BCC member The Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers Association (CHSA) has announced its intention to ensure all distributor members are approved as Accredited Distributors by 31 December 2020.

Approval as an Accredited Distributor means the distributor has successfully passed the independent inspection of its products, which must be supplied by a CHSA Accredited Manufacturer or conform to the standards stipulated in the relevant Accreditation Scheme.  The rate of conformance amongst members during 2018 was excellent – 97.5% of relevant products across all Accredited Distributors are from CHSA Accredited Manufacturers.

The Accredited Distributor Scheme was established on 1 January 2017, all distributor members of the Association being invited to apply to join.  More than half of the CHSA’s distributor members, including all the national networks and major distributors in the sector, applied and successfully completed the rigorous auditing process.  These companies now use the Accreditation Scheme marque on their products and promotional materials to signal their commitment to guaranteeing “what’s on the box is what’s in the box”.

CHSA distributor members who have not joined the Accredited Distributors Scheme cannot use the Accreditation Scheme marque.

“The CHSA stands up for standards,” said Stephen Harrison, Chairman of the CHSA.  “Our Accreditation Schemes provide the guarantee buyers of cleaning and hygiene products need – you get what you pay for.  To make sure this guarantee is true for all our distributor members, our governing Council voted unanimously to aim to ensure every distributor member has passed the auditing process and joined our Accreditation Scheme for Distributors by the end of 2020.  From 1 January 2021, those who do not do so will no longer be members of the CHSA.”

To join, distributors must sign a declaration that they will only stock and offer for sale CHSA Accredited products or products that conform to the same Standards as required by the relevant CHSA Manufacturing Standards Accreditation Scheme and conform to the Association’s Code of Practice.

Gaining admittance to the Accreditation Scheme for Distributors is challenging.  As with the Manufacturing Standards Accreditation Schemes for Soft Tissue, Plastic Refuse Sacks and Industrial Cotton Mops, applicants are admitted to the Scheme on the successful completion of an auditing process conducted by the CHSA’s Independent Inspector.  Once they have successfully passed the audit and secured Accreditation Scheme status they will continue to be regularly audited, giving buyers of their products the certainty that standards are sustained.