By Terri Ballerum
Responsible Care is an environmental, health, safety, and security performance initiative from the chemical manufacturing industry. For the past 30 years, Responsible Care has helped American Chemistry Council (ACC) member companies to enhance their performance and improve the health and safety of their employees, the communities in which they operate, and the environment as a whole.
When an ACC member company signs on to Responsible Care, they commit to adhere to the following guiding principles:
- To lead in ethical ways that benefit society, the economy, and the environment
- To design and develop products that can be manufactured, transported, used, and disposed of or recycled safely
- To work with customers, carriers, suppliers, distributors, and contractors to foster the safe and secure use, transport, and disposal of chemicals. This includes providing hazard and risk information that can be accessed and applied in their operations and products.
- To design and operate facilities in a safe, secure, and environmentally sound manner
- To instill a culture throughout all levels of the organization to continually identify, reduce, and manage process safety risks
- To promote pollution prevention, minimization of waste, and conservation of energy and other critical resources at every stage of the product lifecycle
- To cooperate with governments and organizations to develop effective and efficient safety, health, environmental and security laws, regulations, and standards
- To support education and research on the health, safety, environmental effects, and security of products and processes
- To communicate product, service, and process risks to stakeholders and consider their perspectives
- To make continual progress toward a goal of no accidents, injuries or harm to human health and the environment from products and operations. This includes openly reporting health, safety, environmental, and security performance.
- To seek continual improvement in the integrated Responsible Care Management System to address environmental, health, safety and security performance
- To promote Responsible Care by encouraging and assisting other companies to adhere to these guiding principles
Exemplar Global Responsible Care News
The ACC requires individual auditors providing RCMS/RC14001 auditing services on behalf of audit service providers to meet its audit criteria. Historically, these individuals have been required to obtain Responsible Care auditor certification through the Institute of Internal Auditors/BEAC or Exemplar Global. Audit service providers or certification bodies who employ responsible care auditors or certify organizations to RC14001 must be accredited/approved by an ACC-recognized accreditation body. ANAB is a recognized accreditation body that accredits certification bodies to RC14001.
Earlier this year, ACC’s Responsible Care committee elected to consolidate individual auditor certifications under one external oversight organization and Exemplar Global has been chosen to fulfill this role on their behalf. Beginning March 1, Exemplar Global will be the only organization recognized to certify individual Responsible Care auditors providing RCMS/RC14001 services. The ACC believes that by consolidating auditor certification under Exemplar Global individuals will have more efficient “one-stop” services for Responsible Care, ISO, and other auditing processes. Exemplar Global’s worldwide reach will also benefit a growing number of RC14001 auditors around the world.
This is an exciting opportunity for Exemplar Global and we are proud to contribute to the initiative and provide global recognition of Responsible Care auditors. As such, we recently updated our Responsible Care Management Systems personnel certification program, which has has been developed to:
- Achieve the requirements of the American Chemistry Council RC520.01 guidelines
- Assist organizations to select competent auditors
- Enhance the professional recognition of Exemplar Global certified auditors
As a result of the above change, all current IIA/BEAC certified auditors will be required to transition to Exemplar Global Responsible Care Management System Auditor certification.
The transition can be completed by:
- Registering your personal details at the Exemplar Global online portal at Exemplar Global Online Portal
- Making your application (use “new application”) and pay the $170 application fee
- Submitting evidence of your current IIA/BEAC RCMS auditor certification
Please note, current certification expiration dates will be honored.
IMPORTANT: All Responsible Care Auditors are required to transition to the Exemplar Global RCMS Auditor program by March 1, 2019. If you have any questions regarding the transition, please contact us at certification@exemplarglobal.org.
We look forward to working directly with the ACC and all affiliates.
Recommended Links
Exemplar Global: https://exemplarglobal.org/certification/environmental-systems/responsible-care-auditor/
American Chemistry Council https://responsiblecare.americanchemistry.com/
ANAB: https://www.anab.org/management-systems-accreditation/responsible-care-rc14001
International Council of Chemical Associations: https://www.icca-chem.org/responsible-care/
About the author
With 11 years’ experience, Terri Ballerum brings strong technical knowledge and analytical skills to her role as Exemplar Global’s certification product manager.
Ballerum specialises in validating and simplifying management system and industry certification products and processes in the global certification field. She enjoys working with interested stakeholders to raise industry standards and work towards achieving international standardization.