Staff of TUV at work. The company provides brands and manufacturers with Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC)-certified training.— VNS Photo
TÜV Rheinland, a company that provides technical inspection services, has announced plans to provide Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC)-certified training to manufacturers in Việt Nam and other countries to improve their knowledge of and promote responsible chemical management.
The training is an extension of the TÜV Rheinland Academy’s ongoing occupational health and safety training programme for the textiles industry.
Targeted at the global market, the first round of training, titled “Introduction to Chemical Management,” will be in October and November starting with Việt Nam and followed by Bangladesh, Turkey, and Italy.
TÜV Rheinland has been trying to promote sound chemical management for nearly a decade, starting with the International Labour Organization’s Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises programme and its own Fit Five training programme.
It has worked with Germany international co-operation agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH on the latter’s Resource Efficient Management of Chemicals framework for the apparel and footwear supply chains.
One of the most recent additions is a comprehensive detox offering, which TÜV Rheinland launched as a direct response to the Greenpeace campaign aimed at uniting top textile and footwear brands and retailers to achieve zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020.
“It might seem easy for manufacturers to produce ‘clean’ finished products by washing and flushing out some of the undesired chemicals into the local sewerage system before delivery, but it’s also extremely short-sighted,” Holger Kunz, executive vice president, business stream products, TÜV Rheinland, said. “Ethical buyers and end-user customers are increasingly looking for assurance that the production process is clean from start to finish, which takes careful testing and quality training to achieve.”
TÜV Rheinland, founded 145 years ago and employing 19,700 people around the world, inspects technical equipment, products and services, and oversees projects, processes and information security for companies.
Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries. — VNS