FSK awards medal of honour at prestigious event

The professional and association life of Wolfgang Barth, born 1 November 1955, began in 1976 when he studied electrical engineering / electronics and subsequently specialised in industrial engineering / work environment design at the Technical University Dresden. The graduate engineer gained practical experience as an environmental protection and occupational safety employee in largescale renowned companies and trained as a safety engineer, immission protection and incident officer, and hazardous substances expert. He also taught as a lecturer on the implementation of the Hazardous Substances Ordinance at the German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the Glass / Ceramics Industry and worked as an expatriate for his employer in the USA. The switch to the Recticel Group in February 1998 marked Wolfgang Barth’s entry into the world of foamed plastics and polyurethanes. Wolfgang Barth remained with the Group until his retirement in summer 2021, where he took on numerous responsible tasks in the areas of environmental and safety organisation, environmental management systems, environmental approval procedures, implementation of contaminated site and groundwater remediation, waste management, hazardous substances management and REACH, to name just a few. Mr Barth was an incident and immission control officer at PU flexible foam production sites. His main area of responsibility included the safe handling of diisocyanates from the occupational health and safety, environmental protection and plant safety perspective; in this context, he also dealt intensively with the restriction process for diisocyanates under REACH. Alongside his career with the Recticel Group, Wolfang Barth became involved in association work in the FSK’s Working Group Environmental Protection and Occupational Safety. Mr Barth has not only contributed his knowledge to the working group but has also taken on the honorary position of spokesperson and deputy spokesperson over several years.

“Over the course of his career and his commitment to the FSK, Mr Barth has had a lasting influence on all major processes and regulations in the industry. His contribution to the development of Technical Rules for Hazardous Substances 430 (TRGS 430) is significant, as is his involvement in the consideration of diisocyanates under REACH in the European process. We are grateful to him for representing the FSK as an expert on numerous occasions. His profession is more of a vocation,” says Klaus Junginger. “We hope that with his retirement, all his knowledge and work will not rest. It would be a loss for the industry.”

Starting in 1966, Dr Wolfram Frank studied chemistry at the Technical University in Aachen, graduated in 1972 and completed his doctorate in the field of organic chemistry in 1976. After completing his doctoral studies, Dr Wolfram Frank began his career at BASF AG. He has been working for BASF AG since 1982, dealing with polyurethanes in various divisions and countries. Dr Wolfram Frank was responsible as Business Manager in the automotive sector in the USA, as Director of the System House in Budapest and in Paris, and most recently as Business Manager for flexible foam in the European region. From 2007 onwards, Dr Wolfram Frank took on consulting activities for BASF, was Secretary General of ISOPA from 2008 to 2012 and Chairman of the Technical Committee at EUROPUR from 2013 to 2017. “Dr Wolfram Frank has also been applying his expert knowledge as a consultant for the FSK since 2017. We are pleased that we were able to win him for our work regarding the restriction of diisocyanates under the REACH Regulation. He played a key role in developing the learning content for the diisocyanate training courses for the FSK. It is hard to imagine the polyurethane industry without Dr Wolfram Frank. His national and international professional experience and commitment in the industry speaks for itself!” says FSK Managing Director Klaus Junginger.