Cleaners & Degreasers
PRIORITIZING WORKER HEALTH
Cleaners and degreasers are one of the highest use materials in electronics assembly, which is why it is so critical that they be as safe as possible in their formulation and usage.
To safeguard the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of workers in the global electronics assembly industry, investing in detailed hazard assessments and evaluation of all substances used in cleaners and degreasers is enabling suppliers to move beyond hazard control and toward the use of verified safer chemistry.
The CleanScreen Formulation Ingredient Intelligence Report (FIIR) for Cleaners and Degreasers is a web application designed to help cleaning product suppliers formulate cleaning products that are safer for humans and the environment. The CleanScreen application allows suppliers to verify safer formulations with a simple screening report that is respected by OEMs. The application goes beyond restricted substances lists, utilizing the ChemFORWARD shared repository of comprehensive chemical hazard assessments (CHAs) to provide trusted results.
TOOLS FOR FORMULATORS AND SUPPLIERS
To support formulators in optimizing their products, Apple has contributed to developing a rapid-screening framework and has populated a shared repository of chemical hazard assessments on common cleaning ingredients and safer alternatives. These resources have been developed specifically for use by suppliers. These tools, available through ChemFORWARD, pave the way to creating a registry of certified safer cleaners and degreasers that can be used across the electronics manufacturing industry.
Together the screening framework and shared repository go beyond regulation to enhance the safety of workers and the environment while lowering the cost and shortening the time it takes to get products certified. Once optimized and certified, products will be amplified on ChemWorks to the entire industry.
ChemWorks: a global opportunity to put people first in the making of products
ChemWorks was created with support from Apple to accelerate the adoption of safer cleaners and degreasers by directing industry users to formulations that have met rigorous qualification requirements for safer products. The effort has two main components: a registry of certified safer cleaners and degreasers for use in electronic assembly facilities, and a free screening process and report for formulators to help them optimize their formulations based on a shared repository of chemical hazard assessments and safer alternatives.
