Managing risk
We live healthy, safe lives by avoiding danger and taking precautions. In other words, we live with hazards by managing the risks they pose – looking before we cross the road, holding the stair rail, turning off the light switch before changing a bulb and wearing gloves in the garden.
Touch, taste, feel
This also applies to chemicals. Everything we touch, taste and feel – natural or man-made – is a chemical. Some of the chemicals we use in the home, like bleach, are potentially hazardous. But this does not necessarily mean that the products containing them are dangerous when used correctly.
Unilever determines the safety of chemicals in our products by assessing the risk – taking into account both the inherent properties of the chemicals (hazard) and the way they are used (the exposure to the hazard).
We carefully choose the chemicals we use to ensure they do their job and are safe for people and the environment.
This section describes our approach to managing chemicals and includes some frequently asked questions about specific ingredients.
