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Process Safety

  • Between 2007 and 2008, Responsible Care companies2 reduced process safety incidents by 12 percent.
  • Since 1995, process safety incidents1 among Responsible Care companies2 have declined by 52 percent. During this period, continuous improvement efforts have led to the development and implementation of numerous process safety systems that have contributed to this result. More than half of ACC members had no process safety incidents in 2008.
  • Responsible Care companies are working to make this industry even safer for our employees and communities. Under the Responsible Care initiative, companies are required to investigate significant process safety incidents, mitigate adverse impacts, determine the root causes and complete corrective and preventive actions.
  • Through professional organizations and industry associations, companies also share important findings from incident investigations, so others can learn from them.
  • Responsible Care companies publicly report numbers of process safety incidents on an annual basis. This reporting surpasses government requirements.
 
Process Safety Incidents1 for Responsible Care Companies2
 
 
  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Total Process Safety Incidents 531 554 518 512 455 486 468 413 347 300 289 271 287 253
 
*NOTE – A bar is used for the 2008 data point to denote the fact that the performance measure has changed and mixed reporting using the old and the new standard occurred.
 
 
 
 
 
Process Safety Incidents1 for Responsible Care Companies2:
Total Incidents, Incidents resulting in On-site Injury, and Incidents resulting in Off-site Injury
 
 
  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Total Incidents 531 554 518 512 455 486 468 413 347 300 289 271 287 253
Incidents resulting in On-site Injury 75 71 80 68 66 58 73 58 56 29 39 40 58 42
Incidents resulting in Off-site Injury 2 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
 
*NOTE – A bar is used for the 2008 data point to denote the fact that the performance measure has changed and mixed reporting using the old and the new standard occurred.
 
 
About These Data
Changes in the industry and regulatory environment also have affected the number of incidents reported. Such changes can be found in: the number of chemical processing sites/production facilities operated by members of the American Chemistry Council, number of ACC members and chemicals and reportable quantities on the CERCLA list. The net impact of these, and other, changes is impossible to quantify.
 
 
Notes
1Process Safety Incident: An incident that occurs within a Responsible Care company in which a chemical process was involved resulting in a significant fire, explosion, chemical release or injury. A process safety incident is considered reportable if it results in (a) a fire or explosion causing more than $25,000 in property damage, (b) a release of a chemical greater than the CERCLA Reportable Quantity (RQ) for extremely hazardous substances or a release of 5,000 pounds of a flammable or combustible material or (c) a serious injury arising from a fire, explosion, chemical release or a release of energy or material from a process. CERCLA RQ’s are set by law at one pound until EPA establishes a specific quantity based on risks posed by the specific substance.

2Responsible Care Companies: Refers to members of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which, as part of their obligations under Responsible Care, submit annual performance data that is made publicly available on this website.

3Process Safety Incident Resulting in On-Site Injury – An incident relating to the chemical production process that results in an injury to a person on a company’s premises.

4Process Safety Incident Resulting in Off-Site Injury - An incident relating to the chemical production process that results in an injury to a person outside the company’s premises.