12 minute read
ICC ACTIVITIES
WORKSHOP ON “RESPONSIBLE CARE 3 CODES GUIDANCE MANUAL”
Responsible Care® (RC) is the global chemical industry’s voluntary initiative to drive continuous improvement in safe chemicals management and achieve excellence in Environmental, Health, Safety, and Security (EHS&S) performance.
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There are different ways for practicing Responsible Care®, among that in the India, we followed “codebased management system’’. In code-based management system there are 7 codes and each code has certain characteristics for compliance, which are based upon 4 elements i.e. management, technology, facilities, and people-related attributes. To follow these codes and implement actual practices, the chemical industry needs uniform guidelines and thorough details of each code therefore ICC takes initiative for CODES BASED MANUAL and RC Manual.
Among the 7 codes, ICC has already published 4 Codes Manual in 2018, viz: 1. Process Safety Code, 2. Distribution Code, 3. Product Safety and Stewardship
Code, and 4. Security Code.
Looking upon utility, requirement & popularity of these codes, ICC has decided to publish the rest of the three codes manual, i.e. 1. Employee Health and Safety
Code, 2. Pollution Prevention Code, 3. Emergency Response Code.
It is important to review drafts of all these codes. Therefore, ICC organized 2-day workshop with 20 experts and the team of ICC at Hotel Taj Santacruz-Mumbai on 14th and 15th December 2021. The whole idea of organizing the workshop was, that the Experts will review all chapters of each code and manual which will be perfect in terms of guidelines, reference, technical knowledge etc.
The workshop started with a customary welcome by Mr. D. Sothi Selvam, Director General of ICC. In his welcome address, Mr. Sothi Selvam focused on the international scenario with GDPs & relation between market & chemical industry. He asserted that Growth along with Sustainability is possible by Responsible Care® Management Practices.
He was very sure about the expert’s & ICC team members will successfully achieve the objective of code-based manual.
Dr. Pranav Tripathi, Officer - Sustainability, Environment, and Regulatory Issues, Indian Chemical Council through his presentation
MR. DANIEL ROCZNIAK ADDRESSING THE DELEGATES VIRTUALLY FROM USA.
explained the purpose of RC Code Guidance Manual and Drafting Method Adoption to the experts. Dr. Pranav gave a brief idea about RC Manual & its editions, what kind of changes were proposed during each edition. Also more preciously he talked on 3rd Edition which is the latest edition of RC Manual. All minor-major changes between the 2nd and 3rd edition to was explained by him. Then taking accountability & importance of code-based manuals he briefly enlightened about previously published code-based manuals in 2018 and the objectives of reviewing draft codes of Employee Health and Safety Code, Pollution Prevention Code, and Emergency Response Code. He gave a quick review on the overall idea of the two days’ workshop.
Mr. Daniel Roczniak, Senior Director, Responsible Care®- American Chemistry Council (ACC) who attended the program virtually explained the importance of Responsible Care Manual and Guidance Manual. Keynote of his speech was, connectivity between, ‘sustainability’ and ‘the chemical industry,’ with all small aspects of the chemical industry including stakeholders. Mr. Dan expressed the hope that with the help of ICC, Indian chemical industry can move towards growth along with sustainability due to which expectations of ACC and ICCA will be fulfilled. To achieve this goal, RC Practices with uniformity between the chemical industries is quite important. For that guidance manuals are benchmark to all. These collective efforts will lead to the one more step towards excellence in terms of EHS. He also talked about India Pilot Project. He gave lots of wishes to succeed in this workshop. Mr. Bimal L. Goculdas, Vice President, Indian Chemical Council (ICC) & Managing Director and CEO of the Dharamsi Morarji Chemical Co Ltd., also addressed the delegates. He appreciated the efforts of all experts due to which the first customized manual for India can be designed.
Inaugural session concluded by Mr. S. Jaikumar, SecretaryGeneral, Indian Chemical Council. He proposed a vote of thanks and closing remark with a lot of wishes for the successful culmination of the workshop.
