Columbian Chemicals Co. receives two RMA Safety and Health Improvement Program 2006 Excellence Awards

MARIETTA, Ga. – Columbian Chemicals Co. received two of the Rubber Manufacturers Association’s (RMA) Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) 2006 Excellence Awards. SHIP recognizes member companies that achieve significant enhancements in worker health and safety with awards.

Columbian’s manufacturing facilities in Ulysses, Ks., and Centerville, La., were recognized at the RMA’s annual meeting with 2006 Excellence Awards for their safety performance during the 2005 calendar year. James E. Howard, Columbian’s senior vice president of marketing, sales and carbon black technology, was in attendance and accepted the awards on behalf of the facilities.

“Columbian is committed to keeping our employees safe, and we will remain committed to safety whether we receive public recognition or not,” said James P. Berresse, Columbian’s president and CEO. “Even so, this is a great opportunity to acknowledge the good work of our employees in Kansas and Louisiana, and I am grateful for the RMA’s support of safety in our industry.”

Two categories of awards are presented to RMA member companies that demonstrate workplace safety improvements, which are measured by the incidence rate for lost workday cases. The “Excellence” category is for facilities that achieve an incidence rate that is 75 percent better than the average achieved by the 181 plants that provided data to RMA.

Columbian Chemicals Co. is one of the world’s leading producers of carbon black – an engineered material that improves the strength, durability and overall performance of a range of products including tires and other mechanical rubber goods, as well as inks, paints, plastics and coatings. The company is the only major global carbon black manufacturer to have earned the ISO 14001 certification, an internationally recognized standard for environmental management, at all of its manufacturing facilities.

Based in Marietta, Georgia, Columbian Chemicals Co. is a subsidiary of Phelps Dodge Corp., one of the world’s leading producers of copper. Columbian Chemicals Co. owns and operates 12 carbon black manufacturing facilities in Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Spain and the United States.

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