The Responsible Care ethic is rooted in the principles of safety and sustainability. Its Code of Conduct encourages member organizations to lead the way to improve environmental and safety performance within the chemical industry. It compels member companies to do more than just follow regulations. It requires them to do what is right and to be seen to do the right thing. Here at ERCO Worldwide, our people have dedicated themselves, our technology, and business practices, to the principles of safety and sustainability.

To foster an environment that inherently seeks to improve safety and sustainability, ERCO Worldwide recognizes the importance of continued dialogue and working relationships with its suppliers, customers, distributors, transportation partners, and parties within the supply chain. We do this to ensure that ERCO Worldwide’s products and technologies are used and managed safely, and in an environmentally sound and socially responsible manner throughout their life cycle.

To this end, we create and continuously look to improve our business practices by doing the following.

  • Engage in discussions with customers, distributors, carriers, suppliers, and industry associations. We recognize and value the need to exchange and generate information on product and technology risks, and to determine how best to manage these risks.
  • Advise our customers, carriers, and distributors of all known hazards associated with products and technologies supplied by ERCO Worldwide.
  • Regularly assess suppliers, processes, raw materials, equipment, technology, and services for compliance with our commitments to Responsible Care®, with the goal of helping them to improve their commitment to sustainability.
  • Identify risks to the health and safety of employees, customers, transporters, and distributors as products are developed or changed, so that appropriate risk management actions can be implemented.
  • Encourage customers, carriers, and distributors to provide feedback that further enhances the safe storage, transportation, use, handling, and disposal of our products.
  • Promote our commitment to Responsible Care® and Product Stewardship through regular written correspondence between our customers, carriers, distributors, suppliers, and partners.
  • Establish management processes to monitor supply chain partner performance, periodically reviewing needs, assessing capabilities, and documenting improvement opportunities in the areas of product stewardship and safety.

 

Product Stewardship Policy 

Click here to open our Product Stewardship Policy (PDF)

The Chlorine Institute

The Chlorine Institute (CI), founded in 1924, is a technical trade association that is dedicated to supporting the chlor-alkali industry in advancing safe, secure, environmentally compatible, and sustainable production, distribution, and use of its chemicals.

Chlorine Chemistry

Chlorine chemistry plays a critical role in meeting many of society’s most basic needs, enabling scientists to pioneer advances in medicine and public health, agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, telecommunications, national security, renewable energy, and other aspects of modern life.

As an active member of the CI, ERCO is committed to ensuring the safe and proper handling of its products throughout the value chain, by working with members of the CI to develop and share technical information, training, and best practices for the industry, our customers, emergency responders, and the community.

Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response (TRANSCAER®)

Started in Canada in 1985 by the CIAC,  today the TRANSCAER® program is led by the CIAC and the Railway Association of Canada in Canada, and the American Chemistry Council in the U.S. This initiative is aimed at ensuring that communities are informed about the products being moved through their area by road and rail, and what measures are in place to ensure their safe transportation.

The TRANSCAER® program relies on volunteer members from chemical manufacturing sites to work with municipal officials, emergency responders, and residents along transportation routes in order to:

  • Assist with the development and evaluation of community emergency response plans; and
  • Host outreach events each year that seek to educate, inform and/or test emergency response actions.

ERCO Worldwide supports this vital industry-led program by ensuring TRANSCAER® Coordinators from each of its North American plants represent ERCO Worldwide on regional and national TRANSCAER® committees. Site TRANSCAER® Coordinators are expected to be actively involved in the committee for their region. This includes attending meetings and participating in committee-organized TRANSCAER® outreach events. Corporate Coordinators support regional functions and events but, moreover, they represent ERCO Worldwide at the national level, the managing body of TRANSCAER® initiatives. The National Committee (in Canada) or the National Group (in U.S.) steers the overall direction of the TRANSCAER® program.

Non-Accident Release Verification Program

A Non-Accident Release (NAR) is defined as “the unintentional release of a hazardous material while in transportation, that is not caused by a derailment, collision or other rail-related accident.” NARs primarily consist of leaks, splashes, and other releases from improperly secured or defective valves or fittings.  Although the vast majority of NARs involve small quantities, as a shipper that relies heavily on the movement of its goods by rail, ERCO Worldwide recognizes the need to reduce transportation incidents, especially those that can be prevented by the proper securement of a railcar.  To this end, ERCO Worldwide uses a NAR Verification Program through which procedures for railcar securement, along with railcar inspection checklists, are regularly reviewed for each of our manufacturing sites.  At the conclusion, a report is issued complete with the identification of any gaps, opportunities for improvement and recognition of best practices.

Transportation Safety Awards

As a chemical manufacturer that relies heavily on rail transportation for the shipment of its goods, ERCO Worldwide is proud of the recognition it receives from the North American Class 1 railways that it uses. These railway awards have stringent criteria and are the highest honours in railway safety. They recognize companies that, in addition to meeting a minimum number of shipments, have safety as their number-one priority and, as a result, experience zero NAR over the calendar year. ERCO Worldwide is pleased to have been a regular recipient of the following awards:

  • Canadian National (CN) Safe Handling Award
  • Canadian Pacific (CP) Safe Shipper Award
  • Burlington Northern-Santa Fe (BNSF) Product Stewardship Award
  • Norfolk Southern (NS) Thoroughbred Chemical Safety Award
  • Union Pacific (UP) Chemical Transportation Safety Pinnacle Award

More importantly, ERCO is extremely proud of the NAR Grand Slam Award it has received, on multiple occasions, from the American Association of Railroads (AAR). Each year, the AAR awards the NAR Grand Slam Award to companies that were nominated by at least 4 Class 1 railroads and confirmed by the AAR Hazardous Materials Committee members as not having had a Non-Accident Release on their lines.