Survey of corporation activity toward integrated chemicals management systems: Comparison of suppliers and users

We carried out the questionnaire survey to Japanese companies in order to grasp the present conditions for integrated chemicals management system, including hazard assessment, exposure assessment, risk assessment and risk management. The questionnaire items were evolved around three axes, i.e. enrichment of science basis (a Science axis), ability of persons and organization (a Capacity axis), and achievement, situation of cooperation with clients, and/or information disclosure to society (a Performance axis). We divided companies into suppliers (the supply side of chemicals) and users (the use and processing side of chemicals). Suppliers carried out higher activities than users in the field of hazard assessment, in other fields, especially in risk management users carried out voluntary activities as same as suppliers. The problems that companies should wrestle with are the improvement of Performance by fostering of experts, the risk assessments based on the scientific knowledge and information, the promotion of communication with citizens, the expansion of the area of exposure assessment.