South America RBU
Environmental awareness is not yet high on the agenda of some South American countries. Large-scale deforestation of the Amazon rainforests, for example, is evidence of this. These “green lungs” have a significant impact on the world’s climate, not only due to the fact that they produce vital oxygen through photosynthesis, but also because they bind the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. To raise public awareness of the consequences of deforestation, for instance, we got involved in an environmental book project.
“The Jundiai River Basin” describes and illustrates the area along the river near São Paulo. It particularly focuses on the area’s settlement, recent environmental measures, and its significance as a recreational area for the inhabitants in and around São Paulo. We supplied copies of this book to various school and university libraries.
In Venezuela, we support “Asociación Civil Amigos del Cerro Casupo” (ASOCASUPO), which focuses on preserving the large recreational area near Valencia. The area in question is 170 hectares of mountainous countryside boasting untouched nature and a wide range of flora and fauna. Located in Western Venezuela, this area is currently one of the most popular destinations for Venezuelans who enjoy the peace and quiet of nature. We also sponsor environmental management students at the National Force Experimental University (UNEFA) in Venezuela. The students lead guided tours through the rainforest, for example, with the aim of raising general awareness of environmental issues and encouraging participation in environmental projects.
Looking at environmental protection within our company, we have implemented efficiency programmes to save electricity and water, as well as waste recycling programmes at various production locations in the region, including Columbia, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil.
In Columbia, our subsidiary AGA FANO captures the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by a fermentation plant and recycles it as liquid CO2. This plant is a visionary answer to the problem of how to deal with the gases emitted during composting, generally part of the bioethanol process chain in Columbia. The recycled liquid CO2 will completely eliminate 6,551 tons of this greenhouse gas that was previously produced every year by combusting natural gas. The United Nations has already commended this project as a benchmark in environmental protection.
In Columbia, the Bogotá environmental authorities presented us with the Environmental Excellence District Award for best-in-class performance.
North America RBU
SHEQ activities in the North America RBU are largely shaped by the strong awareness of safety issues typical of that region.
Since 2005, we have been holding regular workshops to sensitise our employees to all aspects of occupational safety. This proactive stance means we address safety issues with our employees before risks to people or the environment can even materialise.
Taking safety to the top, our visible leadership strategy means our managers actively set an example by following our safety guidelines and contributing to a significant reduction in accident rates.
We have continuously improved our safety statistics over the last five years.
We are also proud to have been awarded the Fleet Safety Award twice in succession from the Compressed Gases Association (CGA). In 2006, we won this award for the outstanding safety of our cylinder fleet in the category for over three million miles driven. Comprising around 200 heavy goods vehicles, our cylinder gas fleet clocked up a total of approximately 6.4 million miles in the US and Canada that year.
BOC drivers have already received recognition from the National Safety Council for achieving at least ten years or 25,000 driving hours without accident. A small number have even attained 20 or 30 years of accident-free driving, and eight BOC drivers have made the National Private Trucking Council (NPTC) Driver Hall of Fame (www.nptc.org). To join this elite circle, truckers must meet the minimum qualifications of 20 years, two million miles or 50,000 hours of driving without a preventable accident. BOC has more drivers in the Hall of Fame than any other NPTC member company.
On the environmental protection front, we are constantly looking for ways to reduce electricity consumption and thus indirect CO2 emissions at our production plants across North America. We have already optimised numerous air separation plants in terms of capacity and efficiency, and have been able to reduce our indirect CO2 emissions by millions of kilos by making substantial cuts in our power drain. We have also started to systematically replace the ozone-depleting fluorochlorohydrocarbon-based coolants in our air separation plants with alternative, environmentally friendly agents.
