The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) has, during the past few months, stepped up its efforts to help association members meet a variety of challenges facing the global chemical and petrochemical industry. GPCA is the voice of the industry in the Gulf region and one of the association’s main tasks is to address the key issues that impact its growing membership.
Attracting new talent and the retention of that talent is a major concern for chemical and petrochemical companies in the Gulf. GPCA’s Human Resources (HR) Committee, together with consulting firm Personnel Decisions International (Minneapolis, MN), organized a workshop in April on talent management that was attended by more than 20 representatives from member companies (p. 5). Attendees found the workshop to be of great interest and value.
The pre-registration phase of the European Union’s (EU) Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) legislation started on June 1. The concerns of GPCA members about the regulation were addressed at a REACH awareness workshop organized in April by the association’s Safety, Health & Environment (SH&E) Committee (p. 6). The workshop was attended by 26 delegates.
GPCA also hosted a dinner reception in April for senior representatives of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA; Brussels), who had gathered in Dubai for a high-level meeting (p. 5). The event was an opportunity for the regional industry to network with international associations and to communicate its support for their activities.
The formation of GPCA’s Logistics Committee and Plastics Committee is in progress and due to be completed by the end of June. The chairmen of the two new committees have been designated. Adel Al Munifi of EQUATE will head the Plastics Committee and Walid Al Hammad of TASNEE will head the Logistics Committee.
The SH&E and HR committees, meanwhile, have identified additional issues that are of interest to GPCA members and are planning to address them at upcoming workshops.
The HR Committee is conducting a survey on remuneration and benefits for executives and non-executives in the Gulf petrochemical industry, and held a meeting about the survey earlier in June. The HR Committee’s next workshop will focus on Retention Challenges, and is scheduled for October. The committee is endorsing an event in Bahrain on November 10-11 that will promote closer coordination between academic institutions and corporate bodies. The HR Committee is also planning to hold a break-out session during the Third Annual GPCA Forum.
The SH&E Committee will organize a workshop on Process Safety in October in Dubai and a workshop on Responsible Care later in the year. GPCA is in the process of joining the ICCA Responsible Care program. The SH&E Committee will host a follow-up workshop on REACH awareness on August 27 in Dubai.
—deepti ramesh
Contents
Introduction
p. 1
Q&A with Maha Mulla Husain p. 2
Focus on Polyethylene
p. 3
ICCA Dinner/PDI Workshop p. 5
HR Business Partnership/REACH p. 6
Contax Project Capex Study p. 7
References:
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