RESPONSIBLE
®
CARE
COMMUNITY AWARENESS
&
EMERGENCY RESPONSE CODE
Daniel Roczniak
Senior Director, Responsible Care
American Chemistry Council
June 2010
CAER Code
Presentation Topics
• Background
– Why Community Awareness & Emergency
Response (CAER) Code?
– Public concerns addressed by the code.
• Key Focus areas of the Code
• Link to other Codes
• Benefits of implementing the CAER Code
• Questions and Answers
CAER Code
Why a CAER Code?
• Bhopal (1984) and several incidents in the US in 1985
revealed an “awareness” gap:
– Local residents had no knowledge of plant operations and
emergency procedures.
– Emergency responders and plant officials had little contact
or coordination of plans.
• Fear of the unknown was threatening the industry’s
license to operate.
• US federal and state government was stepping in to
fill the gap.
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Public Concerns Addressed
• Communications and dialogue between management
and workers around environment, health, safety and
security issues.
• Communications and dialogue between communities
(and other stakeholders) around environment, health,
safety and security.
• Formalize emergency response planning and training.
• Coordinate emergency response plans with local
authorities.
• Foster openness and sharing of information.
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Key Elements – Employee Communications
• Five elements focus on dialogue with employees.
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Process to assess concerns about the facility.
Communications training for key personnel
Educate about emergency plans and EHS programs.
Involve employees in outreach activities.
Evaluate effectiveness of employee communications
process.
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Key Elements – Public Communication
• Five elements focus on dialogue with the public.
– Process to assess concerns about the facility.
– Educate stakeholders about emergency plans and risks
associated with the facility.
– Dialogue process to address issues of interest.
– Process which allows interested persons to become
familiar with the facility and its operations and products.
– Evaluate effectiveness of public communications process.
• “Community” has evolved to “public” during the past
twenty years and today’s stakeholders have broader
interests and are less local.
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Key Elements – Emergency Response
• Nine elements focus on coordinating with authorities.
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Ongoing assessment of potential risks
Maintain a current, written emergency response plan
Ongoing emergency response training for employees
Conduct emergency exercises
Communicate relevant information to local authorities
Facility tours for emergency responders
Coordinate site plans with community plans
Participate in local emergency response planning activities
Share information and experiences with other local facilities
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Links to Other Codes
Public and Employees
Distribution
•Transport routes
•Transport schedules
Process Safety
•Risk Assessment
•Incident Information
•MOC
CAER
Product Stewardship
•Product Information
Pollution Prevention
•Emissions Data
•Reduction Plans
Employee Health and Safety
•Incident/Accident Results
•Training Results
Security
•Threats Identified
•Coordination w/local
authorities
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Company Implementation Examples
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Establishment of Community Advisory Panels (CAPs).
Establishment of international advisory groups.
Plant management interacting with civic groups.
Plant “open houses.”
Adopt-a-school programs.
Community hazardous waste collection programs.
Employee advisory bodies.
Facility personnel taking the lead in organizing and/or
funding local emergency response programs.
• Transportation route emergency planning (TransCAER).
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Benefits
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Improved management-employee relations.
Employees willing to be “ambassadors.”
Improved relations with local communities.
Goodwill “in the bank” for future withdrawals.
Local dialogue experiences influenced companies’
willingness to engage the larger public.
• Improved local Emergency Response coordination.
• Industry went from “inward-looking” to “outwardlooking” mindset.
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The Changing Discussion Thread
2010
“I read on the Internet about this
product you make. Is it safe?”
2001
“Tell us about security at the plant.”
2000
“We would like to see the facility hiring more local people
and using local vendors.
1997
1992
“I participated as a public representative on a peer review of the facility.
You train so much. When do you ever have time to make your product?”
“We are very impressed with your reductions in emissions and process incidents.
Tell us about the risks from the transport of your products through our town.”
1988
“ Your facility is killing us. You need to shut down.”