Compressed Gas Association Recognizes Safety Award Winners at 2022 Annual Meeting
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 15, 2022
MCLEAN, Virginia – On the evening of April 12, 2022, the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) announced the winners of our industry-leading safety awards during the CGA 2022 Annual Meeting. Held in-person in Naples, Florida, and streamed virtually, the CGA Safety Awards Presentation recognized safety leaders from across the compressed gas industry in the U.S. and Canada.
Our Association is dedicated to the development and promotion of safety standards and safe practices in the industrial, medical, and food gases industry. We’re proud to recognize the dedication to safety exhibited by the companies and individuals honored this year.
Environmental Recognition Awards
The Environmental Recognition Awards, sponsored by Messer North America, are presented annually to deserving individuals, teams, or facilities that have conducted activities that meet defined criteria for environmental excellence.
The following companies were recipients of the Environmental Recognition Awards:
Air Liquide (Montréal, Québec, Canada)
Bécancour Plant
Bécancour PEM Electrolyzer (Green Hydrogen) Project
Linde Gas & Equipment, Inc.
Packaged Gas Business Unit, Linde North America
Business-wide Waste and Stream Tracking
Matheson (Irving, Texas)
Packaged Gas Engineering & Packaged Gas Operations
Leak Detection and Reduction of Leaks at Packaged Gas Plants Using Acoustic Imager Leak Detectors
Joe Brister (left) of Messer North America and CGA’s Rich Gottwald (right) present an Environmental Recognition Award to Richard Pawulski for Air Liquide’s Bécancour Plant (Montréal) Green Hydrogen Project.
Fleet Safety Excellence Awards
The Fleet Safety Excellence Awards, sponsored by Linde PLC, recognize outstanding safety performance among the industry’s bulk and cylinder delivery fleets. The awards are presented to the CGA member companies with the lowest total vehicle accident frequency rates in their categories.
The following companies were awarded the Fleet Safety Excellence Awards:
Cylinder Gas Transportation, Less than 3 Million Miles Per Year:
Roberts Oxygen Company, Inc.
Cylinder Gas Transportation, More Than 3 Million Miles Per Year:
Linde PLC
Bulk Gas Transportation, Less than 20 Million Miles Per Year:
Roberts Oxygen Company, Inc.
Bulk Gas Transportation, More Than 20 Million Miles Per Year:
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
Nelson Moreira (left) of Praxair Distribution – a member of the Linde Group – and CGA’s Rich Gottwald (right) present Robin Jusilla of Roberts Oxygen Company with the Fleet Safety Excellence Award for Cylinder Gas Transportation, Less than 3 Million Miles Per Year.
Leonard Parker Pool Safety Awards
Sponsored by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., the Leonard Parker Pool Safety Awards are presented annually to participating CGA member companies recording the greatest improvement in safety performance during the previous two years, and are based upon the total recordable case incidence rates as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The following companies were awarded the Leonard Parker Pool Safety Awards:
Group I – More than 2 Million Employee Exposure Hours:
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
Group II – 2 Million or Less Employee Exposure Hours:
Eleet Cryogenics Inc.
Francesco Maione (left) of Air Products and Chemicals and CGA’s Rich Gottwald (right) present Vaughn Sears of Eleet Cryogenics with the Leonard Parker Pool Safety Award, Group II – 2 Million or Less Employee Exposure Hours.
Safe Facility Performance Awards
The Safe Facility Performance Awards recognize U.S. and Canadian facilities of CGA member companies that have maintained an incident-free safety performance record for a defined period of time. Participating facilities are recognized at 8 levels as they achieve new milestones without any lost time injuries.
In the third year for this program, we received applications for more than 400 facilities.
We thank all our members for your ongoing commitment to safety and extend our congratulations to the facilities recognized this year under this program.
Please join us in congratulating the following newly submitted facilities or those facilities that were previously recognized and have now reached a new level of safety performance.
Safe Facility Performance Awards – Bronze Level
250,000 Hours or 5 Years with no lost time work accidents
Airgas, Inc., an Air Liquide company
213 Facilities
Matheson
35 Facilities
Linde PLC
12 Facilities
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
4 Facilities
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
3 Facilities
Roberts Oxygen Company, Inc.
1 Facility
Safe Facility Performance Awards – Silver Level
500,000 Hours or 10 Years with no lost time work accidents
Airgas, Inc., an Air Liquide company
47 Facilities
Matheson
7 Facilities
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
5 Facilities
Linde PLC
4 Facilities
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
2 Facilities
Roberts Oxygen Company, Inc.
1 Facility
Safe Facility Performance Awards – Gold Level
750,000 Hours or 15 Years with no lost time work accidents
Airgas, Inc., an Air Liquide company
29 Facilities
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
13 Facilities
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
2 Facilities
Linde PLC
1 Facility
Matheson
1 Facility
Roberts Oxygen Company, Inc.
1 Facility
Safe Facility Performance Awards – Gold 1-Star Level
1,000,000 Hours or 20 Years with no lost time work accidents
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Geismar SSU/SMR
Granite City
New Orleans
Linde PLC
Linde Gas & Equipment, Inc.
Carter Lake, IA
Phoenix, AZ
Signal Hill, CA
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
Air Liquide Large Industries North America
Ghent Gallatin ASU*
Air Liquide Electronics US
MTV Gas Plant*
CTR of the Carolinas, Inc.
