Doha: The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) yesterday announced the launch of a three-year assessment programme across the GCC region that will promote supply chain efficiency, flexibility and transparency in the petrochemical and chemical industry.
The Gulf Sustainability and Quality Assessment System (SQAS) is a uniform, independent and standardised programme for petrochemical logistics service providers that will enable companies to track and monitor progress in their environment, health, safety, security and quality (EHSS&Q) processes.
It will help them to identify and improve weak areas in the supply chain and develop cost-efficient practices that shorten lead times and are environmentally sustainable. Reports generated from the assessment will assist petrochemical and chemical companies in evaluating their service providers.
“The Gulf SQAS programme will measure the EHSS&Q standards of all the logistics service providers in the six GCC countries,” said Alan Izzard, Director of GPCA’s SQAS programme. “Certified independent assessors will evaluate a variety of technical aspects related to chemical and petrochemical warehousing, road and future rail transport and associated chemical cleaning stations, which are crucial elements of a product supply chain,” he said.
The programme will essentially extend the chemical industry’s responsible care initiative beyond the fences of the petrochemical plants. Responsible Care is a comprehensive set of standards for environment, environmental health, safety and security for the chemical industry.
The Peninsula
