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News Release For Immediate Release May 3, 2017

Contact: Jenny Heumann (202) 249-6520

Email: Jenny_Heumann@americanchemistry.com

ACC HONORS BASF WITH AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING

EMPLOYEE SAFETY INITIATIVE Award presented at annual Responsible Care

® Conference & Expo

WASHINGTON (May 3, 2017) – The American Chemistry Council (ACC) honored BASF

Corporation with its 2017 Responsible Care® Initiative of the Year Award, in recognition of the

company‟s customized environmental, health and safety (EHS) culture change program, the

Exposure Reduction Process (ERP).

“BASF‟s commitment to employee health, safety and security is clearly an integral part of how it

does business and it is evident in the company‟s performance over the past four years,” said ACC

President and CEO Cal Dooley. “We are pleased to recognize BASF as a leader in behavior-based

safety and driving a culture of continuous improvement in the safe management of its products and

operations through Responsible Care.”

ERP drives culture change through leadership development and employee engagement, enabling

BASF facilities to shift its focus “upstream,” before an incident or injury occurs, to influence at-

risk behaviors or unsafe conditions.

“This simple idea – adjusting our behaviors to reduce our exposure to hazards – is at the center of

our exposure reduction process” said Derek Fairclough, Senior Vice President Environment,

Health and Safety Services at BASF. “It is also how we‟re carrying our core value: „We never

compromise on safety,‟ now and into the future, and it is critical to achieving our Responsible Care

targets.”

With a focus on the cultural factors that contribute to EHS performance, the Exposure Reduction

Process consists of three primary strategies that align with BASF‟s Journey to EHS Excellence:

1. Mapping the Journey: The facility conducts a quantitative and qualitative assessment to

measure its EHS culture. Site-specific action plans are then developed to drive continuous

improvements.

2. Leading the Journey: Supervisors are evaluated using a safety leadership diagnostic tool,

including 360-degree feedback. This helps leaders understand their safety leadership

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contributions and be coached to adjust their behavior so that they can effectively serve as

role models for culture change within the organization.

3. Living the Journey: Employees are trained and coached on how to conduct peer-to-peer

observations, provide feedback and receive feedback from others. Employees also learn

how to use behavioral observation data to identify and remove barriers, potentially

preventing future incidents.

The Initiative of the Year is selected by attendees at the ACC‟s annual Responsible Care

Conference, who had an opportunity to review submissions from four different companies and talk

to company representatives on-site at the event.

In addition to celebrating Responsible Care companies and their achievements, the Responsible

Care Conference & Expo provided a forum for more than 300 industry leaders to learn from their

peers and other experts in the field about best practices to expand environmental, health, safety and

security (EHS&S) performance initiatives.

For more information on Responsible Care, visit: www.americanchemistry.com/rc.

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The American Chemistry Council (ACC) represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. ACC

members apply the science of chemistry to make innovative products and services that make people's lives better,

healthier and safer. ACC is committed to improved environmental, health and safety performance through Responsible

Care®

, common sense advocacy designed to address major public policy issues, and health and environmental

research and product testing. The business of chemistry is a $797 billion enterprise and a key element of the nation's

economy. It is the nation’s largest exporter, accounting for 14 percent of all U.S. exports. Chemistry companies are

among the largest investors in research and development. Safety and security have always been primary concerns of

ACC members, and they have intensified their efforts, working closely with government agencies to improve security

and to defend against any threat to the nation’s critical infrastructure.