Safety does not stop at the plant gate. Essential chemical products are needed across the nation and around the world. As a result, large volumes of chemical products are moved domestically and internationally each year.
The safe distribution and handling of chemicals is an important indicator of performance. Responsible Care® companies track hazardous material distribution incidents reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT statistics provided here present a historic measure of transportation safety performance.
Since 1995, the number of distribution incidents among Responsible Care member companies declined by 43 percent, while the volume of chemicals shipped increased 16 percent for the business of chemistry overall.
In 2008, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) implemented a Severity Rating System to help discern one incident type from another in terms of severity. The process of the Severity Rating System has been implemented to advance the tracking and reporting of distribution incidents. There are four levels of severity, Level 4 being the least severe and Level 1 being the most severe.