Rockhill, SC
Matheson
Washington LCO2 Facility*
* Designates facilities with no lost time accidents since commissioning/acquisition
Safe Facility Performance Awards – Gold 2-Star Level
1,250,000 Hours or 25 Years with no lost time work accidents
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
Air Liquide Large Industries North America
Norco ASU*
Darlington ASU*
Valero Production Facility*
Berkeley ASU*
Air Liquide Electronics US
Essex Junction Gas Plant*
Airgas, Inc., an Air Liquide company
Airgas Merchant Gases
ALTEC*
Airgas Specialty Gases
Piscataway
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Winnemucca*
Linde PLC
Linde Gas & Equipment, Inc.
Roseville, Minnesota
* Designates facilities with no lost time accidents since commissioning/acquisition
Safe Facility Performance Awards – Gold 3-Star Level
1,500,000 Hours or 30 Years with no lost time work accidents
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Cleveland
La Porte
Liberal (Operations)
Airgas, Inc., an Air Liquide company
Airgas Dry Ice
Wichita*
Airgas Merchant Gases
El Paso Production Facility*
* Designates facilities with no lost time accidents since commissioning/acquisition
Safe Facility Performance Awards – Gold 4-Star Level
1,750,000 Hours or 35 Years with no lost time work accidents
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
Air Liquide Large Industries North America
Channelview ASU*
LaPorte ASU*
Nederland ASU*
Airgas, Inc., an Air Liquide Company
Airgas Merchant Gases
Etiwanda Production Facility
Star Production Facility*
Roberts Oxygen Company, Inc.
Branch 14 Manassas*
* Designates facilities with no lost time accidents since commissioning/acquisition
Safe Facility Performance Awards – Platinum Level
2,000,000 Hours or 40 Years with no lost time work accidents
American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc.
Air Liquide Large Industries North America
Hamilton ASU and SMR, Ontario, Canada
Linde PLC
Linde Gas & Equipment, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana Fill Plant
Jason Larimore speaks with the audience after accepting the Safe Facility Performance Award – Platinum Level on behalf of Linde Gas & Equipment’s Indianapolis, Indiana Fill Plant.
CGA & GAWDA Distributor Safety Awards
The CGA/GAWDA Distributor Safety Award recognizes the participating GAWDA distributor companies showing the greatest improvement in safety performance and encourages a renewed focus on safe corporate cultures within the distributor community.
The following GAWDA (Gases and Welding Distributors Association) Distributor Members were recognized for their safety achievements:
More than 100,000 employee exposure hours:
WestAir Gases & Equipment, Inc., of San Diego, California
100,000 or fewer employee exposure hours:
Northern Gases and Supplies, Inc., of Pierceton, Indiana
New Committee Member of the Year Award
The New Committee Member of the Year Award, sponsored by Chart Industries, Inc., is presented to individuals with less than three years of CGA participation, in recognition of their character, commitment, and contributions to our committee efforts.
This year, one individual was recognized in this category for her substantial contributions to CGA committee work: Anu George of American Air Liquide.
Anu joined CGA in 2019 and serves as a member of CGA’s Atmospheric Gases and Equipment; Safety and Health; and Young & Emerging Professionals committees. She has quickly become an active contributor and has played an integral role in ensuring the success of CGA’s newest committee, Young & Emerging Professionals. As this committee’s first Chair, she led the team that launched one of CGA’s most recent successes – the Young & Emerging Professionals Summit, which was first held virtually in the summer of 2020. All this initial activity took place while she was knee-deep in commissioning a new plant with her employer.
Anu George is recognized by fellow committee members and staff for being engaged, dedicated, attentive to detail, and respectful and appreciative of input from other committee members.
Charles H. Glasier Safety Award
Sponsored by American Air Liquide Holdings, the Charles H. Glasier Safety Award is presented annually to an individual in recognition of their safety leadership in the industrial gas industry.
This year’s recipient was Thomas K. Drube of Chart Industries, Inc., who has spent more than 30 years volunteering his expertise in service to CGA.
Specifically, Tom has provided invaluable leadership towards ensuring the safe design of compressed gas containers. He has also been active on numerous CGA committees, including the Hazardous Materials Codes; Hydrogen Technology; and Natural Gas Technology committees, to name a few.
Many of Tom Drube’s accomplishments came while advancing major efforts for CGA, such as heading the task force that evaluated the removal of pressure relief devices from compressed gas cylinders, and assessing the distances to exposures for liquid hydrogen installations, as well as for liquid natural gas installations.
Tom’s leadership has also extended to serving as the Chair of CGA’s Standards Council and chairing the Natural Gas Technology Committee. He clearly goes above and beyond to embody CGA’s safety mission within the Association’s committee work, as well as within his own company.
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Founded in 1913, the Compressed Gas Association is dedicated to the development and promotion of safety standards and safe practices in the industrial, medical, and food gases industry. CGA represents more than 130 member companies including manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and transporters of gases, cryogenic liquids, and related products and services. Through a committee system, CGA develops technical specifications, safety standards, and training and educational materials, and works with government agencies to formulate and promote compliance with responsible regulations and standards.
An American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited Standards Developing Organization, CGA works directly with federal, state, and provincial agencies and fire code officials to promote safe and responsible practices and regulations. CGA supports several committees of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and coordinates member company participation in the development of ISO standards through U.S. and Canadian advisory groups. The Association also works with other industrial gas associations around the world to harmonize standards to advance safety in the industrial gas industry. Additionally, CGA participates in the United Nations to develop model regulations that apply to the industrial gas and equipment industry.
Photos of awards recipients available upon request.
Press contact:
Sarah Saunders
+1 703-395-0696
