ACC Acknowledges 35 Years of Environmental, Health, Safety & Security Initiative

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is celebrating the 35th anniversary of its environmental, health, safety and security (EHS&S) initiative, Responsible Care. It is the first program of its kind in the US.

Responsible Care altered the chemical industry’s approach to facility safety, environmental stewardship, safeguarding our workers and our communities and establishing a foundation for continual improvement.

The initiative sets practitioners apart. US Responsible Care companies have a worker safety incident rate that is nearly five times better than the US manufacturing sector as a whole, and almost three times better than the business of chemistry overall.

Responsible Care is a framework for companies to:

The ACC adopted Responsible Care as a mandatory membership requirement in 1988, recognizing the value of the program in advancing safety and sustainability in chemical plants and facility communities. The initiative also extends its ethos of safety throughout the supply chain, with nearly 100 certified Responsible Care Partners across 10 sectors, including transportation, logistics, and warehousing. Today, Responsible Care is practiced in nearly 1,500 facilities across the US.

Responsible Care continues to grow and evolve to meet sustainability challenges and stakeholder expectations. In recent years, ACC and its members have taken meaningful action to enhance the iniative, helping organizations lower the frequency and severity of process safety incidents, respond to expanding security challenges in the face of growing cyberattacks and emerging technologies, enhance product stewardship, and expand transparent reporting of environmental performance metrics.

“We know that we must continue to do more and do better. We must continue to work every day, in facilities across the nation, to help protect workers, communities and the environment,” said Mitch Toomey, ACC vice president of Sustainability & Responsible Care. “Through Responsible Care, we will continue to work with stakeholders to create programs that track and improve safety and environmental performance in facilities and throughout the supply chain.”