Product stewardship

Our Product Stewardship systems are designed to ensure that all HSSE aspects of a product are responsibly and ethically managed at every stage of the product’s life cycle. Through our Product Stewardship programme we support the activities and information needs of our customers and other groups involved with our organisation.

Key activities

• Our Hazard Communication systems aim to provide users of our products with consistent hazard information, in their main local languages. In this way we ensure that users have the information they need to manage risks when handling, disposing of or transporting our products.

• We have assurance processes to verify the quality of all modes of transport. In Europe, for example, we use the Safety and Quality Assessment Scheme (SQAS) developed by CEFIC, to ensure high safety and quality standards among our road hauliers. Globally, we use the Shell ‘Safe C’ and CEFIC’s Chemical Distribution Initiative (CDI) schemes to assess our bulk marine carriers.

• We implement appraisal processes for customer and distributor bulk reception facilities to minimise the risk of incidents occurring during the unloading of our products.

• We provide training to our customers in, for example, the handling and emergency response requirements related to our products. This can take various forms, such as helping to stage an emergency response exercise in conjunction with the local authorities, or providing training videos that can be used as part of a company’s own safety programme.

• We also train our own commercial and business employees - as well as our HSSE advisers and experts - so that they can understand and apply HSSE principles in their day-to-day activities and in their interactions with customers.