Our key HSE figures reported for 2006 cover 918 national and international production, sales and administration locations³. In collecting data for the Gases Division, we focused on the production facilities with the highest resource consumption, such as HyCO plants (steam reformers and partial oxidation facilities) and air separation plants.

To allow for our divisions’ different areas of activity, we state our key figures for the Gases and Engineering divisions separately where relevant.

Management systems
For certain locations with high environmental impact, The Linde Group aims for certification to the international environmental management standard ISO 14001. 184 of the affected locations (over 20 percent) are certified to this standard, which provides us with a basis for a comprehensive environmental management system. Our internal environmental managers receive support from external experts where required, and our sites are regularly inspected by independent auditors.

The ISO 9001 set of standards is of particular significance in terms of ongoing improvement to the quality of our products and services, especially for our gases business. 595 of the relevant locations (around 65 percent) are certified to this standard. And, as far as health and safety management is concerned, eight percent of locations report certification to the OHSAS 18001 standard or to SCC (Safety Certification Contractors).

Environmental incidents that must be reported to the authorities
At the locations surveyed, there were eleven environmental incidents that had to be reported in 2006. These resulted in a series of small fines and warning fees.

3 Data was gathered from a total of 1,094 locations. Our reporting includes data from 877 locations in the Gases Division, of 1,051 surveyed. The Engineering Division data relates to 13 of 15 locations surveyed. We have also incorporated data from a total of 28 (of 28 surveyed) Gist, Environmental Management Corporation and Fred Butler locations.