Product stewardship
BASF is committed to continuously minimizing the negative effects that our products possess on people and environment. This commitment to product safety is enshrined in our Responsible Care Management System.
At BASF, we value the health and safety of people above all else. Wherever we do business, we act responsibly – not just complying with all relevant regulations but going the extra mile to reduce risks and minimize our environmental impact.
- High product stewardship standards worldwide as an integral part of our business
- Safety and risk assessment enables safe and sustainable products
We aim to meeting the requirements of our customers worldwide with our products and contributing to sustainability while complying with all relevant national and international laws and regulations. Our sites and Group companies implement internal and legal requirements to ensure high standards of product safety worldwide. This is regularly audited by the Environmental Protection, Health, Safety and Quality (EHSQ) unit in the Corporate Center. BASF experts exchange product safety relevant information and best practices regularly.
We ensure our products undergo necessary tests and assessments before launching or even earlier to identify potential hazards and risks. This ensures that protective measures, precautions and recommendations are in place for safe handling of products from its production to disposal. At BASF, we use a global database to document the environmental, health, and safety data for all our substances and products which for example serves as a basis for hazard communication documents. Globally Harmonized System (GHS) is used to classify and label our products worldwide considering the legal requirements in each country.
BASF actively promotes product stewardship code and practices in Greater China through events and close collaboration with industry associations, academia, and local authorities. In 2023, our Greater China PS&R team has co-organized workshops with Chinese academic associations, attracting more than 200 representatives from the industry to deep dive in new technologies and experiences exploration for new pollutants detecting and controlling.
BASF operators use various intelligent inspection tools to monitor the production process at the site. BASF has been at the forefront of digital transformation, covering topics from safe manufacturing to operational excellence.
In 2023, we successfully implemented some new digitalization solutions in SAP, which efficiently facilitated compliance with the new regulatory requirements for hazardous chemicals and substances reporting, ensuring the smooth operations of our sites in China. A regulation dashboard called the PS&R Greater China Regulation Database was also launched, which shared over 150 regulations and standards pertaining to chemical regulations, industry regulations, and trade compliance regulations in Greater China. By December 2023, more than 540 employees were utilizing this valuable resource.
We support our customers, suppliers and other partners to fulfill their industry or application-specific product requirements through product safety and regulations events in China. In 2023, over 200 customers and suppliers participated in such events with positive feedbacks.
