Keeping you safe, now and in the future

Auli Salakka, Director, Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs, has spent her entire career in the chemicals industry, including 15 years at Kemira. She and her global team ensure the safety and compliance of Kemira products, with a careful eye on the future to anticipate any upcoming legislation or sustainability challenges.
Auli Salakka.

Safety and sustainability have always been a priority at Kemira. Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs, or PSRA for short, is about more than just safety data sheets; it is about ensuring safer products and business compliance for everyone, whether that’s our own employees, our suppliers, or the people who use our products. Our role in PSRA is to ensure that all products marketed and sold by Kemira are safe for their intended use and compliant with all applicable regulatory requirements.

Local knowledge, global reach

Chemicals are regulated under several international and local schemes depending on where they are made and sold, as well as their intended use and application. Our customers also have their own health, safety, and environmental requirements, which typically follow several voluntary certification schemes. In order to fully understand local regulations and closely follow all relevant regulatory initiatives, we have a large PSRA team spread across eight countries. Of course our team also speaks many languages, so we can talk directly to local authorities and pass information on through the supply chain.

Our goal is to stay sustainable: we aim to continuously provide safer alternatives for our stakeholders now and in the future.

PSRA track priority substances that have been seen as harmful or as having hazardous properties with long-term effects, such as carcinogens or endocrine disruptors. The use of some of these is already restricted to some degree, but we look at a wide range of sources to compile a master priority substance list where we feel there may be classification or regulatory changes coming. We then examine the effects of any potential changes on our portfolio and what our options are to mitigate risks, both for us and our customers – perhaps by limiting use, or even phasing products out. One course of action is to seek an alternative for the substances in question, for example by starting an R&D project. Our goal is to stay sustainable: we aim to continuously provide safer alternatives for our stakeholders now and in the future.

Our aim is to forecast the future…to manage product risks and any regulatory and safety issues that may arise.

No crystal ball – just diligence and expertise

We manage the whole product lifecycle, starting from supporting our R&D team in new product development to ensure that the chemicals they plan to use are safe and compliant and will remain so in the long term.

Our aim is to forecast the future – we want to foresee what is happening in terms of regulatory development to be able to give valuable input to all relevant stakeholders. I think of what we offer internally and to our customers as “regulatory intelligence”: regional and global expertise to manage product risks and any regulatory and safety issues that may arise. We treat product stewardship in a proactive way – it’s not only about what’s restricted today, it’s also about what’s ahead of us. We make mitigation plans for any foreseeable risks and aim to always be a few steps ahead.

Trust and transparency are the cornerstones of our work.

Trust, transparency, and a sense of responsibility

We are responsible to all our stakeholders, including shareholders, customers, and our own employees. It is essential that we provide accurate information and have a proactive approach to providing all functions with the regulatory information and support they need. It’s a collaboration and we are an essential part of that. Instead of simply saying, “We can’t use this substance”, we help to innovate by looking at what the alternatives are and what the solution could be. Trust and transparency are the cornerstones of our work: we proactively deliver accurate and legally compliant information in an open and honest manner. Our stakeholders can trust us. Our customers can trust us. It takes a lot of expertise, but nothing is more important.

Auli Salakka.
Name
Auli Salakka
Title
Director, Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs
Location
Helsinki, Finland
Industry experience
Joined Kemira Fine Chemicals in 1998 straight out of university and moved with the company when it was sold in 2005. Rejoined Kemira in 2010.
Other areas of interest
Leadership and how to develop as a leader. Finding tools to help managers develop their skills. As an organic chemist, keeping an eye on new innovations in chemistry.
Words to live by
You can always develop yourself or how you’re working. You can always work better – or smarter at least!
Ways to unwind
Daily walks and agility training with her two dogs, Erik and Linus. Sport twice a week in groups. Reading: Auli makes sure to always have a book with her.
A person holding a package.
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