Product stewardship

Production of mattresses using polyols in India

We check the safety of all our chemical products and assess any potential harmful effects on people, property and the environment. We consider the type of market we want to sell into and which applications or uses may be unsuitable.

The four main steps we follow to assess our chemical products are:

1. Identify - we record information about any product, its potential hazards and uses.
2. Assess - we assess the potential health and safety risks of any product.
3. Control - we implement procedures to address these risks.
4. Review - we repeat these steps regularly, or when new information becomes available.

New technologies and markets

We apply product stewardship principles when we consider new manufacturing technology, assess the business risks of bringing new products to market, or evaluate the introduction of products into a new country.

When we start to do business in a new country our product stewardship activities include checking compliance with local regulations and registering products according to local laws. We provide local language Safety Data Sheets in all countries where we sell our products.

Supporting current business

Our product stewardship activities support us in established markets. For example, we provide our polyols customers with information on the safe handling of the hazardous chemical toluene di-isocyanate as they may use it in the manufacture of foam alongside the non-hazardous polyols they purchase from us. We also support our businesses in complying with product regulatory legislation, such as that encompassed by the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) programme in Europe.

We often work with others to raise standards across the industry. For example, when the European Solvent Industry Association identified the major risk of fire from static electricity, we helped to develop a learning DVD to highlight the dangers of static electricity.