Customer Profile
Hudson Technologies, Inc. is a publicly traded company committed to providing products and services that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, and promote sustainability to ensure future generations inherit a healthy planet. Hudson Technologies has offered sustainable solutions for the HVACR industry for over 30 years and actively supports customers to holistically manage their refrigerant with both sustainability and asset management.
Situation
In 2021, Antoine Joseph, senior energy, health, and safety manager, was tasked with building a more robust EHS department and improving the Smyrna plant’s recordable injury and illness rates. The plant was well above the industry average total recordable injury and illness rate, and despite a long-time commitment to creating a safe and healthy workplace, leaders realized they needed to do something to bring those numbers down. Joseph knew there needed to be a shift in the culture mindset at the plant, so his first goal was to build high employee engagement for safety programs and create safety excitement.
The place to start was with Georgia Tech’s Safety, Health, and Environmental Services (SHES) program, a part of the Enterprise Innovation Institute, and the state’s on-site 21(d) consultation program for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The onsite consultation program provides small business owners with no-cost advisory services to address hazards and improve workplace safety and health without fear of citations or penalties.
Solution
In 2022, Rachel González, safety consultant with SHES, conducted an initial program and training review with the company, followed by a walkthrough of the facility in early 2023 to identify serious hazards and assist in corrective measures. Due to their high levels of employee involvement in safety and health and their upper management support of the overall safety and health program, González recognized right away that Hudson Technologies was a great candidate for OSHA’s Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) certification. In 2024, González conducted a comprehensive safety survey with colleague Bob Hendry, industrial hygienist, to get the plant in a position to apply for SHARP, which recognizes small businesses that operate exemplary safety and health programs.
To qualify for SHARP, Hudson Technologies — and all businesses — must:
- Request comprehensive consultation visits in safety and health that include hazard identification surveys and program and training reviews.
- Involve employees in the consultation process.
- Score at least two or three on all 58 items in the form 33 review.
- Correct all hazards, both serious and other-than-serious, identified by the consultant.
- Implement and maintain health and safety programs as specified by OSHA.
- Maintain days away, restricted, or transferred (DART) rates and total recordable case (TRC) rates below the national industry averages.
- Agree to notify the 21(d)consultant prior to making changes to working conditions in a facility.
Achieving SHARP status confers a number of benefits on a business. SHARP-certified companies provide protection to workers through the development and implementation of best safety and health practices; create a culture that values health and safety; build a reputation for safety within their industry; save money; and are granted an exemption from OSHA programmed inspections for up to two years and subsequent renewal for up to three years.
SHES helped Hudson Technologies empower workers to correct any hazards that they see.
“We now have an open dialogue in the plant,” said Joseph. “If you see something, ACTT, which stands for Awareness, Communication, Training, and Teamwork. It’s allowed our employees to act instead of react, keeping safety top of mind.”
Hudson Technologies listened to the suggestions of the SHES team, including setting up daily safety stand-up meetings, to implement processes that would empower workers, and within a year reduced their recordable injury rate to zero.
Ken Brack, senior plant manager, said, “Working with SHES helped us to open our eyes to different hazards. And noticing those hazards has led to drastic decreases in recordable incidents for the facility.”
In 2022, the Smyrna plant had zero recordable injuries. Joseph successfully created a safer space by setting up QR codes all around the plant for workers to report hazards, make suggestions, and ask questions.
“Our ‘Near miss – Good catch’ program gives employees a voice to report hazards before they even happen (good catch), or after with no injury occurring (near miss),” said Joseph. “Our plant has set the gold standard companywide, and now the goal is for our three other facilities across to United States to become SHARP certified.”
Results
- Implemented safety training for supervisors to receive 10-hour OSHA training and safety wardens to receive 30-hour OSHA training.
- Conduct monthly safety meetings to document how employees are applying what they have learned and see what is and is not working at the plant.
- Decreased recordable injuries from six to zero for the past two years.
- Increased efficiency by 20% by implementing housekeeping safety through improved ergonomics processes and prioritizing employee wellbeing.
- Achieved zero recordable injuries for all locations in 2024.
“The commitment to safety has worked its way through the entire organization. Working with SHES has enabled us to think outside the box and take our safety program to the next step. You are safe, but you can be safer.”
-Antoine Joseph, senior environmental, health, and safety manager at Hudson Technologies in Smyrna, Georgia