Definition of the Core Parameters

Safety and occupational health

General definitions (from the CEFIC Guidance Document on Safety and Health Reporting – May 1995)

• Employer: Any natural or legal person who has an employment relationship with the employee and has responsibility for the establishment and its reporting of Safety & Health performance.

• Employee: Any person employed by an employer, including trainees and apprentices.

• Contractor: Any person who is not an employee but is providing services to the establishment on its premises (owned property - owned, directly managed or full time chartered transport - property leased or accessed through rights secured by the establishment). Regarding visitors or persons providing incidental services at the employer’s premises, Safety and Health incidents involving such party are included under contractor.

• Work: Employer’s premises and other locations where employees are engaged in work related activities or are present as a condition of their employment. It includes the equipment or materials used by the employee during the course of his work. Business travel is considered to be work related but commuting between home and work is not.

Core parameter 1: number of fatalities

• Definition: a fatality is an instantaneous work-related event or exposure, leading to death within one year.
• The parameter is expressed as number of fatalities (separate figure for employees and contractors)

Core parameter 2: lost time injuries frequency rate

• Definition: a lost time injury is an instantaneous bodily defect so that the individual is physically or mentally unable - as determined by a competent medical person - to work on a scheduled day or shift, resulting in at least one day off the job.
• The frequency rate is expressed as the number of lost time injuries per million working hours (separate figure for employees and contractors).
• Some countries may report data based upon the 3-day rule. CEFIC will convert these to 1-day data by using the transposition table in Appendix 1, which is recognised to give only an approximate result.

Core parameter 3: occupational illness frequency rate

• Definition: an occupational illness is any abnormal condition or disorder - other than one resulting directly from an accident - caused or mainly caused by work-related factors and recognised during the year as part of national schemes or regulations*.
• The frequency rate is expressed as the number of occupational illnesses per million working hours diagnosed during the year and notified as part of national schemes or regulations. This parameter refers to employees only.
• Due to the differences in legislation, culture and occupational health practices within countries and companies, the reporting of occupational illnesses is at this point in time very varied and incomplete. Therefore a pilot study will be carried out in order to develop clear guidance on data collection and reporting. Meanwhile companies and Federations should collect data on the number of occupational illnesses with a view to report in the coming years.

Environmental protection

Core parameter 4: hazardous waste for disposal, and
Core parameter 5: non-hazardous waste for disposal

• Definitions: "waste", "hazardous waste" and "disposal" according to national definitions. In the absence of national definitions :
  • "waste": any subject or object set out in Annex I of Directive 91/156/EEC, which the holder discards, or intends to discard or is required to discard (see Appendix 2).
  • "hazardous waste": waste featuring on the list of hazardous waste (Council Decision 94/904/EC pursuant to Article 1 (4) of Directive 91/689/EEC on hazardous waste) (see Appendix 3).
  • "disposal": any of the operations provided for in Annex IIA of Directive 91/156/EEC (see Appendix 4).
• Both parameters are expressed in tonnes and make no distinction between on site and off site disposal.
• Significant amounts of soil, sent for remediation or disposal and included in the above figures, should be highlighted.
• Both parameters are primarily a measure for the efficient use of resources.

Emissions to Air

Core parameter 6: sulphur dioxide (SO₂)

• Definition: airborne emission of sulphur and its compounds formed for example during combustion or production processes.
• The parameter is expressed as tonnes SO₂.
• SO₂ emissions contribute to atmospheric acidification.

Core parameter 7: nitrogen oxides (NO_x)

• Definition: airborne emission of compounds of nitrogen and oxygen formed for example from combustion processes and chemical processes involving nitrogen containing compounds.
• The parameter comprises NO and NO₂ and is expressed as tonnes of NO₂.
• NO_x emissions contribute to atmospheric acidification and have a potential to contribute to photochemical ozone creation.

Core parameter 8: carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other global warming gases

• Definition: the major contribution to CO₂ emissions by the chemical industry is from the combustion of fuels both directly and indirectly associated with the usage of electricity. Therefore these emissions are calculated on the basis of energy consumption. Aggregated data at national chemical federation level is not required since this is collected from national energy consumption statistics.
• The parameter on CO₂ is calculated as tonnes of CO₂ equivalent by multiplying the amount of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels used for energy use and for the generation of self produced electricity, with corresponding CO₂ emission factors. Additionally the amount of CO₂ emissions associated with net purchased electricity is included. This reporting is already performed at national and European level as part of CEFIC’s VEEP Programme. See Appendix 5 for Monitoring and Methodology of VEEP.
• Other global warming gases, listed in the Kyoto Protocol, are methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC’s), perfluorocarbons (PFC’s) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆). A CEFIC committee is considering both the relevance and reporting requirements for these gases, and will publish advice.
• Emission data for each of these other gases could be reported in future as tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. The impact of the release of these gases on global warming is calculated by multiplying the tonnes released per year with its Global Warming Potential (GWP) relative to carbon dioxide, as published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (see Appendix 6). In this way, the data of individual substances can be meaningfully compared and aggregated.

