CHEMICAL RISK MANAGEMENT

Thus two components, exposure and hazard, must be evaluated together in determining the level of risk posed by a given colorant or other chemical. Risk management may therefore be regarded as a series of interdependent steps ... 

ERPs do not necessarily need to be one document. They may consist of an overview document, individual emergency action procedures, checklists, additions to existing operations manuals, appendices, etc. There may be separate, more detailed plans for specific incidents. There may be plans that do not include particularly sensitive information and those that do. Existing applicable documents should be referenced in the ERP (e.g., chemical Risk Management Program, contamination response). 

KemI Report 2/05 Building a Healthy Economy Chemicals Risk Management as a Driver of Development. 

OECD (2002) Guidance document on risk communication for chemical risk management. OECD, Paris. 

REACH has provided a structure in which a well-informed chemicals risk management can be developed. In particular, it creates a legislative and regulatory framework for all substances in which the procurement of data for making reasonably reliable risk assessment is possible. But on the other hand, as we have seen, it does not require the creation of such data for all substances for which it is needed. This should be no surprise. The deficiencies in the previous system of chemicals regulation were so large that it would be unrealistic to believe that they could be solved in one single reform. It is only to be expected that there should be scope for improvement. A discussion is needed that identifies the most important of the potential improvements of the system, and in this spirit we would like to propose three important issues for the further development of REACH. 

Distinct and clearly formulated legislation on chemicals is, together with efficient implementation and enforcement, a necessary prerequisite for effective chemicals risk management. Two recent publications from the Swedish Chemicals Agency, KemI, analyse and discuss in more depth the need for an appropriate national infrastructure for chemicals control, such as legislation and institutional capacity and capability (KemI PM 1/07 and KemI PM 4/08). KemI PM 4/08 includes an example of a full-text basic law on chemicals. 

Chemicals risk management has four main goals ... 

Framework for Chemical Risk Management under REACH... 

As discussed in Section 1.1, regulatory chemical risk management can be viewed as a process by which chemical risks are controlled so as to reach tolerable levels of risk. The research project takes its definition for chemical risk management from the European Commission [25] ... 

Judging from previous EU chemical risk management decision-making, the choice of control instrument, scope and detail of regulatory action proposed by a Member State depends on its national regulatory approach and administrative structure [31, 32]. This affects inclusion of different actors in decision-making... 

To meet the aims of the strategy within the proposed timelines, agreements between Member States on chemical risk management must be reached in far shorter timeframes than in the current system. The European Commission s First Report on the Harmonisation of Risk Assessment Procedures recognises risk management as an important area of risk-related decision-making that would benefit... 

How does chemical risk management differ between the Member States and why ... 

What framework for chemical risk management emerges from the research ... 

Any regulatory or corporate decision on chemical risk management will have knock-on effects through the manufacturing supply chains (Section 2.2.1). From past experience, chemicals regulation has caused some losses in the industrial competitiveness of EU firms... 

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