The Vinyl Sustainability Council is identifying and sharing best practices in community health and safety efforts, encouraging the use of environmental management systems, and ensuring the continued safe use of ingredients in our manufacturing processes and products as part of the People & Community Impact Category.

This impact category is focused on two priority areas:

• Community health and safety
• User health and safety

VSC members are continuously showing their dedication protecting their workers, communities, and product users. Last year, the People & Community task force developed the VSC’s Product Safety Principles as a way to document evidence of implementing best manufacturing practices.

In many areas, resin producers have established community advisory panels (CAPs) that allow for continuous dialogue between companies and communities on local development issues. CAPs hold companies accountable for how they affect local residents and their communities.

At the worker safety level, the vinyl industry record of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable injuries is best in class compared to both overall U.S. manufacturing and chemicals production. OSHA regulates workplace safety in the United States, and production facilities are mandated to report any recordable work-related accidents to OSHA on a regular basis.

The Vinyl Institute annually recognizes production facilities that achieved zero OSHA recordable accidents. They give special recognition to those facilities that report zero OSHA recordable accidents for 5 or more consecutive years. Overall, the vinyl industry’s OSHA recordable injuries rate is less than one third of the chemical industry.