A safety milestone for Air Liquide China Caohejing Plant

Air Liquide China celebrated on May 28th, 2013 the 8000th day of zero accident at its Caohejing Plant. A ceremony was held at the plant, in the presence of over 100 attendees including representatives from local authorities, Caohejing Hi-tech Park, the local community, and Air Liquide internal senior executives as well as many long-service employees. This outstanding safety achievement demonstrates Air Liquide's strong capability in assuring safe and reliable gas supply to its customers.

Located in Shanghai Caohejing High-tech Park and put into service on July 1st, 1991, Caohejing Plant has been supplying high purity gases through pipelines to Philips Semiconductor since the beginning of its operations. Over the years, its capacity has been increased and the plant is now supplying high purity nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, argon and helium to Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology as well as seven fabs owned by three nearby customers, namely Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation Limited, Shanghai Belling Co., Ltd, and Shanghai SIM-BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.  Ltd.

As the world leader in gases for industry, health and the environment, Air Liquide has always put Safety as its first priority in its daily operations. Air Liquide China has implemented the Industrial Management System (IMS), the Group's comprehensive industrial operation management system, in more than 60 of its plants nationwide in order to constantly improve its overall performance in terms of personnel safety, environment protection, and operation reliability. In addition, a range of safety management tools have also been developed such as Near Misses Reporting, Continuous Improvement Management System, as well as Behavior Safety Visit, to continuously improve safety performance to build a strong safety culture.

Mr. Chen Qingzhou, Representative from Caohejing Hi-tech Park Development Corp. commented: "As one of the first companies that set up plants in Caohejing High-tech Park, Air Liquide has grown together with the Chinese economy. Air Liquide has set a good example of safe operation in this park, winning many safety awards such as 'Zero Accident Entity in Shanghai'  and we wish Air Liquide continuous success.”

Mr. Mok Kwongweng, CEO North East and South East Asia, and a member of Air Liquide Executive Committee, who was the first General Manager of the plant, commented: "Congratulations to Caohejing Plant for its record of 8000 days of zero accident, a great milestone thanks to the continuous efforts and contributions of many dedicated staff members over the past 20 years. Air Liquide is striving to fulfill its safety commitment by ensuring people's safety and preserving the environment at its own and customers' sites."