Responsibility:
Workplace and Driving Safety

In our industry, Airgas is a recognized leader in safety. As a responsible employer and a good corporate citizen, we work hard to protect our associates from injuries and accidents—on the road and in the workplace. Their well-being is a top priority for us and their commitment to safety is essential in creating a safe environment for our neighbors in the communities where we work and drive.

Driver Safety

In 2014, Airgas drivers logged more than 130 million miles of travel on all types of roads and in all types of weather conditions. While we covered a lot of ground, we saw improvements in a number of driving safety indicators—including decreases in serious recordable accidents, average dollar value of insurance accident claims and driver out-of-service rates. We achieved these safety gains even as we saw a year-over-year increase in the number of preventable accidents, which speaks to our focus on more thorough driver safety reporting.

The introduction of new Airgas Department of Transportation (DOT) offices at each of our divisions provides us with greater ability to reinforce our culture of safety through training and other proactive measures.

The DOT teams conduct in-depth reviews of Airgas driver reports and on-site audits of our vehicles. In 2014, their actions led to more extensive reporting of minor damage claims, which might not have been recorded as preventable accidents in the past. It's a more transparent reporting process and provides us with a strong and accurate baseline going forward.

Building on this new baseline, we are committed to decreasing preventable accidents and we are making more changes to stay on a continuous improvement track. For example, a study of our 2014 metrics showed that most vehicle accidents occurred in the winter, so we increased our winter-driving training materials at the beginning of the 2015 winter season.

Workplace Safety

There is no typical Airgas workplace. Our 17,000 associates perform their jobs in branch stores, fill plants, trucks, distribution centers, air separation facilities, customer service centers and corporate offices. While the settings may differ, all of our associates are personally committed to the safety mission of Airgas, both through their personal actions and with a focus on supporting safe working conditions.

In 2014, we achieved a 14 percent improvement in our Total Injury Rate (TIR). It was the fourth year in a row that we reduced personal injuries throughout Airgas, and the best TIR score in Airgas history. A number of factors contributed to this outstanding result.

In addition to ongoing efforts—safety training for new and veteran associates, daily safety meetings, visible safety instructions and readily available personal protective equipment—we recently increased the focus on safety at the regional level. As part of their annual budget process, our regional businesses are charged with creating a safety improvement plan. In addition, Airgas now has a nurse-on-call service. This ensures immediate medical attention to our associates, even for minor incidents, and also benefits our business and our associates by providing more immediate medical guidance on injuries.