Product Stewardship - Management System
Basic ideas and policies
The Resonac Group works to ensure the safety of chemicals and chemical products by using a risk-based method, not only by checking the safety of its products during the stages of development, design, marketing, manufacture, sales and after-sale service, but also by monitoring how customers use and dispose of the products. By this method we identify and reduce risks for various product-related items.
We conduct these risk assessments with a focus on (1) ensuring compliance and (2) promoting product stewardship.
(1) Ensuring compliance
The Resonac Group constantly monitors regulatory trends for chemical substances in Japan and abroad to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations of each country in a proactive manner. The head office and each of the sites cooperate with one another in a close manner and share information to prevent noncompliance.
Also, as the basic rules for product safety activities, we set the Quality Assurance and Quality Control Rules (“Rules”) within the company. In 2020, we set our vision for quality assurance & management and for product safety, and fully revised our quality assurance and management rules based on the vision. We will work to provide even safer and more reliable products and services and solutions beyond the framework of the manufacturing industry.
(2) Promotion of product stewardship
For the Resonac Group, “product stewardship” means to make product safety-related risk assessments in the development, design, manufacturing, sale, use and consumption stages of its products and disclose the assessment results to stakeholders as part of its effort for safety, health and the environment.
Based on this idea, we assess the risks related to our chemical products and manage the products in an appropriate manner.
Management system for product safety and regulatory information
As the basic infrastructure for the management of chemicals, we have built a comprehensive chemical substance management system for use within the Resonac Group. This system is composed of a database (DB) of information about chemical substances to be managed and another database of information about legal regulations on chemicals enforced in each country, and is equipped with functions that help employees to make effective use of the DB-stored information to perform their duties.
We manage information about raw materials of chemical substances, and our products in an exhaustive manner under the system. For each chemical substance, our Chemicals Management Department collects extensive hazard and regulatory information and evaluates the collected information in a professional manner to ensure high information quality. Also, by updating the regulatory database in a timely manner and regularly reviewing the information stored in the database, we ensure the availability of the latest information. By making use of the functions of this system, which stores high-quality information in an exhaustive manner and provides the latest regulatory information, we efficiently and effectively deal with legal issues to ensure compliance.
For example, by making use of the search function to easily identify and list specific substances and products, we make appropriate responses to the revision of laws in each country. Further, we manage production/import volume and provide necessary notifications in Japan and abroad by linking the tabulation function of the system with another in-house core system. We also make use of the function to create safety data sheets (SDSs) to create and submit SDSs in line with laws and regulations.
As chemical substance-related laws and regulations are now being enacted and revised in an accelerated manner across the world, we will enhance and expand the management system to ensure our own compliance and also fulfill our responsibility as a member of the supply chain.