2013 Responsible Care® Program Enhancements

 

Responsible Care Management System (RCMS®):

• Includes Responsible Care® requirements only – no ISO 14001 requirements.
• Focuses on hazards and risks.
• Requires no periodic surveillance – recertification every three years.
• Focuses on headquarters site, with incremental inclusion of production sites.
• May be for valuable for organizations with only domestic manufacturing and supply chain activities.

RC14001 Management System:

• Includes ISO 14001 and Responsible Care requirements.
• Focuses on aspects and impacts.
• Is driven by customer requirement for ISO 14001.
• Stage I and Stage II registration audit approach and periodic surveillance required.
• Suitable for any facility.
• May be more valuable for organizations with foreign manufacturing sites, or as supplier to non-domestic customers, due to international acceptance of 14001.

2013 Responsible Care® Program Enhancements

Responsible Care is the chemical industry’s world-class environmental, health, safety and security performance initiative. It’s our commitment to doing more, and doing better.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is implementing a set of enhancements to Responsible Care, to strengthen the program and keep pace with 21st century performance expectations. These program enhancements were developed with one overriding principle in mind: to enhance the performance and credibility of the chemical industry through Responsible Care.
By building and growing a stronger Responsible Care, ACC member companies are playing a vital part to ensure that the business of chemical is safe, secure and sustainable.
A summary of the Responsible Care program enhancements follows:
Safe Management and Use of Chemicals:

The products of chemistry are at the heart of making our lives healthier and safer. But as valuable as these products are, they must also be used responsibly. The new Responsible Care Product Safety Code drives continuous improvement in chemical product safety. It includes a set of 11 mandatory practices that require chemical manufacturers to:

• Evaluate, demonstrate and continuously improve product safety performance.
• Gather and communicate chemical safety information along the value chain.
• Make information about chemical products available to the public.

Safe Operations through the Manufacturing Process:

ACC Responsible Care companies are committed to the safe operation of their chemical processes. The Process Safety Code sets forth industry’s commitment to a culture of process safety throughout their operations, management systems and leadership organizations. The Process Safety Code:

• Strengthens core concepts such as leadership, accountability, and culture to drive overall process safety performance improvement.
• Encourages companies to identify and prioritize the hazards and risks of their processes.
• Promotes systems to manage, mitigate and share information about identified risks.

Promoting Energy Efficiency and Materials Reuse and Recycling:
Additional enhancements to Responsible Care induce companies to consider operational energy efficiency and waste minimization, reuse and recycling issues when setting their environmental, health, safety and security performance priorities.
 
Core Elements of the Product Safety Code
The Product Safety Code includes a set of 11 Management Practices, through which chemical manufacturers can evaluate, demonstrate and continuously improve their product safety performance, while also making information about chemical products available to the public.
Specifically, the Product Safety Code Management Practices verify that chemical companies do the following:

• Undertake scientific analyses of their products, and take steps to assure they can be used safely.
  
• Enhance cooperation and communications along the chemical value chain, so that chemical producers and the manufacturers, distributors and retailers who use, handle or sell chemicals, work together to improve awareness about the safety and risks of certain chemicals, and how to manage chemicals safety along the value chain.
  
• Consider impacts on public health, the environment and overall sustainability as they improve their products or develop new ones.
  
• Determine whether the chemicals they make pose risks, based on any new research, how the chemical is used, and whether children and other sensitive groups come into contact with them.
  
• Provide the public with access to product safety and stewardship information.
  
• Ensure that company senior executives, including the CEO, commit to a culture of product safety and accountability.