Responsible Care Goes Online.

As environmental, health, and safety progress reports become standard for corporations, trade associations are demonstrating their members' progress in unique ways. For the year 2000, the American Chemistry Council (ACC; formerly the Chemical Manufacturers Association) has published its Responsible Care Progress Report 2000 on the Internet at http://rcprogress.cmahq.com/in an interactive multimedia presentation that explains the initiative's guiding principles, its codes of management practice, and recent changes and additions to its goals. Dick Doyle, vice president of Responsible Care at the ACC, believes the electronic format is in keeping with the industry's commitment to innovation and the environment. "The industry is changing, and our commitment to innovation and the environment must reflect this," he says.

The Responsible Care initiative is a voluntary environmental, health, and safety performance improvement initiative begun by the ACC in 1988. After a 1984 industrial accident in Bhopal, India, that killed nearly 3,000 people, says Lisa Scholik Grepps, a manager for strategic communications for Responsible Care at the ACC, the U.S. chemical industry realized that two factors played a major role in the severity of the incident: a lack of community awareness about chemical hazards and inadequate emergency response planning. The Responsible Care initiative is a means for the U.S. chemical industry to meet public concern about preventing such an occurrence in the United States.

By carefully reviewing current procedure within the industry, offering recommendations, and initiating new standards through education and other means, Responsible Care aims for a goal of zero accidents, injuries, or harm to the environment. Toward that end, Responsible Care participants are charged with implementing six codes of management practice: promotion of emergency response planning and ongoing dialogue with local communities; commitment to safe management and the reduction of wastes; prevention of fires, explosions, and accidental chemical releases; reduction of employee and public risks from exposure to chemicals during transportation, storage, handling, transfer, and repackaging; protection of employees and visitors at company sites; and implementation of health, safety, and environmental protection measures as part of the design and manufacturing of products.

Responsible Care receives external guidance from a national public advisory panel, a diverse group of individuals from outside the industry including scientists and members of environmental groups, unions, and academia. In an open letter in the 2000 report, the panel challenges Responsible Care participants to go beyond current regulations to increase safety factors within procedures. Some suggestions include incorporating toll-free numbers and informative labels on products for easier and, safer disposal of chemicals. The letter also encourages taking steps toward sustainability, which in the case of the chemical industry entails considering the long-term economic and social ramifications of corporate decisions.

In the 12 years since its birth, Responsible Care's 188 members (chemical manufacturers) and 98 partners and partner associations (companies that handle chemicals) have demonstrated improvement in environmental, health, and safety performance, says the report. The report notes that from 1988 to 1997, member companies reduced emissions of chemicals on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory by 58% while increasing productivity by 18%. The report also says that by following Responsible Care guidelines, ACC member companies provide a workplace that is 4.5 times safer than all other manufacturing industries.