The Institute of Makers of Explosives (IME) presented several companies with a pair of safety awards at its 2024 Annual Meeting & Awards Banquet.
IME awarded seven member companies with its annual Safety & Health Certificates of Excellence, given to IME member companies with a total recordable incident rate better than the average overall rate achieved by the chemical manufacturing industry for the year 2023.
Additionally, six member companies received the Tricia Appleton Award for Safety for 2023, the organization’s highest award. It recognizes companies with zero recordable safety incidents the previous year.
Safety & Health Certificates of Excellence
The seven companies receiving IME’s Safety & Health Certificates of Excellence this year were Nelson Brothers, Hunting Titan, Orica USA, Baker Hughes, Halliburton – Jet Research Center (JRC), MP Associates and Dyno Nobel.
This is the third year in a row Orica, Dyno Nobel and Halliburton – JRC have received this award. This is the second consecutive year Baker Hughes has been recognized.
“I want to congratulate these seven companies for their commitment for continuing to create safe working environments for their employees,” says Clark Mica, president of IME. “We’re proud to recognize these companies for their leadership in the safe and secure manufacture, transport, distribution and use of commercial explosives.”
This year’s seven recipients is an increase from the five companies recognized last year.
“Safety is the foundation of everything that we do at IME,” says Jessie Kelsey of Accurate Energetics Systems and chair of IME’s Safety, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee. “These member companies deserve this recognition for their achievements, and I want to congratulate them for their commitment to a safe and secure commercial explosives industry.”
Tricia Appleton Award for Safety
This year’s number of Tricia Appleton Award for Safety recipients also increased to six from four last year.
Receiving the award were Enaex, Maxam North America, Senex Explosives, EBV Explosives Environmental Control (General Dynamics), Detotec North America and Contract Drilling & Blasting.
“The late Tricia Appleton was a relentless advocate for safety and we’re extremely proud of these six member companies for achieving the highest honor IME can give for safety,” Clark Mica says. “The increase in the number of companies receiving this award represents our industry’s long-standing commitment to keeping our workforce and their surrounding communities safe. Congratulations to all of these companies on a job well done.”
Tricia Appleton was a long-time employee of IME member JRC Halliburton and an active IME member who long advocated for safety and pushed IME to recognize those member companies with outstanding safety records.
“It’s an honor for Detotec to be recognized with the Appleton Award and I want to congratulate the rest of this year’s award winners,” said Tim O’Brien, president of Detotec North America and chair of IME’s Board of Governors. “Workplace safety is something we preach daily, and these awards presented in Tricia’s memory are a testament to the culture of safety created by the hardworking men and women in the commercial explosives industry.”
