Objective 5
| All business units are to have a basic EHS data set available for all their products. |
Umicore considers proper hazard communication to workers and customers to be a priority. To that end, an integrated product data system has been implemented to allow for the publication of up-to-date and compliant material safety data sheets (MSDS) for all Umicore products.
This objective is to further improve hazard communication by enhancing our knowledge about the physical, chemical and toxicological properties of the products beyond the information that is already taken into account in the current MSDS sheets. In 2007, additional guidance was developed to provide a consistent interpretation of the scope of this objective.
Over 2,400 products have been identified within the scope of this objective. For 3% of these products, a complete data set is available compared to 1% in 2006. An active search for additional data was initiated for 68% of the products, compared to 18% in 2006 (figure 5).
In the context of the European directive on REACH (“Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals”), the objective was aligned in order to maximize the data search. The timing is being adjusted accordingly.