Striving to Improve EHS Standards of China Chemical Industry   

By Bill Roper, Ciba's EHS Head, APAC, and, AICM's Head of Process Safety Committee

The constant improvement of Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) standards is part and parcel of Responsible Care. Only a responsible company will consider the impact of its operations, not just on its employees, but also on the public and the environment. This is the driving force for Ciba's investment of money and time towards EHS. Ciba's top management on EHS policies are clearly committed to ensuring the safety standards in its industrial processes.
    For Ciba, the standards we set for EHS at our manufacturing sites are the same worldwide, regardless of location. Standards in China are the same as that in Europe. Ciba trains and educates its staff at all the factories to ensure that these safety standards are well understood. Although other companies may find it adequate to comply solely with the local safety standards, Ciba does not. Instead, we will set our own standards for EHS, which in some cases, are higher than the standards stipulated by relevant governing bodies.
   Any company doing business in China is compelled to adhere to Chinese laws and standards. But if one is exercising Responsible Care, requirements may go above the minimum standards. As a member of the Association of International Chemical Manufactures (AICM), Ciba is committed to pursue the best practices. At the same time, Ciba tries to improve on its practices by learning from other chemical companies, usually through AICM seminars and activities.

Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Process Safety

There were some challenges we met while implementing EHS policies in China. First of all, many people from local and multinational companies do not really understand what process safety is. This is alarming, especially with the rapid growth of China's industries. It is important for chemical companies to understand process safety. Process safety is not about slips trips and falls and does not solely refer to the ability to handle an emergency in the event of an accident. It is also closely related to the manufacturing procedures. Thus, the companies must fully understand the reaction processes taking place inside their reactors. Only with a good understanding of the factors of reactor conditions in particularly the critical parameters like temperature, pressure time, agitation and the related unit process like filtration, drying distillation etc can a high level of process safety be maintained. The companies should understand the limits of the equipment and the materials used for the reactor in correspondence with the design of the plant. The management should also have the ability to deal with sudden and unpredicted changes.
    The aim of AICM's sub-committee for process safety is to introduce the key code of conduct for process safety to China. After working together with the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association (CPCIA), the sub-committee have developed and agreed upon a code of conduct for Process Safety in China as well as the best way to train companies about this.
    Secondly, I have visited many raw materials suppliers and have helped them improve on their EHS. From my experience, I realized that some managers from various manufacturing sites do not regard EHS as an important issue. If the upper management at factories fails to recognize and enforce EHS standards, then the lower level employees will not focus on this and the standards will fall.
    Currently, there is generally one major focus in the industry within China that I see and that is profits to the exclusion of other important factors like EHS. Therefore training the upper management starting with the CEO about this matter will help improve EHS standards in China's chemical industry.
    AICM currently has a program entitled 'Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Responsible Care' (SMERC), which is sponsored by AICM's members. The CEOs of some small and medium-sized enterprises are invited to spend a weekend at a Shanghai business school to be trained in what Responsible Care means to and for the business. Through this program, the local companies will learn how to incorporate responsible care into their business dealings. To date, there are 20 companies who have benefited from this program.

Training Authorities will be helpful

China has many regulations for EHS in its chemical industries. Authorities, like EPB, can help enforce and improve these regulations by conducting regular inspections. However the standard of professionalism of the inspectors leaves room for improvement as they often do not know what questions to ask in order to find the information they need. This has to do with their lack of experience in industry. If the authorities and its inspectors are more knowledgeable, they can aid in improving the industry.