SIA News
Solvents Industry Association Launches New Webinars
It has been a busy start to 2024 for our colleagues at the Solvents Industry Association, who have participated in a large number of meetings and events alongside and on behalf of their members in the first half of the year.
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- UK HSE Chemical & Downstream Oil Industries Forum
- EISG Stakeholder Day – Solvents & the Green Deal
- UK Government Department for Business & Trade (DBT) Roundtables
- ESIG Steering Committee – Leuven
- Alliance of Chemical Associations (ACA) Meeting
- Environment Agency Chemical Industry Liaison Group
- Volatile Substance Abuse Working Group
- Imperial College London – UK Chemicals Transition -Producing Chemicals in a Sustainable Way
- Industrial Stakeholder Meeting – University of Keele
As we go to press, SIA Members are busy planning for Exhibitions at CHEMUK in Birmingham in May and Surfex in Coventry in June, not to mention the solvents training courses in Brussels sandwiched nicely in between!
SIA Spring Dinner
The IWM Churchill War Rooms in London was at full capacity as the backdrop for the SIA Annual Spring Dinner on 14 March.
Attracting Members and Guests from 30 companies to the first event in the 2024 SIA calendar, the dinner included a tour of the award-winning museum, housing the underground nerve-centre where the British government directed the Second World War, beneath the streets of London.
SIA Chair, Nick Key said, ‘It’s a fascinating glimpse into Britain’s wartime history and it was great to be able to spend time here. I’d like to thank everyone who was able to join us for a lovely evening.’ As part of the evening, we held a raffle for a nominated charity, WaterAid, chosen by our Chair, Nick Key. Nick said “WaterAid is an international not-for-profit organisation, determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere. Their vision is of a world where everyone, everywhere has safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene. Thank you to all those who were able to give something towards this charity and we raised more than £1,200”.
SIA Chief Executive, Andrew Norman said, ‘It is always great to catch up with our Members at such occasions and the support we receive is huge, particularly in such testing times for the chemical industry. I would like to thank everyone for coming along and I look forward to the same again and more at the SIA Conference in September.
SIA ‘Lunch & Learn’ Webinars
The SIA hosted a free Lunch & Learn Webinar – The Importance of Hose Safety Awareness in the Solvents Industry, which took place on Tuesday 27 February.
The flammability of solvents, the hazards of static discharge and the need for earthing and bonding is widely documented within the industry. However, the safety, suitability and longevity of hoses and connections is often overlooked. This Lunch & Learn session looked at this topic with a webinar presentation from SIA Associate Member, Elaflex Limited.
During the event, we learned about how regular maintenance and inspection of hoses can lead to safer and more sustainable solvent transfer processes.
The session covered the following areas:
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- What is a hose?
- Types of hose
- Sustainability
- Influences on service life and longevity
- End connections and retention
- Best Practice
- Electrical continuity
- Assembling, testing and inspection
The Speaker was David Ratcliffe, Business Development Manager (Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals) – Elaflex Limited. The SIA would like to express our sincere thanks to David and Elaflex for an interesting and informative session.
The next session ‘Solvent Tanker Loading and Unloading – Operator Safety & Fall Prevention’, takes place on Wednesday 12 June and will be presented by Alec Keeler, Managing Director of SIA Associate Member, Carbis Loadtec. Details of how to register for the event will be released shortly.