The 6th cycle of Responsible Distribution is well underway with the first year of its three-year cycle. We kicked off the cycle in 2017 with the launch of a new online dashboard tool, a renewed sense of continuous improvement, and dedication to improved resources. In the first year, more than 90 percent of members, candidates, and chemical handler affiliates began the verification process by entering their company information into the Responsible Distribution dashboard.
We’re very proud of this new tool. It has allowed NACD member code coordinators, senior managers, verifiers, and NACD staff to access and track verification reports in a centralized and secure space. Our two verifying organizations, ABS-QE and Compliance Solutions Group, conducted 118 site verifications for 110 companies. This means that roughly 30 percent of the companies requiring Responsible Distribution have already passed verification for this cycle!
Overall, verifications conducted in the first year have resulted in an average of 2.5 non-conformances per verification – lower than the average from years past for the NACD membership – and 21 verifications had zero non-conformance findings. The commitment to the Guiding Principles of Responsible Distribution was so strong in some of these early cycle verifications that NACD awarded two companies the Responsible Distribution Excellence Award in 2017: McCullough & Associates and Walsh & Associates.
In addition to launching the new dashboard, NACD has focused on improving the resources available to members. Over the last year, four additional NACD U Responsible Distribution code-specific courses were launched. We also saw record attendance at in-person workshops, with the August event reaching 145 attendees. And we conducted two customized training sessions at member facilities.
To help those new to NACD, the Responsible Distribution and Membership Advancement and Retention Committee members formed a new “Candidacy Class” initiative and worked together to streamline the timeline for candidate members to implement Responsible Distribution. This Candidacy Class provides additional training opportunities and support to candidates and new chemical handler affiliates as they begin the process.
The start of the 6th cycle has been a busy yet productive one, and we are continuing to forge ahead in 2018. We’ve already seen nine additional companies pass verification in the first few weeks of this year. With programming underway for upcoming workshops and more NACD U courses being developed to assist our members implement Responsible Distribution, we look forward to successful verifications in the remaining two years of the cycle.