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Two major train derailments that resulted in hazardous chemical spills earlier this year, one of them causing fatalities and both forcing evacuations, have stirred debate about security initiatives at railroads, [...]

Chemical carriers are trying to plug potential security gaps in the it transportation networks amid concerns by some regulators that their operating procedures are still vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Carriers [...]

Many community advisory panels (CAPs) have taken on lives of their own, bringing Responsible Care to neighborhoods around the country in new and evolving ways. CW visited five CAPs recently [...]

Executives who lead the environmental, health, safety, and security operations at chemical companies make Responsible Care a day-to-day reality around the world. They have been tasked with implementing the initiatives [...]

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY LEADERS SAY Responsible Care is facing the same three challenges that wartime brings to combatants and civilians: a test of readiness; a demand to a expand capabilities; and, [...]

The rapid buildup in the chemical industry in much of Asia/Pacific presents a unique opportunity for it to use Responsible Care 'to not repeat the mistakes of the past and [...]

The deadly cloud of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas that leaked from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India 10 years ago still casts a shadow over the chemical industry. The [...]

In the months leading up to the December 1984 gas leak at Bhopal, India, the chemical industry was starting to address head-on some unpleasant truths about its public image. Departing [...]

ACC HAD ORIGINALLY PLANNED THE AGENDA FOR ITS BUSINESS CONFERENCE IN HOUSTON LAST week to focus on the energy issue. Since September 11, there is a new imperative to focus [...]

CHEMICAL COMPANIES SAY THEY ARE on high alert, with tightened security at and around their plants worldwide against the potential threat of terrorist attacks. Measures include more guards at all [...]

Congressional Democrats say that the Department of Justice (DOJ) underestimated the costs of an assessment Congress ordered in 1999 on the vulnerability of chemical facilities to terrorist attacks. The assessment [...]

EPA HAS ISSUED A SAFETY AND SECURITY alert for the pesticide sector that includes recommendations on how producers, distributors, and users can minimize the risk of terrorist attacks. EPA is [...]

EPA has issued a safety alert about the risk of chemical accidents caused by power outages. The alert was issued in response to the 240 chemical releases that were reported [...]

The National Toxicology Program (NTP; Research Triangle Park, NC) has announced plans to assess eight chemicals for carcinogenicity as part of its review of more than a dozen substances. Results [...]

Safety Issues Apply Online, Too THE RISK OF chemical 'cyberattacks' increases as the volume of online transactions gets bigger, industry sources say. Safeguarding e-business initiatives is a Responsible Care issue, [...]

Attorneys general from Alaska, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island are urging pesticide retailers to immediately pull the organophosphate insecticide diazinon. EPA announced last year a December 2002 [...]

Solutia says its Vianova coatings resins plant in Wiesbaden, Germany, was damaged by an October 12 explosion and fire. Seven employees and firefighters suffered minor injuries and there was no [...]

Chemical safety activists say the Senate is resisting funding a Department of Justice study that would assess site security issues at chemical facilities. Congress authorized the study as part of [...]

U.S. industry released 1.2 billion lbs of chemicals in 1998 that pose developmental and neurological health risks to children, says a joint report issued by the Physicians for Social Responsibility [...]

Tests by Greenpeace Germany (Hamburg) have revealed traces of the suspected endocrine disruptor tributyl tin (TBT) in some children's polyvinyl chloride (PVC) beach toys. The test recorded 0.9 micrograms--26.2 micrograms [...]

The National Research Council (NRC; Washington) is calling for more government funding or pesticides that pose fewer risks to human health and the environment. Effective and affordable alternatives are not [...]

Weeding Out the Less Responsible DISTRIBUTORS SAY THE National Association of Chemical Distributors' (NACD) management system verification (MSV) program is broader than ACC's Responsible Care verification for distributors, which chiefly [...]

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization, has reclassified di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) plasticizers as 'not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans.' It previously [...]

