Arch aims for zero injuries

Zero employee safety injuries is the standard that Arch Wood Protection is living up to, striving for and achieving on a daily basis. According to technical and compliance manager, Denise Conradie, there are four key components of this goal: zero recordable injuries; zero manufacturing process safety incidents; zero environmental incidents, and zero distribution incidents.

“In terms of employee safety, Arch Wood Protection has had a strong year with an excellent record of 7 512 hours (313 days) without an employee recordable injury,” she says.

“Arch South Africa is a signatory to Responsible Care through the Chemical Allied Industry Association (CAIA) and much focus and emphasis is placed on Responsible Care. We integrated our Responsible Care and ISO 14001:2004 Management Systems during 2010 and on a two-yearly basis we are audited by TUV, the German third party verification body in South Africa,” says Conradie.

“We recently completed our annual TUV audit, which showed that all three of our management systems, 9001:2008, 14001:2004 and Responsible Care, are reaching a level of maturity. The audit results indicate that the amount of positive actions or best practices identified is outperforming the amount of suggestions for improvements.

“Moreover, Arch International’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, annually audits our Responsible Care system and our continual improvement and compliance with corporate policies and procedures,” she says.