The CIA gathers industry insights through a quarterly business survey to advocate for our members’ interests with policy makers, regulators and other stakeholders.
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The chemical and pharmaceutical industry is fundamental to modern society. With an immense variety of products, from vital medicines and foods, the construction of buildings, to transport and leisure, the industry truly does have an impact on virtually every aspect of our daily lives.
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CIA’s annual Health Leadership & Wellbeing Conference in the Chemical Industry took place 20 June 2023 in Leeds. The day was well attended, but we could still welcome more members, so we certainly hope to see more of you at next year’s conference!
This year’s programme built upon CIA’s previous conferences and our successful series of Signpost Guides that have been developed by members for members (topics: drug and alcohol policy, mental health policy and menopause policy).
There was an incredible line up of speakers coming from our sector’s regulator the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as well as member companies SABIC, INEOS Inovyn, Innospec Inc., Syngenta and Stepan. We would like to thank our speakers for taking part. By sharing relevant good practice, and being proactive in workplace health we can benefit the health of our best resource – our people!
At the start of the day CIA’s Dr Roger Pullin, Head of Chemicals and Health Policy, welcomed delegates and presented slides on the work CIA does under its Health Leadership Strategy before handing over to the first speaker of the day Mike Calcutt Head of Health & Work at the HSE. Mike gave a detailed presentation on their approach to measuring health risks, especially stress, which is now more common in the workplace increasingly caused by external factors.
The Conference aimed to raise awareness of the Tool’s usefulness to businesses, provide a guide on how to use it, and to take the opportunity from engagement sessions to identify new ways of working and find further good practice examples. Our member companies presented on their work and approach enabling the more extensive spreading of good practice. Nicola Duffey from SABIC focused on Health Leadership Culture to help deliver a healthy workforce.
This was followed by Leanne Mountford from INEOS Inovyn who set out the framework for occupational health teams to communicate with their workforces. Similarly, Viv Dennis from Stepan highlighted the benefits of free independent surveys into wellbeing initiatives and employee engagement in directing wellbeing initiatives through Health advocates or Workplace Forums. In the afternoon, Peter Shields from Innospec shared how he uses our Sustainable Health Metrics Indicator Tool to measure Hazards and exposures.
Finally, Stephan Smith from Syngenta discussed and shared detailed examples of how to measure health indicators. As the responsibility of employers grows in this area we will continue to ensure that latest issues and developments are shared across our whole membership. The conference also featured a role play demonstration by MacNaughton & McGregor (also known as the 2Macs) of a performancebased interview with its roots in health issues affecting an employee’s ability to do their job. They presented ‘A Living Case Study’ exploring mental health & wellbeing to help us all better engage with the challenge of initiating what are often difficult conversations to have with colleagues. The 2Macs are known for their fun drama-based learning techniques engaging with delegates, so it was fantastic they could join us to reflect on this serious health challenge that affects all businesses.
The feedback we received from delegates was excellent and we are grateful to all who attended and participated.
Figures released by the Chemical Industries Association indicate a significant turnaround in the chemical sector – one of Britain’s biggest manufacturing export industries – showing signs of growth.
