Thursday, June 2, 2022

LANXESS Corp.'s Gastonia Facility Earns Initial Carolina Star Certification

Gastonia
Jun 2, 2022

LANXESS Corp.’s High Performance Materials (HPM) facility in Gastonia was recognized for their outstanding safety record by earning initial certification as a Carolina Star Site on Wednesday, June 1. Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson provided keynote remarks and congratulated LANXESS on receiving its first Carolina Star certification.

“When a business or worksite earns its initial Carolina Star certification, it’s a big deal,” Commissioner Dobson said. “This certification represents the culmination of years of hard work and determination by LANXESS’s leaders and employees to meet the strict criteria required to be designated as a Carolina Star site.”

A comprehensive evaluation was conducted in October at the Gastonia facility by the N.C. Department of Labor Carolina Star Team to determine LANXESS’s eligibility for certification. Eligibility for Carolina Star certification requires submitting a Star Annual Report, which includes three-year averages of the annual Total Recordable Case (TRC) rate and Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART) rate data from 2018, 2019 and 2020.

LANXESS’s three-year average TRC rate for 2018-2020 was 74% below the comparable rate for its industry and its DART case rate was 100% below the comparable industry rate, meaning there were no cases during that three-year period. The minimum DART and TRC rates must be at least 50% below comparable industry averages in order to receive Carolina Star status.

“Raising this flag is only the beginning of our Carolina Star journey,” Marc Rands, head of production, technology, safety and engineering for LANXESS, said. “By participating in this program, our team will share with and learn from other highly-trained professionals from across the state to help us all protect our top assets—our people.”

LANXESS, a leading global specialty chemicals company, operates the Gastonia site with about 50 employees that are part of the company’s HPM business unit. The site primarily produces lightweight, plastic parts to replace heavier metal components in automobiles, helping to improve vehicle efficiency and safety.

From its regional headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, LANXESS operates nearly 30 sites across 11 states, as well as multiple sites in Canada and Mexico. Globally, the company is headquartered in Cologne, Germany and employs 14,900 people across 33 countries.

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