- Author
- Hall, J.
- Title
- Product Design to Reduce Restricted Substances. Experience With Brominated Flame Retardants in Vehicle Design.
- Coporate
- Lund Univ., Sweden
- Report
- KEMI Report 7/00, December 2000, 71 p.
- Keywords
- product development | flame retardants | design applications | industries | automobiles | fire safety
- Identifiers
- research to present how companies are addressing restricted substance use in their products during the design phase
- Abstract
- Chemicals are currently an essential and accepted part of cars, trucks, busses and indeed, most other consumer products. The use of certain chemicals has been a concern for some time regarding effects on worker health and increasingly, effects in the environment. While authorities restrict specific chemicals through regulation, environmental regulations are beginning to focus on whole products. This move toward product-focused policies is designed to influence producers and subsequently, actors along the entire product chain. Connecting chemical use with product-oriented regulations, vehicle producers may begin to address chemical use when the vehicle is designed instead of only when the vehicle is disposed. This thesis research investigated the vehicle design chain to reveal what mechanisms are built into the design process to address restricted substances and the main factors influencing this. The research examined the specific case of brominated flame retardant substances used in vehicles. Information was derived from a series of interviews and provides the perspectives of a wide range of actors. The research findings reveal that a list of substances targeted for restrictions is currently the most common mechanism used by companies to address the issue. While lists have drawn attention to restricted substance use, some organisations now see a need to integrate the issue into decision-making in the vehicle design process. In this respect, the lists are inadequate to address the problem. Substance lists appear to lead to substitution of a restricted substance with a substance not identified as a problem. However, the problem with restricted substance use is not confined to a fixed number of chemicals, but is the use of a large number of poorly understood substances. Therefore, substitution of one substance with another may not actually constitute a solution.