Some apparel brands want more information about the chemicals used to make their products. Chemical hazard assessments do just that!

Apparel brands use restricted chemical lists, such as the ZDHC MRSL and brand specific RSL’s in their chemical management programs. Both are important and should be used, but restricting a list of hazardous chemicals doesn’t mean that all other chemicals are safe. Quite the contrary!

This is the 3rd blog in my chemical management blog series. The first discussed two trends in chemical management in the apparel industry. The second discussed why full chemical disclosure matters to brands.

Apparel brands started to integrate chemical hazard assessments into their chemical management programs in 2013 because:

• Greenpeace, through its DeTox Fashion campaign, required that brands use a hazard based tool, such as GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals, to identify hazardous chemicals to prioritize for elimination.
• LS&Co. and ToxServices developed Levi’s “Screened Chemistry Program,”  a science based, transparent assessment tool that incorporated chemical hazard assessments to assess and rank chemical substances based on their toxicity profiles. This tool helped LS&Co. choose and use safer chemical formulations that were assessed by a 3rd party expert.

Screened Chemistry, and the service providers that assess chemical formulations, will be discussed in the next post, which is about implementation.  It should be noted that chemical companies conduct chemical hazard assessments as part of a risk assessment, which is required to meet REACH and other regulations. Therefore, they are not new to the chemical industry, but they may well be new to apparel companies.

Now let’s discuss some basics!

The relationship between hazard, risk and exposure

Risk is a function of hazard and exposure.

RISK = HAZARD X EXPOSURE

So to reduce the risk, either the hazard OR the exposure must be reduced. Exposure can be reduced by using PPE and by increasing ventilation in a facility etc., but this is never a guarantee.

Therefore, it is better to use chemicals that have inherently low hazard profiles so that if you are exposed, the chemical will cause minimal harm. A chemical hazard assessment will show chemicals with lower hazard profiles, which is one reason why more brands are using them.

What is a chemical hazard assessment?

A chemical hazard assessment is a detailed evaluation of a chemical’s intrinsic human health and environmental hazards. A toxicologist, or expert that can interpret chemical data performs the assessment.

There are several chemical hazard assessment methods available, so when deciding which one to use, consider the following.

A chemical hazard assessment should be

• based on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals GHS system,
• grounded in science,
• transparent and available, especially if the chemical hazard assessment will be published.

Tools used for chemical hazard assessments

Chemical hazard assessment methods include the following.

• GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals owned by the NGO Clean production Action. Chemicals are assessed against 18 hazard endpoints and receive a Benchmark score from 1 to 4.  Benchmark 1 is a chemical of concern that should be avoided, whereas Benchmark 4 denotes a preferred or safer chemical. Few chemicals achieve a Benchmark 4 rating!
• Safer Choice, managed by the USEPA, assesses a chemical and provides an acceptable/not acceptable evaluation. A rating system, denoted by a full green circle, half green circle or yellow triangle, depending on the function of the chemical, is applied to each chemical substance under review.
• Cradle to Cradle uses chemical hazard assessments to assess Material Health. A draft of version 4 can be found here.

The organization responsible for maintaining and updating the method/tool approves, audits and certifies the assessor.

Do you need help with chemical management?

For help with sustainability, circularity and chemicals, contact Amanda Cattermole at (415) 412 8406 or Amanda@cattermoleconsulting.com. We can help you develop powerful solutions to protect your company and brand reputation.

Tips and Insights contains information to help you make informed sustainability decisions. Each post highlights a particular topic and includes questions you may want to consider for your business.