The Chemical and Allied Industries Association (CAIA) announced the winners of its 2018 Responsible Care® Award, the 2018 Responsible Care® Haulier Award, the 2018 Responsible Care® Initiative of the Year Award and the 2018 Responsible Care® Sustained High Performance Award at a gala event that also covered the launch of the CAIA 2018 Responsible Care® Performance Report and the Association’s Annual General Meeting.
Responsible Care® is the chemical industries' commitment to continual improvement in all aspects of safety, health, environmental performance and security, and to report openly to stakeholders and interested and affected parties.
Senmin, a Division of AECI Mining Solutions Limited was the proud winner of the 2018 Responsible Care® Award, while the 2018 Responsible Care® Haulier Award was won by Reef Tankers (Pty) Ltd. The Responsible Care® Haulier Award trophy – designed in natural wood and made by local artisans – is a closed, offset circular design that captures and depicts the importance of the continual drive towards improved performance that, at times, requires a change of gears to achieve.
The winner of the 2018 Responsible Care® Initiative of the Year Award in the Company Project division (Category A) was Sasol South Africa Ltd for its Aiming for “Zero Harm” Project, while Category B was won by BASF Agricultural Specialities (Pty) Ltd for its Advanced Spore Dust Management Concept Project. The award in the Corporate Social Responsibility division went to Dow Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd for its Project Butterfly.
The Responsible Care® Initiative of the Year Awards, first presented in 2015, are symbolised through the trophy that is presented. An open-ended abstract design, beginning from a narrow base that widens, embraces the local community. With open ends, the continuance of both the Responsible Care® Initiative and the commitment to the community is implied.
The Responsible Care® Award and the Responsible Care® Haulier Award look at the greatest year-on-year improvements in the four major categories of Responsible Care® pillars, which are safety and health; resource efficiency; pollution prevention and product stewardship,” said Deidré Penfold, Executive Director of CAIA.
Penfold said the importance of the Responsible Care® Initiative and the commitment of CAIA’s members towards sustainability through the Initiative – to continually improve safety, health and environmental performance – shows its value very year when the performance of signatories is reviewed.
“CAIA applauds its Responsible Care® signatories for their commitment and achievements and will continue to support members wherever possible,” she said.
Rod Humphris, Chair of the CAIA board, awarded the trophies to the winners.
“A great deal of work has been undertaken to achieve a raising of the bar of Responsible Care® in South Africa in order to voluntarily realise further gains in sustainability objectives. Responsible Care® is clearly not in the same league as approaches that follow a “Business-As-Usual” approach – and companies within the chemical and allied industries in South Africa that subscribe to the principles of the Initiative can be proud of that!
“We are delighted with this year’s standard and number of entries and believe that the continuous expansion of the Initiative as well as the Responsible Care® in Action campaign will not only allow businesses to reap the benefits associated with increased sustainability but will also drive signatories to highlight their commitments towards voluntary initiatives and their associated benefits,” said Humphris.