Responsible Care® program

Commitments to industiy programs If your company is committed to an industry initiative, such as the American Petroleum Institute s RP750 or the Chemical Manufacturers Association s Responsible Care program, you will want to ensure that you are consistent with the framework used by that program. 

The Chemical Manufacturers Association s Code of Management Practice for Process Safety is oriented toward the chemical industry, and describes the elements of a process safety management program as part of CMA s Responsible Care program. 

The chemical industry initiated the Responsible Care program... 

Plant management personnel will have significantly greater roles in working with the community, for example, under the Responsible Care program, of the Chemical Manufacturers Association [274-276] ... 

Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA), 19 414 Responsible Care program, 9 647... 

In-house servicing standards and Responsible Care programs... 

The Responsible Care program of the American Chemistry Council embraces HMACs as one good way to communicate relevant and useful information that responds to public concerns for safety, health, and the environment. However, managers are finding many other ways to interact with the public to achieve a fuller measure of community awareness and involvement in affairs of mutual interest. Among the many options from which a manager may choose are the following ... 

Following the accession of eight Central and Eastern Europe countries to the EU in 2004 and of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, the chemical industry associations continued their close cooperation with CEFIC on several fronts. The trans-European network of chemical associations continued to promote the Responsible Care program, resulting in a growing number of enterprises across the region that adopted and implemented... 

Few will disagree that the Responsible Care program is one of the most recognized voluntary environmental initiatives launched by an industry sector. Many proponents acknowledge that Responsible Care has reduced releases to air, land, and water, and improved worker and community safety. While the social dimension was core to the original vision of Responsible Care , the program s impact on public trust has met with mixed reviews. On the economic front, Responsible Care is yet to be recognized as a business-driven initiative. 

J. Moffet and F. Bregha, The Responsible Care Program. In R. Gibson (Ed.), Voluntary Initiatives (Broadview Press, Toronto, 1999). 

J. Rees, The Development of Industry Self-regulation in the Chemical Industry, Law and Policy, 19(4) (1997), quoted in A. King andM. Lennox, Industry Self-regulation Without Sanctions the Chemical Industry s Responsible Care Program, Academy of Management Journal, 43(4) 698-716 (August 2000). 

Many U.S.-owned organizations with sites overseas have committed to Responsible Care certification - RC14001, RCMS, or a combination of these specifications. These companies are typically members of the ACC. These certification commitments should affect facilities in Canada, South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. It is projected that this initiative by the United States and other organizations will have an effect on the global Responsible Care program, eventually making Responsible Care certification an accepted - even expected - practice worldwide. 

Responsible Care , program developed by the American Chemistry Council, is one of the key drivers of Millennium s achievement of the vision to be the most value-creative chemical company in the world. ... 

In 2002, the industry reviewed the performance of the Responsible Care program and decided to make endorsement of a new set of management principles mandatory for its members (90 percent of U.S. chemical manufacturing capacity). The objective was to realize greater business value from improved EH S performance, higher product yield, enhanced operational efficiencies and better community and stakeholder relationships. 

Taschler, David R., PE is a business manager at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in Allentown, PA and an adjunct professor in the Engineering Division at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. He conducted his doctoral research on the Characteristics of Board of Director Members and Corporate Commitment to Sustainable Development at the University of Phoenix. Dr. Taschler is a former Management Verifier for the American Chemistry Council s Responsible Care program and is a member of the AIChE Sustainability Division and the Academy of Management. 

Since the tragic events at Bhopal in 1984 and other accidents in the chemical industry, the first three of these objectives have received increased emphasis. The concept of Product Stewardship, which originated in the late 1960s, was broadened and adopted by more practitioners with the development of the Responsible Care program launched in 1985 by the Canadian... 

Akzo Nobel actively supports the guiding principles of the Business Charter for Sustainable Development of the International Chamber of Commerce, the Responsible Care program of the chemical industry and the Coatings Care program of the paint and printing ink industry. 

EMS there is a stated aim to equip all plants with environmental management systems conforming to ISO 14001 or equivalent by the end of 2001 . To date 14 sites have received external certification. It is also stated that the 15 sites in the USA apply procedures complying with the country s laws and their own Responsible Care programs . It is unclear whether this includes auditing under the management verification system. 

The Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) Responsible Care Program is designed to provide CMA members with guidance regarding safety, health, and environmental quality. The program includes six codes of practice covering Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER), Pollution Prevention, Process Safety, Distribution, Employee Health and Safety, and Product Stewardship. 

It is certainly difficult to find any redeeming aspect to this story. However, it did lead the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) to adopt, in 1988, its Responsible Care program. The first step was the voluntary Community Awareness Emergency Response program. While chemical companies have demonstrated commitment to these values, today there is renewed concern over protecting chemical plants from terrorists. 

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