Russell Zeringue Jr, IDC contract employee, works on grinding pipe to help construct the new Latex plant at the Dow facility in St. Charles Parish. The new Latex plant has created hundreds of new contract jobs and 30 new permanent positions. St. Charles Operations employees and contract employees working on this new latex plant have celebrated recently their outstanding safety record of working one full year without a recordable injury.

This new facility represents part of a $100 million investment of Dow's Latex business. As the largest petrochemical producer in Louisiana, Dow is working to be a strategic, long-term partner with the state by providing jobs and economic stability. The new plant at St. Charles Operations in Hahnville is a concrete example of Dow's commitment to Louisiana. The Latex plant is part of Dow's UCAR Emulsion Systems (UES), which produces and markets emulsions or polymers, better known as latexes, for paints, sealants and caulks. Latex is what makes paint stick to walls.

In addition to the contract jobs that are associated with construction, around 30 permanent jobs with Dow will be created because of this project. Process technicians and other associated Dow employees begin months of rigorous training this month. The training will help ensure safe plant start-up and successful production of latex in the new state-of-the-art facility, which is scheduled to start production by the end of the year.

Besides the economic impact of this project, Dow reports that the project has achieved a safety milestone. During the first year of construction activity (200,000 work hours), Dow and contract employees had no recordable safety incidents. It is important to note that last year, St. Charles Operations as an entire site experienced its best safety performance since operations started in 1966.

"We are very proud of our safety performance at this site," said Sarah Thigpen, St. Charles Operations responsible care leader. "Dow has the right safety programs and processes in place, along with dedicated employees that make safety their number one priority in everything they do while working in our facility. Our goal for every day is to leave work the same way we walk in. All of our employees and contract employees working on this new latex plant have shown commitment to this safety goal by working a full year without a recordable injury."

Dow is a leader in science and technology, providing innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $40 billion, Dow serves customers in 175 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress: food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its 43,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.

St. Charles Operations is owned by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. "Dow", as used throughout this web site, often refers generically to The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries.