November 2020 Quarterly Update
Our goal with this quarterly update is to help you stay up to date with our activities and share insights on electronics industry worker chemical safety. Please don’t hesitate to let us know what would be valuable to include in future updates!
New Tool from CEPN Streamlines Collection of Process Chemicals Data
The Clean Electronics Production Network is pleased to announce the launch of the Process Chemicals Data Collection Tool (PCDC Tool), a free, standardized reporting tool available to all companies in the electronics industry.
The PCDC Tool provides a common and unified format for collecting information across the electronics supply chain and can save hours or days of labor for companies who have to prepare duplicative documentation for process chemicals data for customers and other stakeholders. It streamlines and facilitates communication between facilities and customers and the information collected will contribute to protecting workers from exposure to harmful chemicals
"A unifying industry format.... A win-win."
"The adoption of the PCDC Tool at Seagate has streamlined the sharing of process chemistry information with our customers – data that used to take weeks to gather and prepare is now instantly available due to the alignment on a unifying industry format," said Girard Goder, Sustainability Program Manager for Seagate Technology. "The PCDC Tool has allowed Seagate to better fulfill the needs of our customers while simultaneously freeing up staff resources – resulting in a win-win."
The Tool further offers benefits to the industry enabling collaboration among and between tiers of the supply chain, both to reduce risk to workers and respond to customers’ data requests.
"We have used this user-friendly tool with our suppliers and are excited about using it more," said Romi Lessig, Dell Technologies Social Responsibility Program Manager. "The PCDC Tool gives us a common format to collect consistent information across the supply chain; a standard solution to enable our suppliers to partner with us and the industry more effectively. We appreciated the guides and resources to share with our suppliers to be able to use the tool to its full capability without guesswork.”
"A standard solution to enable our suppliers to partner with us."
Specifically, the Tool:
Creates a common format for consistent collection of information across the supply chain, enabling efficient exchange of chemical use information between tier suppliers and makes the integration of data into existing systems easier
Enables identification and quantification of chemical use, including those with potential for industry-wide elimination/safer substitution
Improves chemical management of Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) audits as well as company and supplier insights into risk areas
Enables industry collaboration to reduce risk and prepare for future regulatory and/or customer requests
Electronics companies using the tool can elect to store the data securely and confidentially in the Responsible Business Alliance’s third-party data platform.
CEPN has created guidance documents in English, Spanish and Chinese and has a collection of short instructional videos showing how to use the tool in detail.
CEPN welcomes users’ feedback and suggestions on the PCDC Tool at cepn@greenamerica.org.
Chemicals Management for Electronics USA 2020
Chemical Watch is holding a virtual Chemicals Management for Electronics USA 202033 conference on Nov. 12 and 13, where CEPN Director Pamela Brody-Heine will present a session focused on tracking and reducing the use of toxic and hazardous process chemicals in the information technology manufacturing process.
Pamela will showcase tools that have been developed by CEPN including the PCDC Tool and the Qualitative Exposure Assessment, a simple and low-cost tool which enables facilities to determine potential risks of worker exposure.