First session began with Critical Review on Employee Health & Safety Code, which was moderated by Dr. Pranav Tripathi. On each table, there were 4-5 experts seated together. Various Expert Groups have been formed and each group deliberated on the text of the codes thread bear and discussed thoroughly each code. After the group discussions, the recommendations of each group were tabled and adopted the changes.
The Second Day of the workshop n 15th December 2021 dedicated for other two codes - Pollution Prevention Code and Emergency Response Code. Similar way adopted for both session as followed for first session. These discussion sessions were moderated by Dr. Pranav Tripathi and Dr. Rakesh Kumar.
MR. BIMAL GOCULDAS ADDRESSING THE DELEGATES VIRTUALLY.
THE EXPERT RC AUDITORS AND ICC TEAM
ICC FACILITATES STUDENTS’ VISIT TO INDUSTRY
Indian Chemical Council (Gujarat) signed an MoU with the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Department of Environmental Studies to collaborate for skill development and knowledge enhancement for their UG & PG students. This MoU will help to narrow down the gap and bridge the linkages between academia and the stakeholders. The aim is to help the students with dissertations, industrial projects, training programmes, lectures series, etc. to accelerate their learning process and provide early exposure to the work environment and make them industry-ready.
Under this MoU, many activities are planned such as; z Dissertations with industry z Environmental projects by the students with industry z Lectures on relevant topics z Training and industry visits for the teaching staff z Industrial visit for the students
Under this MoU, Indian Chemical Council - Gujarat facilitated a visit of the students of Environmental Studies (M. S. University of Baroda) to Huntsman India Pvt. Ltd., Umraya plant at Vadodara. The industry visit is part of students’ curriculum and evaluation process.
Around 40 students of the PG programme and two professors participated. The safety precautions were explained to the visitors and the safety gears were handed over to them before going ahead with the visit. This visit consisted of the plant round with necessary information and a presentation on safety aspects observed in the chemical industry.
Firstly, the students were distributed into groups of 10 to visit the plant and each group was assigned an expert to explain and answer their queries. Students interacted with the assigned official on the relevant points and took notes.
After that, a presentation on the company and the safety norms observed by the organization was delivered by the Site director. Students got to learn about the safety norms hands-on.
The visit was quite fruitful for the students. The enthusiasm of the Huntsman India team led by Mr. Kavishwar Kalambe, Site Director was commendable. They actively participated in this exercise and wholeheartedly interacted with future environmentalists.
We would like to invite member organisations of ICC to be “Industrial & Technology Mentor” to the students and support ICC in the various activities throughout the year. Kindly get in touch with ICC Gujarat office on icceventsgujarat@gmail.com and iccvadodara@iccmail.in
CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION AWARENESS PROGRAMMES
The CWC HelpDesks of Indian Chemical Council (ICC) located at Vashi- Maharashtra, Vadodara - Gujarat and Hyderabad – Telengana, with the support of National Authority for Chemical Weapons convention, NACWC, Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, organised seven Programmes on CWC Awareness for the industries which submit the declarations for as per CWC Act 2000 and the potential declarants located in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telengana and Andhrapradesh. The participants were selected as per the region and the industrial area they belong to. The details are given below:
Ms Aaarat Seth, ICC CWC Helpdesk – Vadodara coordinated with the arrangements required for the programmes in Gujarat. Mrs Ranjana Kulkarni and Mr V. Gireesan took care of similar arrangements in Maharashtra and Tamilnadu respectively. Welcome address was given by Ms Aarat Seth, Mrs Ranjana Kulkarni and Mr.V.Gireesan in the events conducted in the respective regions. An overview on the CWC awareness programme and the details of the presentations were given followed by the overview about the CWC and the significance of CWC Act 2000.
The main objective of conducting the events was to create an awareness and understanding of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the importance of CWC Act2000 and its relevance to the chemical industry and the declaration requirements.
The other objectives were to highlight the importance of Error Free CWC Declarations while submitting the declarations through e-filing and to discuss the issues faced by the declarants while filling in and submission of declaration and the steps regarding Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) which has been introduced in E-filing to authenticate the Annual Declaration process. The other important aims were to remind the participants on common mistakes committed in providing declaration information, implications of errors in declarations and to improve skills in e-filing of declarations
The participants of all the events were from Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 and OCPF declaring facilities. The presentations were pertaining to the overview of CWC, classification of Chemicals as per CWC, implementation of CWC Act 2000, roles and responsibilities of NACWC, declaration thresholds, verification regime and live demonstration of E-filing.
