Product safety assessment
Product prioritization
Products or product categories are prioritized for product safety assessments based on:
- Regulatory requirements
- Hazard and exposure considerations
- Other considerations (e.g. voluntary industry programs)
Risk characterization
After prioritization, the potential risks of each product are evaluated and characterized:
- Hazard Evaluation x Exposure Evaluation = Risk Characterization
Risk Management
Based on the outcome of risk characterization, we implement appropriate risk management measures.
Risk communication
To communicate the potential risks identified for each product or group of products, we develop a variety of information resources. These resources are included in our resource center and may include:
- Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
- Guidance documents for safe logistics, handling and disposal
- Product Safety Summaries
The Global Product Strategy (GPS) is an international voluntary program of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) chemical companies. It commits companies to promote the safe use of chemical products and enhance product stewardship through the value chain. The goal is to reduce differences in the safe handling of chemicals between developing, emerging and industrialized countries.
One way GPS is promoting safe handling and greater transparency in the chemical industry is by providing stakeholders (customers, regulatory agencies, NGOs, public) with information about chemicals in Product Safety Summaries. Product Safety Summaries (PSSs) have become a public focus for the United Nations Strategic Approach to International Chemical Management (SAICM) and a requirement under the American Chemistry Council (ACC) Responsible Care® Product Safety Metric.
The objective of the GPS PSS is to provide general, understandable information to the public about chemical hazards, exposures, and appropriate uses and risk management measures in a focused, factual and reader-friendly manner. Under the GPS, ICCA member companies are publishing GPS PSSs via the ICCA GPS web portal to share this relevant information on chemicals with the public. Covestro is also publishing all of our PSSs to the Product Safety First platform, as we believe this is a very valuable tool to communicate with our customers and downstream stakeholders regarding the health and safety of our products.