Paul L. Hill, chairman and CEO of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), formally resigned from the board last week. He submitted the resignation to President Clinton on [...]

The U.K. chemical industry's environment, health, and safety performance improved in 1998, says the Chemical Industries Association (CIA; London). Lost time accident frequency fell to an all-time low of 0.32 [...]

Implementation of Responsible Care improved significantly last year in the 45 countries that have adopted the program, says the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA). Association member countries have implemented [...]

Soft Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Toys And Blood Bags have made headlines more often than plant accidents in the past year. This anecdotal evidence of a shift in the chemical industry's [...]

ACC and Socma member firms say they have already begun incorporating new practices under Responsible Care that have boosted security. 'This industry did not wait to act' after the 2001 [...]

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, says the famous Chinese proverb. That is also true of the spread of Responsible Care in Asia. Initiatives are [...]

European chemical producers continue to place their Responsible Care emphasis on a group of issues that were percolating before September 11: forming closer ties between their environment, health, and safety [...]

CHEMICAL SHIPPERS SAY THEY REMAIN ON HIGH ALERT TO potential terrorist threats, and they are striving to make their logistics operations as safe as possible. Shippers say they are working [...]

THE NATIONAL Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD; Arlington, VA) says it has taken steps to increase security in light of the September 11 terror attacks. They include creating a task [...]

OSHA has proposed a national standard on the right of employees to know about the risks involved with the hazardous substances they come in contact with in the workplace. Labor groups are pushing for state statutes however, while industry would rather deal with a federal standard.

The european chemical industry Council (Cefic), still smarting from a recent survey detailing the public's declining opinion of the industry, has moved communications to the top of its Responsible Care [...]

Late last month the canadian Chemical Producers' Association (CCPA; Ottawa) mailed out final copies of its three-year plan for taking Responsible Care into the next millennium. All member companies--except those [...]

Taking a look at the road ahead for Responsible Care, Lawrence Wilson, CMA chairman, sees plenty of hard work. 'For the next two to three years the emphasis will continue [...]

Bayer CropScience, one of the leading producers of agricultural chemicals, has affirmed its commitment to addressing the challenges posed by population growth; growing demand for food, feed, and renewable raw [...]

The European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC; Brussels) is focusing Responsible Care efforts on environmental reporting and product stewardship--which CEFIC hopes will spread the concept of Responsible Care to places, such [...]

For 10 years, Monsanto believed its responsibility for the elemental phosphorus and phosphorus pentasulfide it shipped to Mexico ended at the Rio Grande River, says Joseph Kleffner, distribution manager. However, [...]

This may be called the year of the yardstick for the CMA's Responsible Care program. Measurement was a key occupation in 1994 as CMA acted on its Public Advisory Panel's [...]

Like many smaller chemical companies, one of Union Camp's (Wayne, NJ) key challenges is implementing Responsible Care within the constraints of existing resources. 'We have tried to integrate Responsible Care [...]

Regulatory and legislative initiatives, combined with more frequent and more sophisticated cyber attacks, have created a 'new normal' for chemical companies grappling with cyber security challenges, says Christine Adams, director/IT [...]

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA; Helsinki) has launched a campaign to increase awareness among chemical firms that they must actively participate in a Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) for each [...]

The General Accounting Office (GAO; Washington) says that EPAs inspector general (IG) should have permanent oversight of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB; Washington) to correct problems related [...]

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA; Brussels) last week reaffirmed a 2006 assessment that determined average human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) is well-below established safety levels. EFSA says it [...]

The Association of American Railroads (AAR; Washington) told a House panel last week that the chemical industry should be required to use inherently safer technologies (ISTs) wherever possible, citing the [...]

A survey of industrial facilities considered vulnerable to a terrorist attack shows most have not done an adequate job of securing those sites, says the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy [...]

ACC says security lapses at Neville Island Chemical (Neville Island, PA) shown recently on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes are 'unacceptable' and underscore the need for federal legislation. Open gates [...]