Air Liquide announces winners of the 2011 National Field Championship

Each year, Air Liquide invites top U.S. truck drivers and field service technicians to compete in the Air Liquide National Field Championship, a competition held in Houston, Texas to recognize employees with superior skills and safety performance.

Air Liquide has approximately 1,000 drivers and field service technicians in the U.S. who handle gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and argon. Thirty-five employees of Air Liquide’s industrial merchant, electronics, healthcare, and specialty gases business lines qualified to compete in the 2011 National Field Championship, held November 7-10 in Houston, Texas.

Mark Lostak, president of Air Liquide Industrial U.S. LP, said prior to the start of the final competition: “On behalf of Air Liquide, I congratulate all of our employees who competed this year for their tremendous performance. These special drivers and technicians are known as safety leaders within our company, always doing their part to keep Air Liquide’s safety record among the best in class. I thank each of you for your unwavering commitment to zero accidents every day on the job.”

Participants in the National Field Championship competed in three categories: the bulk driver category, the cylinder driver category, and field service technician category. Each participant completed challenging written, verbal and performance assessments.

Do you ever have trouble parallel parking a 4-wheeler? Try backing a gas trailer into a tight space. As part of the field test, which accounted for 60 percent of the total score, each participant had one shot to parallel park an argon trailer.

The winners were announced during an awards banquet held on Thursday, Nov. 10 in Houston, Texas. Noel Dudley from Blytheville, Ark., won first place in the bulk driver category for the second consecutive year. David Miller of Tulsa, Okla., won first place in the cylinder driver category, and Bob Watters of Countryside, Ill., won first place in the field service technician category.

In his comments to drivers, family members and Air Liquide leaders in attendance at the awards banquet, Michael Graff, president & CEO of American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc. stated: “Our drivers and field service technicians are not only skillful champions, they set the example for all of us at Air Liquide. We respect each of them for their demonstrated commitment to safety and reliability, a commitment which our customers and those in the communities we serve depend on and expect.”