this section. The SAFE program includes four major categories:

Category One: EMPLOYEE SAFETY

1. Level One: 4-year (2003-2006) average OSHA total recordable incident rate (TRIR) equal to 0.00 - 0.90;
2. Level Two: 1-year (2006) OSHA TRIR equal to 0.00 - 0.75;
3. Level Three: 5-year (2002-2006) evaluation. Compare the 2006 TRIR to the 4-year (2002-2005) average. An award is earned if the 2006 TRIR reflects at least 25 percent improvement over the 4-year (2002-2005) average OR if the 2006 TRIR equals 0.00.

Category Two. CONTRACTOR SAFETY

(same criteria as for employee safety)

1. Level One: 4-year (2002-2006) average OSHA TRIR equal to 0.00 - 0.90;
2. Level Two: 1-year (2006) OSHA TRIR equal to 0.00 - 0.75
3. Level Three: 5-year (2002-2006) evaluation. Compare the 2006 TRIR to the 4-year (2002-2005) average. An award is earned if the 2006 TRIR reflects at least 25 percent improvement over the 4-year (2002-2005) average OR if the 2006 TRIR equals 0.00.

Category Three. ENVIRONMENTAL

1. Permit Exceedances: Average of the permit exceedances from 2002-2006, in the top 25 percent in each class (i.e. those facilities having the fewest number of events).
2. Reportable Releases Index: Average of the CERCLA reportable releases to air, 2002-2006, indexed to "per million pounds of saleable production". An award will be earned by those facilities in the top 25 percent of each class (i.e. those facilities having the fewest).
3. Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Index: Relative percent improvement greater than or equal to 10 percent in the 2006 average compared to the 2005 average TRI, indexed to saleable production (per million pounds of saleable production).

Category Four. GOOD NEIGHBOR ACTIVITIES

1. Class One facilities (1-100 employees): five or more activities required;
2. Class Two facilities (101-200 employees): seven or more activities required;
3. Class Three facilities (201-400 employees): eight or more activities required;
4. Class Four facilities (400+ employees): nine or more activities required.

Note: see Application form for a detailed explanation and listing of approved program activities.

D. "BEST IN LOUISIANA" RECOGNITION

Manufacturing facilities earn points toward "BEST IN LOUISIANA" as follows:

SAFETY

Employee Safety

Contractor Safety

ENVIRONMENTAL

The "BEST IN LOUISIANA" will be presented to one (1) manufacturing facility per class with at least one award in each of the SAFE programs' four major categories: Employee Safety; Contractor Safety; Environmental; and Good Neighbor.

If two or more facilities in the same class have at least one award in each of the four major categories, the "BEST IN LOUISIANA" will be awarded to that facility with the greatest number of award points.

If two or more facilities in the same class have at least one award in each of the four major categories, the "BEST IN LOUISIANA" will be awarded to that facility with the greatest number of award points.

If two or more facilities in the same class (with at least one award in each of the four major categories) have the same number of award points, the "BEST IN LOUISIANA" will be considered a tie and each facility will be honored with "BEST IN LOUISIANA".

If no facility has an award(s) in all four major categories, the BEST IN LOUISIANA" will go that site with an award(s) in three of the four categories plus the greatest total number of award points. In the event of a tie, the same procedure as stated above will be used to award the "BEST IN LOUISIANA". If no site has an award in three of the four categories, the "BEST IN LOUISIANA" will go to that site with an award(s) in two of the four categories plus greatest total number of award points, etc.

RESOURCE PERSONNEL

dated: July 2007