NMP: ECHA-Petrochemicals Europe cooperation on downstream user guidelines

The NMP (1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone) restriction was officially published in April. NMP users have now two years to take the required actions to limit workers’ exposure to certain values. The European Chemicals Agency, ECHA, has approached Petrochemicals Europe to request its active contribution in order to develop jointly guidelines for the safe handling of NMP at the workplace.

This is a very good opportunity for the industry to showcase that all risks are under control and that authorisation would not really bring added value. Moreover, the cooperation between ECHA and Petrochemicals Europe paves the way for a new best practice process: regulators and industry creating jointly sustainable health safety & environment (HSE) concepts in the framework of REACH and occupational safety & health. This is an example that other sector groups could possibly follow on later in order to save costs and resources.