Contact: Mr. Chris Ford, V.P. of Quality
Contact phone number: 973-344-5015 Ext.121
Contact’s email: chris ford

Environmental, Health and Safety Performance

Health, Safety and Environmental Quality Policy:

"Cardolite Corporation is an active and responsible member of the community in which we operate. We are committed to the protection of the environment, the health and the safety of our employees and the community. Cardolite will meet all laws and regulations governing the operations of our facilities.

We will safely develop, manufacture, transport, use and dispose of materials.

Management will provide Cardolite employees with the necessary training, equipment and systems to ensure a safe and healthy operating environment. All employees accept as a primary responsibility the prevention of injuries, occupational illnesses and the protection of the environment.

Process safety considerations will be a priority in our planning for all-existing and new products and processes.

We will recognize and respond to all process safety concerns about products and operations, which are raised by employees, customers, and the community."

Pollution reduction and prevention

The Cardolite manufacturing facility has maintained a good and improving environmental record. Total production related
waste generation at the facility has been reduced by approximately a factor of 10 from 1994 to 1998, through process
improvements and the elimination of certain product lines.

Improvements implemented that have reduced waste, pollutant emission, and worker safety are:

Discontinued the production of a product, which released 135,000 lbs./year total into the wastewater stream, treated by the local POTW, and into the air.

Cardolite’s steam source (used for heating of production vessels and building heat) has been transferred from less efficient on-site boilers to an off-site cogeneration plant, which reduced emissions of nitrogen oxide derivatives. 

Eliminated eleven old and less efficient production units.

Eliminated zinc oxide handling, a possible source of water contamination.

Implemented a new friction particle process, which reduces air emissions during resin cure.

Cardolite marketing and R&D efforts are geared towards having our customers move to high and 100% solids products which reduce solvent usage in coatings and friction materials.

Installed containment structures and high level alarms for storage tanks and containment structures for unloading areas to reduce the chance of spills entering the ground. No chemicals are stored outside except in above ground, diked storage tanks.

Have invested in new lighting and are members of the EPA’s “Green Lights” program, significantly reducing electricity usage for lighting. Have also joined the EPA “Energy Star” program.

Exposure Reduction

Installed bulk handling tanks and equipment for hazardous materials such as epichlorohydrin, amines, paraformaldehyde, and hexa. These changes eliminate or greatly reduce worker exposure to these materials.

Go to the RTK Net (Right to Know Net) website at http://www.rtk.net/ to see statistics on Cardolite releases to the environment.

Risk Management Plan

Cardolite has developed a Risk Management Plan in compliance with the U.S. 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. It describes potential chemically related accidents, and systems, which Cardolite has developed to prevent their occurrence as well as manage them if they were to occur. Its Risk Management Plan, Executive Overview can be accessed through the RTK Net website, http://www.rtk.net/.

Safety Program

Cardolite has worked hard to reduce work related injuries. The primary method for doing this is through an employee led program of auditing all workers for safe work behaviors and working on the primary causes of work related accidents.

One third of all the employees are trained as safety observers, who conduct at least 60 worker safety inspections each month. This data is then analyzed to determine the root causes of accidents, by the Cardolite Accident Reduction System (CARS) team, made up of hourly and salaried workers. Solutions and training are then focused on the largest root cause first.  The CARS program has led to significant decreases in accidents and lost time mandays.

The Cardolite Safety Committee, made up of members of management and hourly employees, does overall monitoring of Safety, and Environmental programs.

Voluntary inspections of the facility are regularly requested of OSHA and the N.J. Department of Labor. Their findings are used to improve the safety and health programs here.

Responsible Care^®

Cardolite is a member of the Synthetic Organic Chemicals Manufacturers Association (SOCMA, www.socma.org), which requires its members to comply with the six elements of the Responsible Care Code®. The six elements and examples of Cardolite efforts in each are:

Community Awareness and Emergency Response – community awareness begins with well-informed employees, who go home to local neighborhoods and towns. Cardolite’s small size allows employee involvement in safety, health, and environmental issues through participation in the CARS program (above), representation on the Safety Committee, quarterly company-wide information meetings, participation in safety related drills, and initial, and annual refresher, safety related training.

Local emergency responders such as the Newark Fire Department, Hazardous Materials Team, and the Newark Office of Emergency Management are invited to annual emergency drills at the plant site, so that they are familiar with materials and operations here.

Process Safety Code – designed to prevent fires, explosions and accidental chemical releases. Cardolite has implemented and maintains systems to comply with the OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) requirements, and more recently EPA’s Risk Management Plan (RMP). Systems include ensuring process safety from the new product or process design stage through training, operation, and maintenance; chemical accident prevention; hazard assessments; processes for responding to an accidental release; self and 3rd party audits; and availability of information to emergency responders and the public.

Employee Health and Safety Code – Improving the safety and health of employees is a top priority at Cardolite. Programs implemented have engaged a large number of workers and have resulted in significant improvements, as described above.

Pollution Prevention Code – is designed to achieve ongoing reductions of contaminants and pollutants released into the environment and of wastes generated during production. Releases to the environment and waste generated are tracked and reported annually through reports issued to EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Cardolite’s pollution prevention results are detailed above.

Distribution Code – its purpose is to assure carrier safety, reduce transportation risks, increase emergency preparedness, and to foster a dialogue with the public and our vendors. Cardolite has registered with a 24 hour emergency contact service, CHEMTREC®, to field emergency calls involving shipments of Cardolite material in the US. Our product carriers are continually evaluated for their safety and delivery performance, with superior performance rewarded with long-term relationships.

Product Stewardship Code – its purpose is to make health, safety, and environmental protection part of designing, manufacturing, marketing, distributing, using, recycling, and disposing of our products, and the management of our by-products. Cardolite has volunteered to participate in the EPA’s High Production Volume (HPV) initiative. Under HPV, we will complete a full range of health and environmental effect tests on our major raw material, cashew nutshell liquid. Another example is our Sales and R&D efforts to develop markets for high and 100% solids products, helping to eliminate the use of solvents in paint and other applications.