Chemiphos' Managing Director, Dean Mulqueeny, explains how it made good business sense to make his company safer and greener
Written by Chris Farnell & Produced by Rahim Ali
The materials Chemiphos produces can be found everywhere, and you’ve probably run into them several times today already. On one side of the business, the company is responsible for producing polyphosphoric and orthophosphoric acids. You’ll find orthophosphoric acids in soft drinks, in the manufacture of yeast, even in effluent treatment. Polyphosphoric acids meanwhile are a bit more specialised, but are still used as fuel catalysts, and for numerous purposes in the pharmaceutical industry.
Chemiphos has made a name for itself providing these acids. Its plant in Johannesburg produces 7,500 tonnes of phos-acid products a year, which it sells to Europe and the UK, while also servicing more than 90 percent of the local market in South Africa, as well as serving some of the big multinationals, such as Coca-Cola.
Not only does Chemiphos produce chemicals for the industrial, food and pharmaceutical industries, but it also owns Constructichem. Constructichem offers a range of raw materials and additives to the construction industry, as well as providing value adding technical support. The company recently signed a deal with Canadian company Kryton, whose crystalline waterproofing technology for concrete was recently praised by President Obama.
Constructichem has also made a name for itself providing value-added products tailor made for the South African market. This bespoke service is key to Constructichem’s success in the construction industry: “It means we are able to change rapidly with market conditions.”
Chemiphos’ Managing Director, Dean Mulqueeny, explains. “ If our customers need a different formulation it can be made quickly, locally.”
The range of services and products Chemiphos provides seems to be a magic recipe. The company is gaining market share in Italy and France, and is involved in South Africa’s massive Gautrain project; a new train system being built in preparation for the World Cup next year.
Mulqueeny is justifiably proud of his company’s progress: “In the next three years our company’s construction division will be more than double what it is today. Already we’ve tripled in size over the last three years. We’ve had a phenomenal growth curve.”
A GREEN LIGHT
The raw material for phosphoric acid is phosphorous, which gives off a green glow in the dark. So perhaps it’s appropriate that Chemiphos is also a beacon of green activity. This growth has enabled Chemiphos to invest further in its own facilities, allowing the company to do its bit for the environment. The company’s environmental policy is central to the way it does business, as its policy states: “The protection of the environment from which it draws its employees and customers, resources and raw materials is essential.”
For Chemiphos, protecting the environment isn’t just part of its social responsibility, it’s also good business. “We’ve just completed a 1.5 million rand investment into a waste gas scrubber to reduce our P2O5 emissions,” Mulqueeny explains.
“It’s a positive step for us, because now we can recover some of previously exhausted material, improving our overall yields. So the company gains, and the environmental protection is much better.”
As well as the gas scrubbers, Chemiphos has also found ways to deal with the phosphorous sludge generated by its processes.
“We’re in the process of running trials where we burn the waste internally and catch the gas in our scrubber, pushing our plant to a state of almost zero waste production,” Mulqueeny says. “That will reduce our sludge dumping annually so that there will be around fifty tonnes less waste going into a city landfill.”
A SAFE ENVIRONMENT
As well as doing its bit for the environment, Chemiphos also makes health a safety a high priority. It’s an issue Mulqueeny takes a personal interest in: “For me it’s an important issue. On the day I joined there was an accident, and in the first two months there were three accidents in total , so we had to make a radical change. Personally, I think people should leave the workplace in the way they arrived.”
Mulqueeny took a hands-on approach to making sure this radical change took place. He tells us about some of the changes that he helped make: “One of the first things we had to do was acknowledge that we had a problem. The key thing next, was to adopt a change in attitude, right from the top.”
He began by attending all safety related meetings and ini tiatives; the staff were encouraged to take part in a “near miss” reporting scheme too, which enables the company to spot potential hazards.
Chemiphos, it seems, has fostered a climate where health and safety were constant watchwords. “The gentle education and understanding of safety awareness became a real emphasis in all the meetings,” Mulqueeny says.
“There was an appointment of a dedicated safety or SHEQ officer who took part in the management meetings as well, and the SHEQ person had a direct line reporting system straight to me, which meant if she asked for something it got taken seriously. Safety was something that wasn’t just spoken about - it became something we lived.”
Being part of the larger Chemical Services Group helped fund changes to the hardware as well, helping to turn Chemiphos facilities into a safer environment. “There was a lot of money spent on engineering potential hazards out of our business,” Mulqueeny explains.
RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
Was all the hard work worth it in the end? For Mulqueeny, the results speak for themselves: “The company has gone from having an average of one and half accidents a year for the last three years, to having zero accidents. During the course of 2008 Chemiphos was awarded the Chemical Services SHEQ award for outstanding improvement in Safety, Health Environment and Quality.”
Chemiphos has made progress in leaps and bounds, but Mulqueeny is keen to make further improvements, and he believes his staff are more than up to the challenge.
“I think the key thing is to develop good people in a good team. It’s one of the things that helped a lot of these projects materialise. Nothing is taken for granted and everything is questioned. We never say ‘We always do this because that’s how we’ve always done it.’ We say ‘Why don’t we do it an easier and better way?’ We have a more open-minded approach.”
FACTS AT A GLANCE
COMPANY NAME: Chemiphos S.A. (Pty) Ltd
MANAGING DIRECTOR: Dean Mulqueeny
OPERATIONS: Chemical manufacture and construction supply
ESTABLISHED: 1998
HEADQUARTERS: Gauteng
www.chemiphos.com
Edited by Ian Armitage
View Digital Corporate Profile of Chemiphos in Manufacturing Digital December 2009