WACKER Products


Product Safety

WACKER provides information on the safe use of its products and is continually working to prevent or reduce the use of substances which are harmful to human health or the environment in products. We pursue this aim in a number of ways:

We try to replace harmful ingredients with alternative substances.
In the absence of an alternative, we restrict the sale of products containing harmful substances to commercial and industrial customers wherever possible.
We develop innovative alternatives to conventional products containing harmful substances.

WACKER ensures that all its products, if used properly, pose no risk to humans or the environment. We continually update our product information and constantly revise our risk assessments – which relate, for example, to safety aspects and environmental impacts – to take account of new findings. In the event of new findings that REACH requires the substance safety report to cover, we adapt our risk assessments accordingly.
Only some 40 percent of WACKER products require safety data sheets by law. We go beyond these requirements and compile these sheets for all our sales products – not just for those classified as hazardous substances. WACKER issues over 75,000 safety data sheets in up to 35 languages.
REACH

REACH legislation, which came into force in 2007, governs the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals within the European Union. Comprehensive data are gathered through REACH, which imposes high requirements on the manufacturers, importers and users of chemical products. All substances on the European market that are used or imported in annual quantities exceeding one metric ton must be registered and evaluated. The scope of evaluation work is largely determined by the quantity produced or imported and the expected risks. Particularly high-risk substances are subject to regulatory approval. REACH compliance costs WACKER a total of €30 million.
As of 2008, we are obligated to register all substances produced in Europe – and toxicologically classify their properties – if annual quantities exceed one metric ton. The exact conditions of use must be taken into account: By June 2013, WACKER had submitted 153 registration dossiers to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). This includes 67 registration dossiers for substances between 100 and 1,000 metric tons a year, the registration deadline of which expired on May 31, 2013. As part of the normal REACH procedure, the ECHA still requires additional information to be provided on dossiers submitted during the first phase (2010).
GHS

GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals) is a United Nations initiative for harmonizing the classification and labeling of hazardous substances. It is up to individual countries to decide whether to adopt the system, and, if so, which modules to accept, and when. GHS was introduced to Europe in January 2009 with the European