Background

Conducting a high-level management system review for DIC Corporation in China to determine compliancy with the chemical industry’s global voluntary initiative, Responsible Care®.

Our Approach

With 25,000 staff, sales of US$8.5 billion and manufacturing sites around the world (including nearly 30 in China) DIC Corporation is one of Japan’s largest chemical and ink manufacturers.

Responsible Care® (RC) is the chemical industry’s global voluntary initiative under which companies, through their national associations, work together to continuously improve their Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) performance, and communicate with stakeholders about their products and processes. This initiative encourages companies to focus on areas such as sustainability, process safety and disaster prevention, occupational health and safety and product stewardship.
 
DIC Corporation appointed ERM in 2007 to conduct a high-level management system review for 16 of its Chinese sites against a checklist based on the RC code which DIC is acting to comply with in Japan. In addition, this review includes an assessment to determine compliance with key Chinese EHS regulations.

ERM developed the checklist for compliance incorporating Chinese EHS laws and RC code. DIC Corporation’s head office then distributed this checklist to the sites before the visits. Between March to June 2007, ERM visited all sites with DIC Corporation’s EHS Manager, completed the checklist and recorded findings.

ERM then ranked the sites in terms of risk, made recommendations specific to each site and described the overall EHS management of DIC Corporation’s China operations.

Benefits and Value

ERM clearly and objectively showed DIC Corporation the compliance status and level of RC activity for each of its sites. 

ERM’s identification of priority (high risk) sites enabled DIC Corporation to refine its China business strategy and channel resources to the areas of greatest need.