Responsible Care – Conscientoius Conduct in Chemical Trade and Distribution

How are the goals pursued?

At the commencement of participation in the RC program, a chemical trading company signs a corresponding declaration and appoints a Responsible Care Representative who, from then on, supervises the adherence to the basic rules of the program in all parts of the company. He/she is the contact person in the company for safety, health and environmental protection concerns. He/she is in regular contact with senior management regarding these matters and participates in the internal RC workshops of the VCH.

By participating in the program, senior management commits itself to implement the „Guidelines of chemical trading for the safe handling and marketing of chemicals and the provision of information to the public“. They are de facto the precursors of the RCprogram.

Furthermore, the participants undertake the obligation:

• to regularly monitor their activities to ascertain if they comply with the principle of continuous improvement of environmental protection inside the company;
   
• to ensure that their activities involve no unacceptably high risks for employees, external firms, customers, the public or the environment;
   
• to create awareness among their employees for public concerns;
   
• to wholeheartedly engage in an open dialogue with the public according to individual possibilities;
   
• to advise customers in a suitable manner about environmental aspects in connection with the handling, use and final storage of the products;
   
• to endeavor to ensure that contract partners working on the company premises adhere to the same safety standards as the company itself;
   
• according to the available possibilities, to set up and maintain an organization for emergency measures;
   
• to guarantee through training courses that the employees themselves are aware of their duties, and support responsible activities in the sense of the program;
   
• to document that the obligations which have been made with regard to the protection of health, safety and the environment are understood as a part of the business strategy;
   
• to audit the process of continuous improvement by independent external experts.
   

At the beginning of the participation, together with an independent third party expert, authorized by the VCH, the concordance of the participation declaration with the goals set out in the program is examined. If there are deficits, the company is given the opportunity to rectify these. After a positive examination, the participant is granted the right to use the Responsible Care logo. This logo shows that the company is a member of the worldwide RC initiative and has undertaken the obligation to adhere to the rules of the initiative.

How is compliance with the program controlled?

The responsible care representative agrees with the senior management of his/her company on a working plan as a main feature of the program. In this plan, the measures which are to be taken by the company to exploit improvement potentials are set out in detail. After three years, an independent expert third party inspects the company to see whether the self-imposed targets in the three year plan have been achieved. In this work, the expert takes the annual reports into account for continuing or, if necessary, correcting the three year plan. After a positive inspection, the company is issued with a certificate to confirm the compliance of the company activities with the regulations of the RC program. Negative inspection results can lead to the cancellation of the participation in the program. These mechanisms guarantee that only those enterprises can permanently participate in the program, and use the corresponding logo, which have integrated the ethical principles of the program into their management system. Further detailed information is contained in the „VCHKonzept“, including the basic requirement qualifications for an independent “expert third party”, and details on the verification of RC activities within the scope of the responsible care on-site audit.

How and when is information made public?

The participants report their activities annually to the VCH. For this purpose, quantifiable – „Indices of Performance” – have been developed which permit a summary assessment. The VCH annual report is regularly presented to the public, and also in particular to the suppliers and customers, the neighbors of the enterprises and the responsible authorities. All previous annual reports, the “indices of performance”, the complete RC program and further information can be obtained from the VCH website or requested from the VCH office.