At each Cabot location, we manage a comprehensive industrial hygiene program focused on the protection of our employees and contractors' health. Each facility is required to regularly review their operations and conduct assessments of potential industrial hygiene-related exposures. Industrial hygiene sampling is then performed to determine actual exposures. The sampling results are reviewed by Cabot's certified industrial hygienists, who track individual facility progress. 

Cabot maintains all industrial hygiene monitoring results in a global data management system, which is reviewed at least quarterly by the corporate industrial hygiene team. As reviews warrant, follow-up investigations are completed to analyze sources of exposures and to ensure appropriate resources are working on reducing employee exposures. 

In 2007, Cabot established a goal to reduce global workplace dust exposures in our global Warehouse, Packaging and Shipping (WPS) areas. From the beginning of this initiative through mid fiscal year 2009, Cabot has reduced dust exposures in over 50 percent of its WPS operations. Cabot is moving forward with several new installations of state-of-the-art packaging equipment and improved work practice techniques that are aimed at further reductions in personnel exposures.

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We revised Cabot's priority IH Emphasis Program in 2004 and began tracking metrics to demonstrate progress the following year. As shown in the graphs above, we continue to make sustainable progress with respect to IH programs. In 2004, we identified several opportunities to close the IH data gaps that in turn formed the focus of our work over the last three years. In that time frame, Cabot completed all exposure assessment plans while the corresponding sampling program was completed in 2008.