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The Responsible Care programme was first introduced in Canada in 1985 and now is implemented worldwide as one of the chemical industries' commitments to improve the industries' public image as well as their performance in health, safety and environmental aspects. In Malaysia, the Responsible Care programme has been implemented since 1994 with a current total of 148 companies pledged to implement it in their company; however, the effectiveness of the programme remains unknown. Hence, this paper aims to assess the effectiveness of the Responsible Care programme in improving performance in the environment, health and safety in terms of documentation, training, selection processes and stakeholders' engagement for the sustainability of chemical industries.

A survey was administered to the Responsible Care signatory companies in Malaysia. Of these, a total of 132 member companies either produced or provided services related to chemical products.

The majority of signatory companies agreed that the Responsible Care programme did improve their performance in the environment, health and safety. Besides that, the signatory companies were also keeping up their commitment to ensuring documentation, training, selection process and stakeholders' engagement run smoothly in line with Responsible Care's mission.

After more than two decades of implementation in Malaysia, it is important to assess the Responsible Care programme's effectiveness. As an increasing number of chemical firms, without good management, it will possibly pose a danger to the environment and human health and safety. Through assessment, advances in Responsible Care management practices will considerably increase programme effectiveness in terms of environmental health and safety.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the barriers and challenges faced by chemical industries in Malaysia causing to the low participation in Responsible Care program. Also, this paper aims to propose a solution to address the issues in implementing Responsible Care by introducing a Simplified and Integrated Management System for Responsible Care.

A questionnaire was distributed to 132 Responsible Care signatory companies in Malaysia, and they were given a week to return it via e-mail. Combining the inputs from the survey and document analysis, a Simplified and Integrated Management System for Responsible Care (SIMS-RC) was proposed.

Responsible Care signatory companies faced barriers in implementing product stewardship code and they also faced challenges in getting employees’ commitment from all levels. Taking the inputs received from Responsible Care signatory companies and document analysis, an SIMS-RC was proposed as a closed-loop process which consists of quality, environmental, health and safety management system.

Some of the chemical companies were unable to share their thoughts in the survey due to the companies’ confidential reason.

Abundant literature has discussed about the limitation of Responsible Care that needs to be improved. Therefore, several elements and procedures of the program need to be revised and innovated to help the signatory companies to continuously improve their performances and encourage more participation in Responsible Care program. The findings will add value to the current body of knowledge and Responsible Care signatory companies which seek to improve Responsible Care implementation through an integrated management system approach. The proposed SIMS-RC is a simple, integrated, holistic and process-oriented management system in which it blends Responsible Care into quality, environmental, health and safety management system.