An important piece in the SQAS jigsaw fell into place this past February 2 with the launch of the rail unit by CEFIC and UIC. At the end of a half-day conference at the Paris headquarters of the International Union of Railways (UIC) Alain Perroy, in only his second day as director-general of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), and Armand Toubol, chairman of UIC's Freight Commission, signed an agreement to develop a common system for managing the safety of chemicals transported by rail. The Safety and Quality Assessment System (SQAS) aims to prevent transport accidents or incidents involving chemicals and to minimise the consequences of any such incidents. It has already been introduced for other transport modes, including road, inland waterways and, through the Chemical Distribution Institute (CDI), ocean shipping and bulk storage.
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