Every company, up and down the supply chain, should be concerned about impacts of chemicals on human health and the environment, throughout their life cycle.

Each of us is confronted with a multitude of safety, health and environmental issues regarding our products. These may be voiced by our customers, environmental groups, and regulatory authorities. They may arise from societal expectations and public concern or from the industry's own internal assessments.

Implementing Product Stewardship helps us to manage these issues more effectively, taking into account health, safety and environmental as well as technical and economic aspects to ensure best customer value.

Chemical products must be managed and used safely along the supply chain, through manufacture, packaging, distribution, use and ultimate disposal.

No company operates in isolation. Everyone involved in the production, handling, use and disposal of chemicals has a shared responsibility to ensure their safe management and use.

An industry-owned Product Stewardship initiative offers a wide range of business benefits. It:

• enhances a company's reputation with its customers, the public and within the industry

• helps to systematically identify product risk early on and to manage it in a proactive way along the supply chain

• allows problems to be prioritised and dealt with efficiently within the limits of the available resources

• forges a sustainable supplier/customer relationship by tackling customer concerns promptly

• adds value to a company's products through the image and actions of a caring and responsible company

• enables emerging regulation of chemicals to be tracked and handled in a pragmatic way

• anticipates and meets new and innovative market demands for environmentally-sustainable products

• can be used as a powerful marketing tool

Although companies remain liable only for that part of the supply chain that they manage, they care about what happens to those chemicals they sell as their products to their customers and so either directly or indirectly to the public.

Product Stewardship promotes dialogue and co-operation along the supply chain on how to manage HSE issues: how to safely store, transport, use, dispose of products and even deal with emergencies. It also "opens the door" with the public and all other stakeholders.

Although product safety regulations have multiplied world-wide over the last ten years, public concerns on product-related HSE issues continue to emerge and grow. Significant triggers often come through media campaigns or high-profile incidents, leading to public concern and political pressure which drives yet more regulation or even de-selection of products.

Product Stewardship is an initiative right for all companies, large and small.

Many companies have being practising it for a long time but everyone, including manufacturers, distributors and resellers should now get involved.

There are five key steps for building the basis for a successful Product Stewardship programme:

1. Secure the commitment of senior management
Product Stewardship deals with core requirements of your business. Senior management must be a driving force as it will affect the wider reputation and success of your company. Most successful programmes already in place have a Product Stewardship Champion at company [eve[ and Product Stewards in business units.

2. Collect information on products, their markets and their fate
Collect all the relevant information on products, their critical applications and their markets. Find out about their disposal and possibilities for reuse/recycling.

3. Develop an efficient strategic organisation
Establish product-related working groups that, wherever possible, are integrated into existing business teams.

4. Assess business risk and opportunities
Identify concerns and evaluate critical issues. Seek business opportunities and develop partnerships.

Each product sector will develop its own specific approach. Against this background of diversity and flexibility, the same factors influence success everywhere:

• Achieve a quick hit: commitment to Product Stewardship will gather momentum and be strengthened if quick and effective results are obtained. Select first those stewardship topics where early progress can be demonstrated.

• Extend best practice: a sharply focused look at business needs; strong, clear goals; and well-defined responsibilities will allow best practice to be established in the programme. This will enhance Product Stewardship implementation in other areas of your business.

• Measure performance: devising a process of measurement of performance including milestones, and input and output analysis is essential.