share

Workplace Safety



ACC member companies are rightfully proud of an impressive workplace safety record. Under Responsible Care®, ACC’s initiative to improve environmental, health, safety and security performance, member companies have recorded remarkable safety improvements over the past two decades. In fact, workers in the chemistry business are safer than workers in agriculture, retail, food stores and general merchandising business sectors.

An Impressive Safety Record

Companies participating in Responsible Care:

  • Are more than four times safer than the average of the U.S. manufacturing sector as a whole, and more than twice as safe as the business of chemistry overall.

  • Have reduced process safety incidents by 48 percent over the past 16 years.

  • Averaged less than one OSHA recordable injury or illness per 100 employees in 2009 and 2010.

  • Improved their recordable safety rate by 3 percent between 2009 and 2010.

  • Reduced recordable injury and illness rates by 43 percent and reduced “days away from work” by 37 percent since 2003.

  • Reduced their recordable injury and illness incidence rates by 74 percent since 1990, making significant progress toward the goal of no accidents, injuries or harm to human health.

  • Reduced distribution incidents by 66 percent since 2000, while the volume of chemicals shipped only decreased by 6 percent for the business of chemistry overall.

  • Reported 254 process safety incidents in 2010, down from 531 in 1995; more than half of the companies participating in Responsible Care had no process safety incidents in 2010. In addition, of the reported 254 incidences in 2010, only 4 percent of incidents warranted a Severity Level of 1, according to ACC’s Severity Rating Index.

Continuous Improvement

These improvements continue uninterrupted, reflecting a deep-rooted culture that values the safety of people, products and processes. The business of chemistry invests more than $2 billion each year to improve worker health and safety. 

ACC companies and others that participate in Responsible Care continuously strive to make the business of chemistry even safer for employees and communities by investigating significant safety incidents, mitigating any adverse impacts, identifying the root causes and taking corrective and preventive actions.

Learn more about policies that can help American chemistry continue innovating, creating jobs and enhancing safety.