Cologne – Specialty chemicals company LANXESS has presented the CEO Safety Award for the first time. The international award honors particularly successful initiatives and contributions relating to safety occupation at LANXESS. The focus is on preventing accidents and incidents and on the sustainable implementation of safety processes.

On March 14th, 2019, CEO Matthias Zachert presented an operating team from Belgium with the award for the project “Safety of contractors during shutdowns”. Excellent preparation for a three-week maintenance shutdown of a plant and targeted trainings for contractors increased the safety of all participants in this project. A total of approximately 600 contractors and 75 LANXESS employees worked closely together.

“For us as a chemicals company, the safety of our plants and processes is a top priority. With the CEO Safety Award, we want to increase the awareness for safety at work among all our employees even more,” said Zachert during the official ceremony. “The award winning team has shown us what constitutes a good safety culture. In this complex project, all participants – across hierarchical levels and company boundaries – acted as a team and achieved a common goal: zero accidents.”

In addition, teams from the LANXESS sites Ningbo (China) and Fords (USA) reached the finals and were honored for their safety initiatives.

The winning team was chosen via a three-step process. An international team first selected the ten best submissions from a total of over 100 received applications. During a one-day workshop, the teams then had the opportunity to present their initiatives and ideas to a jury of six members led by Hubert Fink, member of the LANXESS Board of Management. The jury nominated the three best initiatives, and the LANXESS Board of Management then selected the winner.