Responsible Care – Conscientoius Conduct in Chemical Trade and Distribution

At the end of 1996, the chemical trading companies which make up the German Chemical Traders Association (Verband Chemiehandel, VCH) took the decision to participate in the worldwide Responsible Care Initiative of the chemical industry. They have highlighted the name of the initiative and the corresponding VCH program with the addendum “Conscientious conduct in chemical trade and distribution”.

What does „Responsible Care” mean?

The Responsible Care Initiative stands for the desire, independently of legal obligations, to strive to achieve constant improvements in the fields of the environment, health and safety and to present this progress regularly to the public. This occurs in accordance with legal requirements, the traditional duties of a prudent businessman and in the interests of a future-oriented sustainable development. In detail this means:

• Product stewardship: This has been accurately paraphrased with the saying: “from the cradle to the grave”. The chemical trader takes on extended, shared responsibility for his products, not least in view of the upstream manufacturing. He ensures that the products are manufactured according to worldwide recognized safety and/or environmental protection standards. If such influencing is impossible, then the chemical trader prefers such products which comply with the applicable standards. The chemical trader only offers such products which can be safely transported, used and disposed of according to best current knowledge. For the user of his products, he is a consultation partner - also long after the goods have been delivered. He collaborates in finding solutions to disposal and/or recycling problems. He informs the manufacturer of any specific findings and thus completes the chain of information from first development right through to the final destination. The responsibility for the safe handling of chemicals is not only an important element of the RC program in the chemical industry and in chemical trading, but also for all downstream users in the distribution chain. The EU has included this element as a legal obligation in the 2007 REACH Directive. An expression of product responsibility is also the commitment of the sector with regard to misuse of its products for illegal purposes, e.g. as base materials for illicit drugs or explosives.
   
• Plant safety: Systematically and comprehensively, the chemical trader addresses all aspects concerning the safe handling of his goods, in particular in his warehouses and refilling plants. He collects all available product-related information and enters these in the safety data sheets. On the basis of this substance information, he develops emergency plans and, after coordinating these with the expert authorities, he publishes them internally; if required, the general public will also be informed. The chemical trader continuously reviews his experiences and findings, exchanging information with comparable operations as well as with his suppliers.
   
• Working safety and health protection: Accident prevention and precautionary health protection for the employees is ensured by a comprehensive work safety concept which incorporates work organization and safety technology. Exposures to hazardous substances are eliminated (e.g. by using closed systems) or – if that is not possible – by limiting exposure to values which are not detrimental to health and which are constantly monitored, whereby their further reduction.
   
• Environmental protection: The statutory requirements placed on the companies for the protection of water, soil and air, as well as for resource conservation, are proactively fulfilled, thus ensuring modern recycling management. Any remaining scope for development, particularly in the recycling field, is innovatively explored and exploited for the benefit of a holistic environmental protection.
   
• Transport safety: The risks during the loading, unloading, transhipment and transport of chemicals are constantly being reevaluated. They are dominated by a strict adherence to the regulations, which however does not exclude improvements through own initiatives. The training and further education of all concerned are always promoted and sponsored.
   
• Dialogue - Information of the general public:: Trust is to be created through an open and critical dialogue between chemical trading and their employees, on the one hand, and customers, consumers, neighbors and society as a whole, on the other hand. Within the scope of this process, understanding for the activities and function of chemical trading is to be promoted.
   

Which fundamental goals are being pursued?

The Conference on Environment and Development carried out by the UN Environment Program (UNEP), 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, created the first model of a „sustainable development“ and characterized this as a joint target of the community of nations. The worldwide Responsible Care Initiative of the chemical industry and also the chemical trading industry is an expression of obligation to abide by this model. With its program of responsible action in chemical trading, the chemical trading industry wishes to add its own contribution: because it agrees with the findings of the UNEP, that environmental and development problems are frequently of a global nature, and that problem solutions require responsible actions from all concerned. Therefore, at an early date, the sector has already committed itself to show support for the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) wherever it is concerned.

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