Core parameter 9: volatile organic compounds (VOC)

• Definition: any organic compound having, at 293.15° K, a vapour pressure of 0.01kPa or more or having a corresponding volatility under the particular conditions of use, which is released into the atmosphere (Art 2.16 of the Draft Council Directive on limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain activities and installations)
• The parameter is expressed as tonnes.
• This parameter reflects the potential for photochemical ozone creation that is implicated in respiratory problems and ecological damage to plants.
• Optionally, companies could additionally report the potential impact of these compounds. The release of an individual substance to form ground level ozone can be compared with that of other VOC substances by multiplying the amount of tonnes released per year with a potency factor e.g. the Potential to Create Ozone Photochemically (POCP) relative to ethylene (published by Derwent – see Appendix 7). In this way, the effects of individual substances could be meaningfully compared and aggregated in future.

Discharges to Water

Core parameter 10: phosphorus compounds

• Definition: aquatic release of phosphorus compounds.
• The parameter is expressed as tonnes of phosphorus.
• This parameter primarily reflects the potential eutrophication impact of phosphorus compounds as nutrients in the aquatic environment.
• Reporting of phosphorus compounds should only be done where it is reasonable to expect them to be produced/released from the site.

Core parameter 11: nitrogen compounds

• Definition: aquatic release of nitrogen compounds.
• The parameter is expressed as tonnes of nitrogen.
• This parameter primarily reflects the potential eutrophication impact of nitrogen compounds as nutrients in the aquatic environment.
• Reporting of nitrogen compounds should only be done where it is reasonable to expect them to be produced/released from the site

Core parameter 12: chemical oxygen demand (COD)

• Definition: chemical oxygen demand (COD) is the amount of oxygen required for the chemical oxidation of compounds in water, as determined using a strong oxidant (most standard methods use dichromate).
• The parameter is expressed as tonnes of oxygen.
• Guidance on the relationships between COD, BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), ThOD (Theoretical Oxygen Demand), StOD (Stoichiometric Oxygen Demand), TOD (Total Oxygen Demand), TOC (Total Organic Carbon) and DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon) can be found in Appendix 8.
• This parameter reflects the potential impact of an adverse effect on the aquatic environment.
• For sites that have their wastewater treated at a shared third party unit and cannot obtain individual data, the efficiency factor of the wastewater treatment unit should be taken into consideration when calculating the amount.

Core parameter 13: heavy metals (As-Cd-Cr-Cu-Pb-Hg-Ni-Zn)

• Definition: aquatic release of heavy metals and their compounds.
• The parameters are expressed as tonnes for each metal.
• This parameter reflects the potential for an adverse effect on the aquatic environment.
• Optionally, companies could additionally report the potential impact of these metals. The release of an individual metal on aquatic plants and animals can be compared with that of other metals by multiplying the amount of tonnes released per year with a potency factor e.g. the reciprocal of the European Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) relative to copper (see Appendix 9). In this way, the effect of individual metals could be meaningfully compared and aggregated in future.

Other potential impacts

Core parameter 14: other substances that potentially impact human health or the environment

• Definition: airborne and aquatic release of substances included in the provisional list in Appendix 10. Companies handling these substances should report their emissions. However the figures will not be aggregated at national or European level as the impact is mainly of a local nature.
• The parameter is expressed as tonnes for each substance for emissions to air as well as for discharges to water, where appropriate.
• This parameter reflects the potential for effects on human health locally, notably carcinogens, ozone depleting substances, and is chosen from previous CEFIC reporting recommendations and current discussions about emission reporting e.g. Committee of Art 19 of Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC).

Use of Energy

Core parameter 15: energy consumption and energy efficiency

• Definition: energy consumption is the amount of fossil fuels and electricity (the result of purchased electricity + self-produced electricity – electricity sold to the network, converted from GWh into tonnes of oil equivalent) used to generate heat, power and electricity. Energy efficiency or specific energy consumption is the energy consumption per unit of output.
• The parameter on energy consumption is expressed as tonnes of fuel oil equivalent (toe) whereas the parameter on specific energy consumption is expressed as the ratio of the total energy consumption to the volume of chemicals production. This reporting is already performed at national and European level as part of CEFIC’s VEEP Programme. See Appendix 6 for Monitoring and Methodology of VEEP.

Distribution

Core parameter 16: distribution incidents

• Definition : any incident, involving chemicals (hazardous or non-hazardous), during transport or transit (excluding loading/unloading at supplier/customer) which meets at least one of the following criteria:
  • death or injury leading to more than 3 day’s absence from work
  • spill or leak: more than 200kg (hazardous) or 1000kg (non-hazardous)
  • property damage: more than 40 000 ECU (including environmental clean up)
  • public disruption (evacuation, road closure or other precautionary measure): lasting more than 1 hour
  • media coverage: national.
• The parameter is expressed as the number of incidents/tonnes distributed for each transport mode (air-rail-road-sea-inland waterway-pipeline). Further guidance on the reporting of distribution incidents can be found in Appendix 11.

Reference data

The following data (see appendices) refers to the total number of the companies or sites included in the survey as defined by the federations.

• number of hours worked (employees – contractors)
• number of tonnes distributed by transport mode
• number employees
• turnover

This data is collected in order to aggregate a number of data and to enable relating the core parameters to the number of employees and turnover.