The first-class quality of Henkel’s products means more than convenience and high product performance. It includes all-encompassing product safety and ecological compatibility. Customers and consumers can be certain that Henkel products and technologies are safe when used as intended and have been thoroughly tested to ensure their compatibility with health and the environment. The potential risks of new products are systematically analysed early, during research and development.

In assessing the safety of a product, the first step is to determine whether its ingredients could pose a hazard to people or the environment. Does a substance have harmful effects? Is it corrosive or toxic, for example? If so, an exposure analysis is carried out in a second step to clarify the extent to which people and the environment could be exposed to this substance. In most cases, a harmful effect will only occur when the quantity and concentration of the substance reach a certain level. The results of these two steps have to be combined to arrive at a comprehensive risk assessment. Only then is it possible to determine whether a product is safe for its intended use. A simple example is acetic acid, which we use in diluted form on our food, but can cause serious harm in high concentrations.

Henkel ´s products are monitored continuously in the market by product developers and product safety experts, whose findings are channeled into the product assessment process. Consumer contacts are a particularly valuable source of information. New scientific findings are also taken into consideration.
Precautionary and protective measures can thus be modified immediately, whenever this should prove necessary.