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We are a major manufacturer and distributor of a broad range of industrial, medical, scientific and environmental gases including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, acetylene and carbon dioxide and a provider of home healthcare services.
We are 40-per cent owned by Wesfarmers Limited with the remaining shares held by Air Liquide Australia Limited, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Air Liquide of France. Wesfarmers Energy has management responsibility for the company. The head office is located in Murdoch, Western Australia.
We have three operational sites at Kwinana and one at Henderson, all south of Fremantle. Our healthcare division is located in Nedlands, Perth, and we have branches in Kalgoorlie, Karratha and Darwin. Through a network of 73 agents we operate throughout Western Australia and the Northern Territory. As at June 2007 we employed 85 people.
Our main ongoing environmental challenge is the management of lime waste at the Henderson site, this being a by-product from our acetylene production facility. The waste is regularly removed by a contractor for use as raw material in a manufacturing process. Special care is taken to ensure there is no discharge to land.
On safety, we focused our attention during the year on updating our Emergency Management Plan. This included in-depth training for appropriate personnel and a simulated emergency exercise at our Henderson plant. The Fire and Emergency Services Authority participated.
The Henderson site incorporates an acetylene manufacturing plant, industrial and medical gas refilling and a distribution operation.
We also conducted a noise exposure assessment at our Henderson plant and at the Mason Road Air Separation Unit at Kwinana.
As part of our licence to operate we reviewed and updated the Henderson Major Hazard Facility Safety Case.
Environmental
Our Environmental Policy is displayed prominently in relevant places throughout the company, included in all induction material and available on our Industrial Management System (IMS).
To maintain and improve on a good safety record we conducted 26 health and safety meetings during the year with a focus on safety awareness and assessing/controlling any hazard. We also conducted 34 internal safety observations focusing on compliance and observed hazards.
All employees undergo training in hazards associated with the gases and equipment they are required to handle. Senior workplace first aid training continued to be provided as appropriate. A simulated emergency exercise was conducted at Henderson in June 2007 to test our Emergency Management Plan. The exercise, a simulated acetylene explosion, incorporated many issues such as fatalities, medical treatment, plant damage, supply interruption and reputation issues. A de-brief was completed immediately afterwards with all stakeholders so that lessons learnt could be applied into the Emergency Management Plan as appropriate.
Compliance
We are not aware of any potential non-compliance during the year with environmental legislation or other environmental requirements.
National Pollutant Inventory (NPI)
Data for the 2005/2006 reporting period was submitted to the National Pollutant Inventory in July 2006. Detailed information is available at: www.npi.gov.au. Our substance emissions for the 2005/2006 year were ranked by the NPI as ‘low’.
Noise
The Air Separation Unit at Mason Road Kwinana operates on a 24 hours per day continuous basis. A noise survey conducted by a third party was completed in March 2007 for the purpose of providing a noise assessment in compliance to occupational health and safety regulations. We did not receive any noise complaints during the year.
Greenhouse gas emissions
We do not directly produce greenhouse gas emissions. Our indirect emissions from imported electricity were estimated at 79,902 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, down one per cent on last year’s actual figure of 80,933 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Our carbon dioxide recovery plant at Kwinana recovers carbon dioxide gas from the adjacent CSBP ammonia plant, removes impurities (oxygen, nitrogen, H2O), and liquefies the product for sale throughout Western Australia and the Northern Territory or sells by pipeline to Kwinana-based industries.
We re-sell ozone-depleting substances (refrigerant gases) to approved industry
users under its Trading Authorisation Certificate issued by the Department of Environment and Heritage.
Water
Water use during the year related primarily to usage at our air separation plant to keep the plant and compressors cool during the gas liquefaction process. Water is also used during the Henderson acetylene cylinder filling process where water is used with calcium carbide for the production of acetylene and mist sprayed over the cylinders while theyare being filled to dissipate heat build up during refilling.
Total water consumption was estimated at 121 megalitres, up 16 per cent on last year.
Waste
Our total solid general waste stream during the year was estimated to be 91,626 kilograms, up eight per cent on last year. Of this amount, we estimated that 100 per cent was recycled.
Our total liquid general waste during the year was estimated at 4,040 tonnes, up 28 per cent on last year. Of this amount, we estimate that 100 per cent was recycled.
The main use of energy relates to the liquefaction process of gas separation at our Mason Road Kwinana ASU site, carbon dioxide recovery at the CSBP site and cylinder filling at our Henderson facility.
Total energy consumption was estimated at 307,696 gigajoules, up five per cent on last year.
Our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) of zero compared with 10 last year and during year there were no LTI’s.
We recorded 10 near misses for the year. We have encouraged the reporting of these near misses over the last year, as they are an indicator to a source that could potentially lead to a lost time incident. All near misses are thoroughly investigated with appropriate actions and measures implemented. Safety statistics are distributed and discussed by management each month.
There were eight workers compensation claims reported, related mainly to manual handling injuries, during the year, compared with six last year.
Hazard and risk
We maintained accreditation from the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection – Dangerous Goods Safety Branch Resources Safety Division, for the purposes of assessing and endorsing applications for the storage of specified classes of dangerous goods.
Website
For further information on our operations is available from our website www.airliquidewa.com.au. |
