In 2003, St. Charles Operations received the prestigious Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star Certification from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Employees proudly fly the OSHA STAR Site flag at the St. Charles Operations site.

The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) recognized the Dow site in St. Charles Parish through the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) as a “Super Star Among Stars” site. The award was based on Dow exhibiting outstanding safety performance and achieving an injury rate that is 88% below the national average of all workplaces.

In addition to a strong dedication to a vision of zero accidents, zero injuries, and zero harm to the environment, St. Charles Operations remains a leader in the local Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER), the St. Charles Community Advisory Panel (CAP) and Parish Mutual Aid Group. St. Charles Operations has also been recognized for its safety performance by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), the New Orleans Metropolitan Safety Council, the Louisiana Chemical Association and the National Petroleum Refiner's Association.

Since 2003, 25 Dow sites in the United States, including St. Charles Operations began implementing security upgrades as part of Dow's Site Vulnerability Assessment (SVA) process. These audits are a requirement of the American Chemistry Council's new Responsible Care^® code for security. In conjunction with the SVAs, Dow also conducted Emergency Services & Security (ES&S) audits at each site to apply a multi-layered approach to our site security.

Following the recommendations from the SVA and audit process, St. Charles Operations began making visible changes as well as behind-the-scenes improvements to its security. Visible changes include additional fencing being installed around the perimeter and at the site's waterfront areas. Electronic barriers, alarms and increased patrols were also implemented to accompany the security already in place.

Other details will not be as noticeable, but will be designed to maintain a consistently higher level of security than ever before at all our sites for the protection of our employees and our communities.

See 2015 Sustainability Goals for additional information.