CBA News

STEADY YEAR-ON-YEAR PERFORMANCE BY DISTRIBUTORS

The distributor member companies of the Chemical Business Association (CBA) delivered a steady year-on-year health, safety, and environmental performance in 2016 according to the latest Indices of Performance Report.

The 2016 report marks the twenty-fourth year in which this aggregate data has been published for the chemical distribution sector and is based on returns from 91 companies employing 5,928 people.

In 2015, CBA’s distributor companies made more than one and a quarter million separate journeys to deliver over four million tonnes of chemicals to businesses operating in virtually every sector of the UK economy.

Andrew Beck, Chairman of CBA’s Responsible Care Committee, said, “This has been another year of consistently good performance, even when it is measured by the stricter standards used by the CBA.  The numbers of accidents continue at historically low levels, a fact that illustrates the long-term impact of the industry’s Responsible Care programme.”

Reportable Accidents

Distributor companies reported 25 accidents in 2016, an increase on the previous year (2015 – 23).  CBA continues to publish data for accidents resulting in incapacities of more than three days. This exceeds the seven-day standard required by RIDDOR (the Reporting of

Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences) but preserves the integrity of the time series CBA has established over the last 24 years. Under the current RIDDOR standard, 17 accidents would have been reportable (2015 – 15).

Accidents resulting from a manual handling process or a slip, trip or fall represented 52% of the total and six accidents resulted from an exposure to harmful substances (2015 – 1).  No fatalities were reported.

Lost Time Accidents

The Lost Time Accident (LTA) rate is the ratio of reportable accidents to 100,000 man-hours – the assumed number of hours worked by one person during a lifetime. Applying the stricter three-day absence criterion, the LTA rate increased to 0.22 in 2016 (2015 – 0.21).  The LTA rate for just those accidents statutorily reportable under the current RIDDOR requirements was 0.15 in 2016 (2015 – 0.14).

Transport Incidents

Incidents involving transport are the key measure of the industry’s performance.  CBA’s data goes beyond the current criteria used by the Department for Transport and the RIDDOR legislation and includes any transport incidents requiring the attendance of the emergency services. Such incidents can include minor traffic accidents, mechanical breakdown or a simple puncture repair.

Even after applying these stricter criteria, the number of transport incidents continues at a historically low level – a notable achievement by the industry and one that shows the long-term impact of CBA’s Responsible Care programme.

In 2016, CBA member companies made more than one and a quarter million separate journeys to distribute four million tonnes of chemicals.  Five transport incidents were reported (2015 – 4).  This equates to 1.2 transport incidents for every million tonnes of product distributed by CBA members in 2016 – a slight increase on the previous year (2015 – 1.1).

Waste

CBA collects data on the disposal routes used by its distributor companies for the two main categories of waste. In terms of Special/Hazardous Waste, 13% was recycled, recovered, or disposed of with energy recovery in 2016, with only 4% of the total sent to landfill.  Of the Non-Hazardous Waste generated, 50% was recycled, recovered, or disposed of with energy recovery and 8% went to landfill.

Enforcement

There was one conviction recorded against a CBA member in 2016 (2015 – 0) arising from a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).  One Prohibition Notice was issued by the HSE in 2016 (2015 – 0), along with four Improvement Notices (2015 – 2).

Further information from:
Peter Newport,
Chief Executive, CBA
Michael Cooper,
Responsible Care Co-ordinator
01270 258200
www.chemical.org.uk