ERI Home EMS Resources Home Last updated 8/22/03.
The chemical industry is thoroughly familiar with environmental management issues, and an entire subspecialty has developed to assist chemical manufacturers with environmental management related services. A wide array of resources is available -- for a price.
One of the earliest environmental management programs, Responsible Care®, was pioneered in this sector almost two decades ago. The program came to prominence as a direct result of a notorious incident (the methyl isocyanate release from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India in December, 1985), which engendered considerable public suspicion of chemical plant safety in general. It is unclear whether that particular initiative has been effective in restoring the public's faith in the industry: the public in general has minimal awareness of the program, and much of the environmentally active community is openly skeptical, if not downright hostile. Nevertheless, the internal effect on the industry has been more positive, in the sense that the idea of a systematic management-based approach to environmental performance (as opposed, say, to a minimal compliance-based approach) has been embraced by the chemical sector to a far greater extent than in the case for many comparable heavy-industry sectors.
Not surprisingly, a mini-sector in its own right has grown up around helping companies in the chemical industry achieve and maintain certification under Responsible Care, similar to the ISO 14001 service sector. Some organizations offer both Responsible Care and ISO 14001 registration, and some chemical companies have found it justifiable to pursue both simultaneously. The chief distinctions between the two approaches can be briefly paraphrased as follows: ISO 14001 has the advantage (from a credibility standpoint) of being a third party certification; Responsible Care has the advantage (from a management standpoint) of encompassing health and safety, and now even security issues, in one framework.
In contrast to the assistance available for hire, there seems to be relatively few EMS resources in the public domain for this sector. That may be precisely because the ground has been so well plowed by the private sector. But there may be a good opportunity to reach small companies in the specialty batch chemicals subsector that have not been able to justify the expense of bringing consultants on board, but who would be prepared to develop an EMS framework given free access to a model program.