Drawing from a comprehensive analysis of 7,200 HPDs representing 544 suppliers, Glass revealed some encouraging findings. Despite the large dataset containing nearly 82,000 disclosed substances, there were only 2,600 unique chemicals identified – a surprisingly manageable number. Of these, 37% already qualified as safer chemistry, with 54% having confident hazard band assignments.
Glass introduced the concept of “Metric Zero,” a framework for understanding what’s known and unknown about chemicals in use. The presentation demonstrated how targeted investment in chemical hazard assessments could efficiently close data gaps across multiple products. For example, just seven chemical hazard assessments in progress could fill nearly 900 data gaps across the HPD database.
HPDC members can now participate in the HPD Builder-Chem Forward pilot program to receive ABC hazard bands for their HPDs, marking an important step toward optimizing product chemistry.