Manufacturers should take responsibility for precautions in transportation
THE CHEMICAL and Allied Industries' Association (Caia), which runs a Responsible Care (RC) programme aimed at environmental awareness in the South African chemical industry, is hoping to include associated industries, such as hauliers in the programme.
The association is particularly keen for hauliers to become signatories to the programme, said Caia information centre representative, Dr Gus Gerrans.
Many companies outsourced chemical transportation to hauliers and if the hauling company had an accident and there was a chemical spillage, this highly visible incident adversely affected the industry as a whole, he said.
Chemical manufacturers should insist on only contracting hauliers that were reputable and which had high health, safety and environment standards.
"We are concerned for hauliers to become signatories to promote the safe transport of chemicals," he said.
The RC programme includes the notion of products stewardship, which means that the company manufacturing the product is responsible for it from the cradle to the grave. This includes taking all reasonable precautions in its transportation, he said.
Gerrans said that historically the South African chemical industry tended to be rather secretive about its activities but with the introduction of RC, the trend was now to involve the public in its activities.
The Voluntary Advisory Forum has been established by Caia to ensure that the industry became transparent, said Gerrans.
Implementation of RC involves initial self-assessment questionnaires to establish benchmarks from which performance improvement measures can be measured. This is followed by the establishment of quantitative performance indicators.
Data submitted to Caia is collated and submitted to the International Council of Chemical Associations which, in turn, passes it on to the United Nations.
"For public acceptance of RC performance, it is essential to have external verification to ensure that companies are honest about their performance," he said.
The RC initiative was launched in Canada in 1984 and has since been adopted in 42 countries, which have companies responsible for about 85% of world chemical production.
South Africa, which joined RC in 1994, has 125 signatories at present.
Two transport companies - Cargo Carriers Tanker Division and Spoornet - recently became signatories of RC.
Gerrans said Spoornet's commitment to RC was a good indication that allied industries were becoming more aware of the importance of implementing internationally-accepted environmental programmes.
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