Environmental and Safety Information

ASHTA Chemicals Inc. is committed to meeting or exceeding applicable regulatory compliance guidelines to protect the health and well being of our employees and communities in which we do business. As a member of the Chlorine Institute (CI), ASHTA implements the safety and environmental guidelines documented in the CI pamphlets.  Our distributors are required to adhere to the principles of Responsible Distribution as stated by the National Association of Chemical Distributors.

Specific operation goals are established to protect our employees, the environment, and the public.  To achieve these goals, ASHTA must employ and train a workforce that adheres to the specific policies and operation procedures. A Pay for Knowledge system is utilized to encourage personnel to learn new tasks and attain qualification through task demonstration, peer review, written examination, and oral examination by site management representatives. Monthly Safety Meetings are held in each department to review safety and environmental issues and regulations.  A Web Based Training program is utilized to keep employees up to date on safe work practices and regulations.  And, quarterly sessions with ASHTA senior management staff are held with all employees to review ASHTA’s performance in all areas of operation and business.

In the area of safety, ASHTA made a commitment to reduce the OSHA Recordable Incident Rate by 50% from the previous year and to continue to achieve zero lost time incidents in the year 2004. Through the implementation DuPont's STOP Safety Program and ASHTA's educational efforts, ASHTA's safety performance has improved dramatically in recent years. The current OSHA Recordable Incident is well below the industry mean of 2.5. ASHTA has not experienced a Lost Time Injury ("LTI") in over two years. The previous number of days worked without an LTI was in excess of 1500 days.

One of ASHTA's environmental goals was to reduce the consumption of mercury used in the process for the production of chlorine and liquid potassium hydroxide. This goal has been successfully achieved by implementing a hazardous waste recycling program. Another important environmental goal was to continue to attain and maintain zero water discharge from the process areas into Lake Erie. ASHTA lead the way in developing and implementing technology to comply with the new water quality standard the EPA imposed upon Industries discharging into the Great Lakes. Since 1998, ASHTA has successfully operated a state of the art system to collect, treat, and re-use all process and storm water from the ten (10) acre process area site.

To meet ASHTA's Community Outreach Goal, ASHTA participates in several local organizations. An ASHTA representative meets monthly with the Ashtabula Community Action Panel, a group comprised of local citizens and chemical industry representatives. Typical topics of discussion for these meetings include plant safety and environmental performance, review of each chemical plant's Annual Toxic Release Inventory Reports, and local environmental clean up efforts. Tours are also conducted at each of the participating company's facility. ASHTA is also represented on the Local Emergency Planning Committee and the Ashtabula County Safety Council. To ensure the timely response to chemical emergencies within our community, ASHTA is a participant in a mutual aid phone response system, which has been installed in eleven (11) neighboring manufacturing facilities.