Responsible Care
A wide range of legal and voluntary instruments is already in place for the control of chemicals at national, European and international levels. There are, however, increasing unilateral calls from political and environmental groups for product bans or restrictions on chemicals suspected of harming human or animal health. In response to growing public concern, the chemical industry as a whole needs to demonstrate its long-standing commitment to the responsible management of chemicals.
Under the banner of the world chemical industry's voluntary programme, Responsible Care, the chemical industry has committed itself to the development of a more thorough process for chemicals assessment and management in consultation between governments and other stakeholders.
Responsible Care
Responsible Care is an initiative of the whole, worldwide chemical industry, and thereby an initiative to which the petrochemicals industry adheres actively and wholeheartedly. It is a voluntary programme through which the industry is committed to continual improvement in all aspects of health, safety and environmental performance and to open communication about its activities and achievements.
Responsible Care is much more than a set of principles and declarations. Through the sharing of information and a rigorous system of checklists, performance indicators and verification procedures, it has enabled the industry to improve over the years and to develop policies for further improvement. In these ways, Responsible Care helps the industry to operate safely, profitably and with due care for future generations, and also, thereby, to gain the trust of the public.
Fundamental features of Responsible Care include:
- A formal commitment by each company to a set of guiding principles
- Codes, guidance and checklists to help companies to fulfil their commitment
- The development of indicators against which improvements in performance can be measured
- Open communication on health, safety and environmental matters with interested parties, both inside and outside the industry
- Procedures for verifying that member companies have implemented the measurable or practical elements of Responsible Care.
Under Responsible Care, the industry collects as much data as possible on its health, safety and environmental performance, and reports to stakeholders every year. The process also enables industry federations and companies to share best practice and so improve their performance.
Stakeholders include yourself, who are reading this text. To know more about Responsible Care and find out about the health, safety and environmental performance of the industry, click here.
The new prisme2 Responsible Care initiative is a multistakeholder project on corporate social responsibility in chemical business and was launched in November 2008. The name stands for Promoting Responsibilty in SMEs.
The project is designed to better involve small and medium sized companies in Responsible Care and to generate added value to their business through improved environmental, health and safety management. More ...
Product Stewardship
Product Stewardship is about responsibly managing the health, safety and environmental aspects of a chemical product throughout its lifecycle; in other words, it is Responsible Care applied to products.
This is another industry initiative adhered to closely by the petrochemicals industry. The purpose of Product Stewardship is to prevent injury to human health and damage to the environment in two main ways:
- By reducing the actual and potential risks associated with the manufacture, packaging, distribution, handling, use and disposal of industry products, and
- By improving product design, assessment practices, advice, education, communication and customer support.
Product Stewardship covers all stages of a product's lifecycle - initial concept, design, research and development, the sourcing of raw materials, manufacture, storage, distribution, applications, reasonably foreseeable uses, recycling and disposal. It requires management, employees, contractors, customers and all those involved in the supply chain to work together in following safe, environmentally sound practices.
By adopting Product Stewardship, companies of all sizes can play their part in protecting people and the environment from potential harm. Although companies are technically liable only for that part of the supply chain that they themselves manage, they need to be concerned with everything that happens to their products from start to finish.
For more information on Product Stewardship, click here.
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