"Our Star certification places us in an elite group of industrial sites and validates our efforts to make our planet a safe and healthy place to work," said Darrell Nordeen, facility director. "We are proud of our people and their attention to safety, and of the management processes we have in place."
The Bishop facility's successful results are reflective in its safety record. In 1998, it had an OSHA Incident Rate of 0.75 compared to a chemical industry rate of 2.1.
The Bishop site, which employs 875 people and occupies 1,200 acres produces more than 1 billion pounds per year of acetal, polyester and nylon polymers, organic chemicals and bulk pharmaceuticals.
According to OSHA, 471 work sites of the more than 6 million under its jurisdiction had federal STAR certification as of Jan. 31, and only 43 of these are in the same size category as the Ticona facility.
In addition to the Bishop facility, three other Celanese locations have Star certification.
The Summit, N.J. technical center and headquarters for Celanese and Ticona has had OSHA Star status since 1988; the Shelby, N.C. polyester and liquid crystal polymer plant received Star certification in 1996; and the Corpus Christi Technical Center has been an OSHA Star site since 1993.
"The Bishop plant made Star certification a goal of the five-year safety strategy it set in 1994," said John Gorski, manager of occupational health and safety for Ticona. "This helped motivate and focus its workforce in the ongoing drive to lower incident rates. Credit for the certification goes to the plant's employees, who are dedicated to a safe work environment and who make it a reality through their actions."