The Alliance Awards Banquet was held on January 21, 2009 at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.  Our keynote speaker was Dennis Hendershot, a process safety expert and member of the Baker Commission, which investigated the BP refinery disaster in Texas City in 2005.

Thank you to our awards banquet sponsors – Frost Brown Todd LLC and Environmental Quality Management, Inc.

Five chemical safety awards were awarded for the 2008 calendar year.  The award recipients are listed below.

Jim Weast (left) with his wife and children.

Jim Weast of the Industrial Waste Division of the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) received this award for helping create a Spill Response Plan for the Mill Creek.  During the past year and a half, Jim has worked tirelessly to create maps and diagrams of spill recovery locations along the Mill Creek, stretching from the Ohio River to Union Center Blvd. in Butler County.  Jim’s work will be used by fire departments, hazmat teams, industrial responders, cleanup contractors and other professionals.

Duane Day (left) and Keith Mesch, chair of the Alliance (right).

Duane Day of INEOS ABS (USA) Corp. received this award for his long-term promotion of chemical safety in the Greater Cincinnati area.  Duane was one of the original founders and leaders of the Alliance for Chemical Safety, which was established in 1997. He served as Chair for two years and was head of both the communication and chemical safety committees.  During his tenure, Duane was instrumental in a variety of Alliance projects and activities, including the 1999 Risk Management Program (RMP) rollout and development of the Shelter-In-Place program.

Left to right:  Keith Mesch, chair of the Alliance; and Pilot Chemical employees Donna Mellon, Steve Penrod, Aaron Breetz, Ollie (J.T.) Turner, Matt Leary, Tom Melhorn, and Dennis Callison

Pilot Chemical Company received this award for improving employee safety at its Lockland facility.  The company replaced dry flake phthalic anhydride (PA), a toxic and corrosive chemical which presents a dust and exposure hazard, with molten PA to reduce exposure to employees during the production of Pilot D-300. 

Left to right: Keith Mesch, chair of the Alliance, and airport employees Don Chapman, Environmental Manager; Dale Keith, Senior Director of Operations, and Erv Moses, Airport Engineer.

The Kenton County Airport Board for the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport received this award for significantly reducing the environmental impact of aircraft and runway deicing on Gunpowder and Elijah Creeks. The airport installed a $30 million system to collect and treat storm water containing deicing fluids.

Left to right:  REPC members Rod Bell, Pat Diesman, Robert Stadtlander, Rick Ginn, and Tom Peterman, and Keith Mesch, chair of the Alliance.

The Regional Emergency Planning Committee (REPC), a partnership of several Local Emergency Planning Committees, received this award for the development, publication, and distribution of emergency preparedness "Fingertip" books throughout the Greater Cincinnati area.  The books, which are about 2 x 1.5" in size, can attach to a refrigerator or other magnetized surface and offer emergency preparedness information for citizens.