Mr Rajendrakumar Patel, Mr Chintamani Deshmukh and Dr.R.Narayanan who are the in-charges of CWC Help Desks in Vadodara, Vashi and Hyderabad respectively, took care of all the presentations conducted in the virtual events for the participants from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telengana and Andhrapradesh.
The CWC Act 2000 was explained in detail along with the process of implementation from the time of its coming into force in 2005, till the amendment of the Act in 2012. Chapters, Sections and various provisions of
NO. DATE
STATE AND AREA COVERED 1 21 December 2021 Maharashtra –Navi Mumbai area 2 23 December 2021 Gujarat – Dahej (Ankleshwar, Bharuch area) 3 29 December 2021 Gujarat – Ankleshwar (Dahej, Bharuch area) 4 31 December 2021 Gujarat –Vadodara (and Nandesari area) 5 4 January 2022 Maharashtra – Lote parshuram 6 5 January 2022 Telengana – Hyderabad 7 7 January 2022 Andhrapradesh – Visakhapatnam NO. OF DELEGATES 29 92 41 46 52 38 42
the Act were discussed including penal provisions. The Chemical Weapon attacks in various countries, when and where etc were explained in detail. A few videos were shown which were pertaining to the functioning of OPCW, about hazardous chemicals, use of nerve and blister CW agents in the battle field which are called as weapons of mass destruction (WMD), mechanism of action of nerve agents and the antidotes. Then the speakers gave an overview about the destruction of Chemical Weapons and how OPCW carries out the verification of destruction and verification of declarations submitted by the industries through inspections.
The speakers briefly explained the Powers, Roles and responsibilities of National Authority for the implementation CWC Act 2000 (NA-CWC) in India. Genesis of CWC and details on India being signatory to the Convention and its ratification in 1996 were discussed. The penal sections of the CWC Act 2000 were also explained.
Inception of ICC’s CWC Help Desks and its activities were also discussed at length. An overview and details on SCOMET regulations framed by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) were discussed with participants. Followed by the CWC presentation, a presentation on the Verification Regime was also given. The apprehensions about the inspection were cleared from the mind of the participants by explaining to them that the declarations do not always end up in inspections and explained about the threshold levels in detail.
The common errors and other mistakes committed in filing of declarations were explained in detail. Case studies were narrated in order to encourage participants to provide complete and accurate information in declarations. Most common and serious discrepancies were also discussed. Confusion over the status of PSF chemicals in relation to Discrete Organic chemicals was explained and confirmed that PSF-chemicals are only a subset of DOCs. Explanation on plant site, plant and unit was also given so as to provide correct number of plants in declaration. The questions asked by the participants and the queries sent through chat box were clarified.
LIVE DEMONSTRATION ON E-FILING
A Presentation on e-filing created by NACWC for registered (existing) and initial declaring facilities were shown. The demonstration programme explained each step to be followed in e-filing of declarations. Step by step procedure explained in the programme was well received by the participants. All steps starting from Log-in to e-filing site till “submit and save” phase were shown. Dummy log in credentials were used for giving demonstration. Examples of correct and incorrect declaration information were explained. Participants were also cautioned to only click the option “Freeze with sign” and also to properly preserve the credentials like Plant site code and password etc in order to avoid any inconvenience in future. A presentation on the Registration of DSC on e- filing site till generation of intimation slip and digitally signed declaration was made. Participants were informed of the complete procedure including how to Generate e sign OTP for freeze and submitting their declaration using National UIDAI Aadhaar card.
CONCLUSION:
Participants were quite receptive to the deliberations of all the programmes. Question and Answer session during every event was interactive. Most of the questions were pertaining to DSC, common mistakes and declaration criteria. Most of the Industry Associations in and around every location were communicated well in advance to inform their members to participate in the Awareness Programmes. Programmes were conducted in accordance with the NACWC Guidelines for CWC Help Desks.
