Peter Newport, Chief Executive of the Chemical Business Association, provides a profile of his Association and its work on behalf of its member companies.
It’s a fact of modern commercial life that business benefits from having a strong and effective trade body to represent its interests to government and to the industry’s regulators.
Managers just want to get on and run their businesses, they don’t have the time or inclination to lobby government or negotiate the detail of technical changes with regulators. They recognise the costs involved in this process and their importance to the bottom line of their businesses.
At the last count, CBA was actively involved and contributing to the work of 39 governmental and industry committees and working parties in the UK and a further 31 such bodies in Europe and internationally.
CBA is a board member of the European Association of Chemical Distributors (Fecc), the International Chemical Trade Association (ICTA) and the Alliance of Chemical Associations (ACA) and also a member of the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic). This means that CBA can offer its member companies a level of influence and on-going intelligence that they would find it difficult, if not impossible, to acquire if they were acting alone.
I suppose this is another way of saying that, if trade associations didn’t already exist, it would be necessary to invent them.
CBA is a membership organisation and is managed by its members for its members. An industry experienced professional team based at Crewe, Cheshire, manages its day-to-day operations. In broad terms, CBA’s role can be defined as:
• Advocating CBA policies to legislators and regulators in the UK, Europe and Globally;
• Communicating the industry’s message in the media;
• Providing information and advice to member companies on compliance issues; and,
• Delivering events, seminars and workshops.
The CBA’s membership profile illustrates the diversity – in terms of size, activities and services – of the UK chemical supply chain.
DELIVERING KEY CHEMICAL COMPONENTS
CBA member companies make a major contribution to the economy by delivering key chemical components to thousands of companies in hundreds of business sectors.
• Each year CBA distributor members make over one million separate journeys.
• They distribute, pack, or blend nearly 4 million tonnes of chemicals each year to virtually every sector of the UK economy.
• CBA’s logistics member companies handle more than four and a half million tonnes of chemicals annually.
RESPONSIBLE CARE
Responsible Care is CBA’s mandatory initiative to ensure the health, safety, and security of the industry’s employees and the general public as well as protecting the environment. Each year, CBA publishes the aggregate performance of its member companies against a series of key criteria: reportable accidents, transport incidents, lost time accidents, waste levels and disposal routes, and any convictions or enforcement notices. CBA also provides member access to a 24-hour emergency response scheme.
STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION
The CBA’s governing body is its Council, elected from its membership, and led by its Chairman and Vice Chairman, who in turn are advised by an Executive Committee.
CBA also operates a series of Committees and issue driven working groups focusing on technical or operational policy issues. Their membership consists of representatives drawn from member companies with specialist expertise in key policy areas and include:
• Marketing Committee
• Responsible Care Committee
• Logistics Committee
• Health, Safety, and Environment Committee
• Good Trade & Distribution Practice Committee
MEMBER SERVICES
OUTLOOK – CBA’s Member Magazine +
Online Management Briefing
Outlook Magazine and Online Outlook Management Briefing are part of CBA’s member communications programme. Both are distributed free on demand.
Outlook Magazine is published in hard copy three times each year – in spring, summer and winter editions – and provides a range of industry features and the latest news. Outlook Online, published in eight monthly issues, offers regular management briefings on key industry issues and commercial opportunities.
UPDATE – OnLine Technical Newsletter
CBA’s Online Update Newsletter is a quick and user-friendly way of keeping up-to-date on a wide range of technical issues – from regulatory changes and consultations to events, meetings and conferences.
Chemical Services Directory
Designed for companies providing services to the chemical sector, CBA’s free Chemical Services Directory offers a fully searchable, on-line directory promoting services offered by member companies.
On-site consultancy
CBA provides a range of on-site consultancy services. Recent assignments have covered:
• Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser Service
• Regulatory Compliance Audits
• REACH Audits
• Health & Safety Audits
• Environmental Audits
• Security Audits
SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS
Focused on ensuring member companies are up-to-date in terms of regulatory compliance, CBA organises a comprehensive range of practical seminars and workshops. In 2016, for example, CBA ran 35 events to help members achieve cost-effective regulatory compliance.
CBA has given an undertaking to its member companies to provide regulatory training on demand. So far as we know, CBA is the only trade association to make this offer. Member companies can nominate a topic that is particularly important to their business and, subject to two conditions, CBA will organise a seminar or workshop. The conditions are, firstly, that there are sufficient members interested in a particular topic to make an event commercially viable, and, secondly, that CBA is able to schedule the event within its current programme of seminars and workshops.
CBA is also able to devise bespoke consultancy and training to suit the individual needs of member companies.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
CBA’s in-house team of experts provide free technical support to member companies on a wide range of subjects.
CHEMICAL SECURITY
CBA is an acknowledged authority on chemical security and issues surrounding the resilience of the chemical supply chain. It expertise has been called upon by a wide range of governmental, security, and industry organisations both domestically and Internationally to help to raise awareness and establish systems to guard against the illegal use of chemicals by terrorists.
