History of Excellence
Responsible Care® is the chemical manufacturing industry’s environmental, health, safety and security performance initiative. For more than 30 years, Responsible Care has helped American Chemistry Council (ACC) member companies significantly enhance their performance and improve the health and safety of their employees, the communities in which they operate and the environment as a whole.
A Commitment to Health, Safety and Security
Responsible Care is a
global initiative that began in
Canada in 1984, was enacted by the U.S. chemical industry in 1988, and today is practiced in 68 economies around the world. Participation in Responsible Care is a condition of membership for
ACC members and Responsible Care
Partner companies, all of which have made CEO-level commitments to uphold the program elements.
The Responsible Care
Guiding Principles
are at the heart of the Responsible Care commitment—through these principles, members and Partners pledge to improve environmental, health, safety and security (EHS&S) performance for facilities, processes and products throughout the entire operating system.
Companies also are committed to
open and transparent reporting and undergo mandatory headquarters and facility audits to certify their performance. This information is made publicly available on this
website .
Responsible Care Fast Facts:
Responsible Care companies are working to make the industry even safer for our employees and communities. A summary of 2018 performance reporting shows that Responsible Care companies:
- Are committed to worker and plant safety. Responsible Care companies have an employee safety record nearly 5 times better than the U.S. manufacturing sector, and almost 3 times better than the business of chemistry overall.
- Voluntarily track process safety incidents and have reduced their occurrence by 48 percent since 2000.
- Reduced their recordable injury and illness incidence rates by 66 percent since 2000, making significant progress toward the overall industry goal of no accidents, injuries or harm to human health.
- Reduced hazardous pollutant releases by 44 percent since 2000.
- Invested approximately $24 billion to further enhance security at facilities since September 11, 2001.
- Improved their energy efficiency by 19 percent since 1992.
» View all statistics from the Responsible Care fact sheet