Responsible care – a voluntary approach to the integrated sustainability of industrial units

Abstract

The Responsible Care Initiative of the American Chemical Council, generated by the chemical industry sector in order to minimize the public damage produced by several catastrophic incidents (Bhopal, Seveso, EXXON Valdez, etc.) is a voluntary step taken by managers, going towards stakeholders, to prove them the commitment to make the chemical industry environmentally friendly, safer for human individuals and communities health. It also aims at observing, monitoring and assisting industrial products from cradle to grave, along all their life cycle. The Initiative was endorsed by the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) as well as thousands of chemical industrial platforms on all continents. Up to now, the Responsible Care Initiative did not find its way in Romania. The present paper describes the experience of implementing the Responsible Care Initiative in a machinery manufacturing company. It is found to be similar to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or OHSAS 18001 certification though many dissimilarities are mentioned. Finally, the Responsible Care Initiative is inserted in the sustainable enterprise strategy, using the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard developed by the authors.