RESPONSIBLE CARE

Features of RESPONSIBLE CARE

Under the Responsible Care concept, Chemical Companies are called upon to improve all aspects of their performance which relate to protection of health, safety and the environment, including relations with customers and communities regarding product use and overall operation. The commitment is described in a set of "Guiding Principles".

Implementation of the Responsible Care concept by National Chemical Industry Associations may vary according to national cultures and circumstances. Nevertheless, all initiatives have to include certain fundamental features:

• A formal commitment to a set of Guiding Principles on behalf of each company, e.g. by CEO signature.
• A series of Codes, Guidance Notes and checklists to assist companies to implement the commitment.
• The progressive development of indicators against which improvements in performance can be measured.
• An ongoing process of communications on health, safety and environmental matters with interested parties outside the industry.
• Provision of opportunities for companies to share views and exchange experiences on the implementation of the commitment (e.g. informal conferences).
• Adoption of a title and a logo which clearly identify national programmes as being consistent with and part of the concept of Responsible Care.
• Consideration of how best to encourage all Association member companies to commit to and participate in Responsible Care.
• Systematic procedures to verify the implementation of the measurable (or practical) elements of Responsible Care by member companies.

A key element of both the companies' commitment and the National Associations' programmes is the set of Guiding Principles. National Associations are free to draft their own set, based for example on the sets of Guidelines for Environmental Policy existing in Chemical Associations or on the "ICC Business Charter for Sustainable Development", or on any company Policy Statement. Experience demonstrates a remarkable degree of consistency between the various sets of Guiding Principles used across the world.

Compared with many other industry initiatives, RESPONSIBLE CARE contains a number of strong messages:

• it addresses the responsible management of chemicals and chemical processes over their life cycle;
• it is a commitment to improve performance which, when demonstrated, represents a key achievement on which industry can communicate;
• it is a dynamic initiative in that it is open to all companies, large and small, to join at their current level of performance;
• it seeks to build a "culture" in companies which goes beyond minimum regulatory compliance;
• it implies a policy of openness and communications on environmental performance to the various stakeholders, in particular the employees, the public, and customers;
• it is fast developing across the world-wide chemical industry - a sign of its universal applicability.

RESPONSIBLE CARE is not an easy option:

• improved public credibility has to be ensured, e.g. through "public advisory panels" or similar means to involve the public in the programmes
• clear, easy to understand "indicators" need to be developed in order to measure the effective achievement of the commitment, i.e. the improvement in performance
• decisions concerning what to do about companies that consistently fail to fulfil the commitment will need to be taken
• care will be needed when adapting the initiative to differing national cultures or legislative frameworks so as not to weaken its integrity.

International development of Responsible Care

A measure of the success of RESPONSIBLE CARE is its rapid spread across the world-wide chemical industry; born in Canada in 1984, it was adopted by the USA in 1988. It came to Europe in 1989 through the United Kingdom and then spread over all European countries where CEFIC has member associations. Similarly, the other members of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) established and developed Responsible Care programmes.

Mostly thanks to the actions of multinational chemical companies Responsible Care developed in many non-ICCA countries, in South America (Brazil, Argentina...), Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe), and Asia (Hong-Kong, Korea...)

In total 36 national chemical industry Associations are currently implementing a Responsible Care programme. It should however be recognized that in some countries national Associations still need to do a lot to establish and implement a Responsible Care programme fully meeting the fundamental features.

Impact on the Chemical Industry

The fundamental objectives of Responsible Care are to help companies to improve their environmental, health and safety performance. As demonstrated by the publication of various reports, this objective is well on its way. In addition, Responsible Care has prompted the chemical industry to launch a number of initiatives aiming at improved environmental performance. For example, within the European Chemical Industry, some programmes like ICE (safety in transport and distribution of chemicals), Environmental Reporting (publication of annual environmental reports), cooperative establishment of dossiers of toxicological data of existing chemicals, support to the concept of Environmental Management Systems, etc. are right in the spirit of Responsible Care.

Product Stewardship, "Responsible Care applied to products", deserves a special mention: applying its principles ensures a responsible and ethical management of the health, safety and environmental aspects of a product throughout its life-cycle.

Responsible Care is also well known by authorities. For instance the UNEP Code of Ethics on the International Trade in Chemicals (1994) recognizes that enterprises committed to Responsible Care are deemed to implement the principles of the Code.

Challenges

At the international as well as at association levels, a certain number of challenges have to be resolved to consolidate the results brought by Responsible Care:

• maintain the enthusiasm for Responsible Care, from top management down to the shopfloor.
• develop a set of indicators to allow a clear presentation of data on environmental performance, if possible standardized across the world.
• develop a system to verify implementation of Responsible Care by a company or association
• maintain consistency between Responsible Care and the various instruments for Environmental Management Systems
• allocate the necessary resources within companies and associations
• implement an appropriate communications plan.

Actual Operation

As mentioned earlier, national chemical industry associations are responsible for the establishment and implementation of the Responsible Care initiative in their country.

Coordination of the various national initiatives is ensured at world level by the "Responsible Care Leadership Group" established by the ICCA whose members are delegates from the various ICCA member associations completed by delegates from non-ICCA member associations having a Responsible Care activity. The Group has, in particular, established a mechanism to check the consistency of new intiatives developed by Chemical Associations in various countries of the world, is organizing international Responsible Care Workshops (Rotterdam, April 1991; Lisbon, October 1992; Rio de Janeiro and Hong-Kong, May 1995; Berlin, May 1995; Bruxelles, 1996; Lyon, April 1998), and through regular meetings contributes to the sharing of experience on topics related to the development of Responsible Care.

Contact

J. Busson, CEFIC - Tel. +32 2 676.72.68 - Fax. +32 2 676.73.32 - E-mail: jbs@cefic.be

15 April 1998 (Date of original publication: 04 January 1995)