Glossary

Accident: unexpected event with potential harmful effect to oneself, other people or third-party assets.

Air separation: process of separation, by distillation, of gas components of the air, obtaining liquid and gaseous products.

Cold converter: container with insulated vacuum chamber for highly refrigerated cryogenic gases, characterised by and constituting interception, measuring and safety instruments.

Conditioning: a production operation that consists in taking gas from a secondary storage tank and compressing it in a gaseous or liquid state and transferring it to mobile containers. Conditioning also includes the sequence of operations carried out on the containers from when they arrive at the centre to the storage of full containers ready for delivery.

Cylinder: container in steel or light alloy for compressed, liquefied or dissolved gases.

Dispenser: container with a vacuum insulated cavity designed to contain highly refrigerated liquefied cryogenic gases characterised by and consisting of interception, measurement and safety instruments.

EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme): it promotes the continuous improvement of the environmental performance of organisations through the establishment and implementation of environmental management systems, the systematic, objective and periodic evaluation of the performance of such systems, the provision of information on environmental performance, an open dialogue with the public and other interested parties, and finally with the active involvement and appropriate training of personnel by the organisations concerned.

Food safety: hygienic and sanitary prevention, whereby food undergoes strict controls that ensure correct preparation in line with its use and consumption, assuring its safety for the consumer.

Frequency index: ratio between the number of injuries and hours worked multiplied by 1 million. It measures the frequency of injuries.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): a multistakeholder network, established in 1997 and composed of companies, NGOs, associations of accountants, business organisations and other international stakeholders active in Corporate Social Responsibility issues. GRI's mission is to develop, provide and promote global reference guidelines for the preparation of Social Reports that describe the economic, environmental and social impacts that companies or organisations generate through their activities.

Injury: undesired event in the workplace that causes bodily damage or objectively verifiable illness.

IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control: Strategy instituted with European Directive no. 75 of 24/11/2010 "Industrial Emission Directive” (I.E.D.) for minimising the pollution caused by various sources throughout the EU. All types of installation listed in Appendix 1 of the Directive must obtain integrated authorisation from the authorities of the various countries. It is based on the premise that the failure to adopt a common approach for controlling emissions into air, water and terrain could lead not to a reduction of pollution but to its transfer from one area to another.

ISO 9001: defines the minimum requirements that an organisation's Quality Management System must prove to satisfy in order to guarantee the level of product and service quality it claims to have with itself and with the market.

ISO 45001 (ex OHSAS 18001): describes the elements of the occupational health and safety management system and provides a framework for managing risks and opportunities in order to prevent accidents at work and health problems for workers. Certification takes on even greater importance as a guarantee for management with the entry into force in Italy of Legislative Decree 81/2008, which provides for the adoption of a Management System as a necessary condition to be exempt from the possible application of sanctions provided for in Decree no. 231 of 2001.

ISO 13485 (Medical devices - Quality management systems): a standard specifically aimed at companies operating in the medical sector such as SOL, designed for those who apply targeted quality controls to medical devices.

ISO 14001 (Environmental Management): provides a management framework for the integration of environmental management practices, pursuing environmental protection, pollution prevention, and reduction of energy and resource consumption.

ISO 22000 (Food Safety Management Systems): the standard defined for the effective control, improvement and development of food safety management, for organisations that aim to ensure such safety.

ISO 27001 (Information Security): defines the requirements for creating and running an Information Security Management System (logical, physical and organisational security), with the aim of protecting data and information from threats of all kinds, ensuring its integrity, confidentiality and availability.

ISO 50001 (Energy Management): the standard aims at helping organisations improve their energy performance, increasing energy efficiency and reducing climate and environmental impact.

Major accident: event such as a serious spill, fire or explosion due to uncontrolled developments in activities in the presence or use of dangerous substances, that could cause grave danger for human health or the environment.

Medical Device (DM): any instrument, apparatus, equipment, machine, device, plant, reagent in vitro or for calibration, computer software, material or other similar or related product for use, alone or in culmination, on persons for one or more specific purposes of diagnosis, prevention, control, therapy or attenuation of an illness; for diagnosis, control, therapy, attenuation or compensation of a wound or handicap; for studying, substituting or modifying anatomy or a physiological process; for intervening on conception where the main desired action in or on the human body is not carried out with pharmacological or immunological means or through metabolism, but whose function can be aided by these means.

Medical gases: both gases intended to be administered to the patient (such as medical oxygen, 93% oxygen, medical nitrous oxide, medical air), and gases not intended for administration but used for other purposes, such as air and nitrogen to power surgical instruments.

Mobile container: container for compressed, liquid, dissolved and cryogenic gases used for packaging products. Mobile containers include: cylinders, drums, gas cylinders, cylinder bundles, dewars, base units and portable units.

Policy (quality, safety, environment): general principles and guidelines of an organisation, formerly expressed by top management.

Primary processing units: units where gases are produced from raw materials.

Primary storage: liquefied cryogenic gas container filled directly by the production plant.

Quality, Safety and Environment System (SdG/QSA): the part of the general management system that includes the organisational structure, planning, responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources for drawing up, implementing and maintaining active and well-defined quality, safety and/or environmental policies.

Raw materials – primary processing units: atmospheric air for the production of oxygen, nitrogen and argon; natural gas, for the production of hydrogen and carbon dioxide; calcium carbide for the production of acetylene; ammonium nitrate for the production of nitrous oxide.

REACh: EC regulation no. 1907/2006 (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). Its main aim is to improve the awareness of the dangers and risks deriving from chemical substances, aiming to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment.

Residual mix: refers to the average primary energy sources that were not intended for a specific entity or to an end consumer. If consumers use the power grid without having purchased a GO certificate, they then must use the residual mix in the calculation of their energy footprint. The Residual mix is calculated for each year and country by organisations that are part of the European E-Track programme, such as RE-DISS.

Responsible Care: a voluntary programme of the world chemical industry based on the implementation of principles and conduct concerning the safety and health of employees and environmental protection, and the commitment to communicate the results obtained aiming for continual, significant and tangible improvement.

Sale equipment: technical/technological equipment purchased from third parties and supplied for use to customers as part of a service, but destined to remain the property of SOL; for example mobile containers, cold converters, etc.

Secondary processing units: units where gases are conditioned and packaged, normally using gases coming from primary processing units, into their physical form (which may be compressed gas or cryogenic liquid) in the containers (cylinders, cylinder bundles, drums or tanks) best suited for distribution to end users. These units also produce pure and high purity technical and medicinal gas mixtures.

Secondary storage: liquefied cryogenic gas container filled by tankers, normally installed in secondary process units.

Severity index: ratio between days of absence due to injury and hours worked multiplied by 1 million. It measures the severity of injuries.

Seveso Directive (2012/18/EU): European standard intended to prevent and control the occurrence of major accidents, through the identification of sites at risk. It governs industrial activities that involve the storage and/or use of certain quantities of dangerous substances.