SOCMA: Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2008

For More Information:
Gregory Minchak
Manager, Public Relations & Communications             
(202) 721-4182
minchakg@socma.com 

Savannah, Georgia – The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) announces that it’s environmental, health, safety, and security management program – Chemstewards® - certified the first facilities to complete all required steps of the review cycle.  The five facilities all finished the requirements a year of schedule, demonstrating the high level of commitment they have for the program, their employees, and their communities. 

The five facilities are:
Synthetech, Inc of Albany, Oregon
Noramco, Inc. of Athens, Georgia
Noramco, Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware
Siegfried USA, Inc. of New Jersey
ESCO Company, LLC of Muskegon, Michigan

SOCMA is the leading trade association, serving the specialty-batch and custom chemical industry since 1921. SOCMA’s nearly 300 members employ more than 100,000 workers across the country and produce 50,000 products valued at $60 billion annually.

ChemStewards is SOCMA’s flagship environmental, health, safety and security (EHS&S) continuous performance improvement program.  ChemStewards was created from industry’s commitment to reducing the environmental footprint left by member’s facilities.  Industry created ChemStewards to meet the unique needs of the batch, custom, and specialty chemical industry. As a mandatory requirement for SOCMA members engaged in the manufacturing or handling of synthetic and organic chemicals, ChemStewards is helping participants reach for superior EHS&S performance. 

Certification is a vigorous process requiring each facility to review their current safety, security, health and environmental policies for hazards, risks, and legal requirements.  The facilities must create management system documentation, train employees on their responsibilities and accountabilities, and enact operational controls and emergency responses as needed.  The program also requires facilities to monitor and measure their performance, report these numbers back to SOCMA, and then take any necessary corrective action.  Finally, all of this must be reviewed by a third-party auditor who reviews the documentation and performs a facility inspection.

Joseph Acker, President and CEO of SOCMA, says: “This is an important marker for the ChemStewards program.  Creating this program has been very intensive and done on an expedited schedule.  We are very proud the first faculties are finally receiving certification.”

Acker continued, “The fact that these facilities have completed this process a year ahead of schedule is something in which they should find pride.  It takes a serious commitment of time and resources to complete the process on an expedited schedule.  These facilities have set the bar for the rest or our members.  They have aggressively pursued early certification and have great practices in place that others can emulate.”

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