Responsible Care has undergone a metamorphosis. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the focus of the code of behavior for chemical companies has rapidly changed from stewardship of products and the environment to development of plans to handle terrorist attacks. Companies have developed specific site plans and overall management principles to address the new security concerns.

"Sept. 11 created a new reality for us and for everyone," says John Polhemus, director of safety and industrial hygiene for Bayer Corp. "It has changed the way we view security: Operations are safe against a known risk, but now addressing terrorism and sabotage are at the top of our list."

"This is an opportunity to do what we should have done all along," says Brian Wastle, vice president for Responsible Care for the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association (CCPA). Especially in light of recent events, he says, "Responsible Care is almost a religion."

The events of Sept. 11 "absolutely changed Responsible Care, causing everybody to look at security differently," adds Tom Grumbles, manager of product safety and occupational health in North America for Sasol, which became a U.S. chemical producer in March 2001 after it acquired Condea. "We never would have imagined this kind of thing happening--a terrorist with a load of explosives trying to get into the plant."

"Sept. 11 has had a huge impact on DuPont in a lot of ways," says Dawn Rittenhouse, DuPont's director of sustainable development. "DuPont is concerned about the possibility of terrorism affecting its plants and the consequent effect on the local community." The company is looking at its security code to determine how to put in place good management systems, as it has done for safety and the environment for years.

Executives say that dealing with plant security concerns has been more straightforward because Responsible Care is in place. Many of the issues and practices developed for safety, the environment, and product stewardship have been adaptable to security planning, says Terry F. Yosie, vice president for Responsible Care at the American Chemistry Council (ACC). To this end, companies have gone to their community advisory panels for rapid feedback about what changes in operation might be appropriate at individual facilities, Yosie says.

Companies are also working closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement to provide further assurances to the community and have brought in the Coast Guard and other disaster response teams to test their security systems.

Responsible Care has become the formula that practically all chemical companies have followed in recent years to ensure safety of human health and the environment. In its initial form, dating from the 1980s and promulgated by CCPA and ACC, it encompassed six codes of management practice. Now, in light of recent events, a seventh Responsible Care code--one dealing with security--is being established.

This code will probably require companies to adhere to mandatory site practices and use third-party verification and vulnerability assessments with mock terrorism or invasive attempts. Until now, the codes considered process safety hazards and worst-case scenarios but not invasive events. While the existing codes have required up to a year for approval, the new code will be presented in June, just four-and-a-half months after it was initiated.

Grumbles contends that the expanded Responsible Care code should include transportation elements such as railroads and trucks. Transportation is hard to monitor, Grumbles notes, because it involves many variables that are out of a company's control. However, he says, Sasol has strong relationships with its Responsible Care partner carriers and is already working on improvements in this area.

Given current reliance on computers, the seventh code should also consider threats to information systems, Grumbles suggests. "The security issue goes beyond elements traditionally considered in Responsible Care, but the Responsible Care foundation is a good one from which to address these new areas of concern," he says.

Companies generally decline to give specifics about the measures they are taking to protect against terrorism. The response of Tim Fitzpatrick, director of public affairs at BASF Corp., is typical: "BASF has always placed a priority on the safety and security of our sites and our products. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, we have heightened our vigilance and active cooperation with law enforcement agencies to make sure that our sites and products are secure."

BASF views Sept. 11--as well as the deadly Sept. 21, 2001, Atofina fertilizer plant explosion in Toulouse, France, the cause of which remains unknown--in light of a long history of making chemicals in plants close to inhabited areas. "This issue is not new; it's been ongoing for 137 years at our site in Ludwigshafen, Germany," says Lothar Meinzer, head of the sustainability center at BASF. "We have been talking with neighborhood communities for decades and decades. We have developed a lot of trust, talking and working together with the community advisory panel."

Events like the Sept. 11 attacks or the explosion in Toulouse illustrate the importance of ties between a plant and its community. "The most effective way to reassure the communities in which we operate is to have an open dialogue with them," says Michael J. Kern, senior vice president for environmental health and safety at Huntsman Corp. "We provide input into the community through our community advisory panels, our association with local community organizations, and through information provided by our associates. We seek input from the local fire and police departments and practice with them in drills."

DuPont has the same philosophy regarding the community. "The only way to build trust is through dialogue," Rittenhouse says. "The local community must have access to people who work there and understand the plant. People have to be able to see for themselves what the facility is and the challenge of making the product."

Local citizens may have ideas on other safety systems that could be put into place. "Plant personnel must be willing to listen and respond to the community," Rittenhouse adds. "That's the only way to build trust between a facility and the community where it operates. You can't regulate that."

Since the late 1980s, chemical companies have relied on Responsible Care to reassure the public that chemical plant operators know what they are doing in terms of safety, waste, pollution, accidental releases, and now security, says Scott Berger, senior manager of the Center for Chemical Process Safety of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

The first step in developing a security policy, Berger says, is to perform screening to decide which chemical sites should warrant initial attention. Those sites that are most vulnerable should, of course, be addressed first.

In the case of Bayer, the company has followed up such assessments with a management system approach, says Barry Stutts, the firm's manager of Responsible Care. This approach involves five elements: leading by senior management, identifying relevant regulations and setting performance goals, implementing accountability through the organization and training employees to carry out necessary tasks, auditing and documenting, and reviewing and reporting so senior management can achieve continuous improvement.

DuPont also takes a top-down approach to health, safety, and environment--and now security--issues. In the early 1990s, DuPont put into place a management system to check performance and compliance. Using what it learned about managing environmental systems, the company claims it has been able to implement effective security systems. Though there are some differences in policy from plant site to plant site, none are major. The various sites hold practice drills on responding to an emergency, looking for problems to address.

In light of the terrorist attacks, Huntsman has also reviewed its security protocols with local authorities "to receive their input into not only what we are doing, but how they feel we can make our facilities better," Kern says. "ACC's new Responsible Care Security Code will assist the industry in this outreach by linking security protocols with a follow-up review by those in the communities in which we operate."

According to CCPA's Wastle, a key question in the aftermath of Sept. 11 is, "Do we stop being so open with our community? This issue has been debated extensively, and the answer is no." Though there's always a risk in providing information to people who might misuse it, the worst risk is "hiding behind our barbed-wire fences and shutting down our communication lines."

That the Responsible Care program can expand to incorporate new problems like security is a testimony to its strength. Responsible Care has a long history of setting operating standards for the chemical industry, and it is rapidly evolving to encompass the new security issues. "To do something new and creative is hard work," ACC's Yosie says, "but it's essential."

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