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The global chemical industry as represented by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) is committed to reporting the results of Responsible Care to the international stakeholder audience every two years. In doing so it wishes to encourage a dialogue on the effectiveness of this industry initiative and respond to changing and developing international opinion.
Responsible Care is the chemical industry’s commitment to continuous improvement in all aspects of health, safety and environment (HS&E) performance and to openness in communication about its activities and achievements. The 42 national initiatives are all at differing stages of development and implementation, but each has its own set of Guiding Principles which define its approach. There are eight fundamental features agreed by the ICCA which any national federation joining the initiative accepts.
Since the last Status Report in December 1996, ICCA co-ordination of the voluntary initiative has been extended from 40 to 42 countries. Morocco and Thailand have been accepted within the Responsible Care family, which now covers 87% of global chemicals production by volume.
The status of each country’s implementation of Responsible Care has been reported on and milestones established for federations to strive towards. 38 countries have Guiding Principles agreed and published and 25 countries have developed and published codes or guidance.
42 countries are presently involved in the initiative and their present status is reported in the countries section. Twenty-one of them now publish an annual Responsible Care report detailing their EHS performance. Highlights of the reported improvements in the key areas of process, product and distribution are given in the body of this report.
The ICCA recognises that it has much still to do to improve the dialogue with industry stakeholders on the initiatives and it is committed to do this. For example, all our employees are not yet fully involved in local Responsible Care activities, and this will be addressed with them and their representatives at national level according to national regulations or local customs.
The challenge of effective verification of Responsible Care, highlighted in the last report, has been occupying chemical federations around the world. Significant progress has been achieved with many federations implementing self-assessment as a starting point. Many countries have established the basis for future verification and some have external verification processes already in operation.
The industry has introduced further initiatives in its response to the public’s growing concerns on environment, health and safety issues, notably on product safety issues. Recognising that there is insufficient information on the EHS impact of many chemicals, a three pronged programme has been put in place to: speed up the collective production of data and hazard assessment, embark on a Long-range Research Initiative and enhance ICCA product stewardship activities.
To meet the growing expectations of our stakeholders, the ICCA is seeking ways in which to report the industry’s HS&E performance data at a global level.
There has been a substantial uptake of the Responsible Care ethic down the product supply chain with further partnership agreements signed with national chemical distributor organisations. Linkages have also been made in support of similar initiatives in other sectors such as forest products, plastics, paints, lubricants and other petroleum products.