Chairmans Review 2010
Each year the Board of the Association reviews its main objective, which is to deliver value to its members, not dissimilar to any business. In these continuing difficult times, the justification for membership needs to be even better value.
UKSpill has evolved since 2004 into a real voice for the oil spill industry. Not only have we developed our website for the Association, and put the Responder Accreditation Scheme on line, we have established a regular series of Marine and Inland seminars. This year we will have held our regular Inland Spill seminar at the Fire Service College, but our Marine Spill seminar will be held at IMO in London, and will see delegates from not only the UK but also from across Europe and further afield.
In 2010, we launched SpillAlert as a quarterly newsletter for the UK spill industry, not just for the UK, but aimed at a global audience who have supported the series of oil spill conferences and exhibitions around the world. The spill industry is a niche, and its success relies on international cooperation, and communication, which the SpillAlert newsletter is intended to support.
In 2006, UKSpill hosted Interspill, the major European spill industry conference and exhibition, in London. Since then, UKSpill has led by managing the 2009 Interspill event in Marseille, on behalf of the European members of Interspill, who now include EMSA and IPIECA. Looking ahead, UKSpill is now managing the preparations for Interspill 2012 in London.
UKSpill as a body accredited by the UK Government has continued to channel funding to support exports each year to the key events, last year at Interspill in France, and this year in Australia at Spillcon.
UKSpill is a small group of companies, and to succeed works in partnership with others, principally with the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, and the Environment Agencies of England, Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland. The contract to support the MCA was renewed in 2009 for a further 3 years, and this cooperation is key to success for UKSpill.
To restate the role of UKSpill, it is principally to Promote its membership, and through marketing, we have an effective website which delivers both a catalogue of companies, and a guide to dealing with spills through the accredited Responder scheme, together with a schedule of events.
It is also to provide news about its industry to markets and government – delivering Information. The development of SpillAlert this year is an exciting new way keep people informed of our industry.
UKSpill has always worked to maintain Standards within its industry, it has now established a Standards Committee to supervise quality within the industry. The expectation of the public is that both industry and government will ensure that, in dealing with an emergency, only those who are suitably qualified should deal with the incident. UKSpill operates its Accreditation Scheme for spill contractors / responders with the support of all the UK maritime and environmental agencies, and the scheme has grown by over 40% over the last year to over 80 companies across the UK.
Glyn Humphries
Chairman, UK Spill Association
June 2010
