SQAS: how to prepare for the assessment step by step

SQAS (Safety & Quality Assessment for Sustainability) is an assessment system created by CEFIC (the European Chemical Industry Council) within the Responsible Care programme. It lets chemical companies assess their logistics service providers in a consistent way on safety, quality, environment and social responsibility.

It is worth clarifying from the outset: SQAS is not a certification and not a piece of software. It is an on-site assessment carried out by an independent assessor trained and accredited by CEFIC, following standardised questionnaires. The outcome is not a pass or a fail but a detailed report that chemical companies read and score against their own criteria.

How do you prepare? In short: identify which modules apply to your activity, run a self-assessment against the current questionnaire, document and evidence your management system, train your staff and hire an accredited assessor for the on-site assessment. Afterwards you work on the report with an improvement plan and reassess within three years.

What SQAS is and who it is for

SQAS stands for Safety & Quality Assessment for Sustainability. It is a CEFIC initiative under Responsible Care, the chemical industry's voluntary programme for continuously improving safety, health and environmental performance. SQAS extends that philosophy to the logistics chain, offering a common framework to assess those who provide services to chemical companies.

It is aimed at logistics service providers to the chemical sector: road transport companies, logistics operators, warehouses, tank cleaning stations, rail operators and chemical distributors. Chemical companies use SQAS to select and assess these providers as part of their procurement and sustainable supply chain due diligence.

The key point is that SQAS produces a report, not a label. The assessor evaluates the organisation against the questionnaire and documents findings; each chemical company then reads that report and decides how to weight it. There is no universal pass threshold, which is why SQAS is best described as an assessment and transparency tool rather than a conventional certification.

The SQAS modules

An SQAS assessment combines a mandatory Core questionnaire, covering general management requirements, with at least one specific module depending on the activity. The specific modules are Transport Service (road transport), Warehouse (packaged-goods warehouses), Tank Cleaning (tank cleaning stations), Rail and ESAD (European Single Assessment Document, for chemical distributors).

The questionnaires cover QHSE aspects (quality, safety, health and environment) and social responsibility. Choosing the right modules is the first step in preparing, because it determines which evidence you will need to gather.

How to prepare step by step

Preparing for an SQAS assessment is essentially about organising and evidencing what you already do well and closing the gaps before the assessor arrives. These are the steps:

1. Identify the applicable modules for your activity. It will almost always be Core plus one or more specific modules (for example, Core + Transport Service for a road transport company).
2. Review the current SQAS questionnaire and run a self-assessment or gap analysis. Compare each question with your real situation and pinpoint where you fall short.
3. Document your management system: safety, quality and environmental procedures, training plans, fleet or warehouse maintenance, emergency management and social responsibility. If you already run systems based on ISO 9001 or ISO 14001, build on them.
4. Implement and update records and evidence. The assessor does not score intentions but proof: training records, maintenance logs, incident reports, internal controls and audits.
5. Train the staff involved, from drivers or warehouse operators to safety and quality managers, so they know the procedures and where the records are.
6. Hire a CEFIC-accredited assessor for the module type you need and schedule the on-site assessment. The assessor will walk through your facilities and review real documentation and practices.
7. Work on the report with an action plan. After the assessment you receive a detailed report; turn it into a prioritised improvement plan and share it with the chemical customers who request it.
8. Reassess within three years. A repeat assessment must be carried out after three years at the latest, so plan the next one ahead to keep your report current in the database.

The assessors are trained and accredited by CEFIC per module type, and their quality is monitored so that assessments stay uniform across Europe. Completed reports are stored in the SQAS online database, which member chemical companies query to assess their providers.

SQAS, safety and sustainability

SQAS links operational safety with sustainability because it jointly assesses quality, safety, health, environment and social responsibility. For chemical companies it is a due diligence tool over their logistics providers, and for the provider it is a way to demonstrate solid performance and credible traceability.

That said, it should not be over-interpreted: SQAS does not measure the carbon footprint. It is a natural complement, not a substitute, to the frameworks that do quantify emissions from sustainable transport, such as the ISO 14083 standard or the GLEC Framework. A provider can hold a good SQAS report and also calculate and reduce the emissions of its services: two sides of safer, more sustainable chemical logistics.

If what you are after is a tool to manage the data around your assessment, be clear that this is different from the scheme itself: you can rely on software to manage SQAS information, but the assessment itself is always carried out by an accredited assessor.

Frequently asked questions

Is SQAS a certification?

No. SQAS is an assessment system: an independent CEFIC-accredited assessor evaluates the company and produces a report. There is no pass or fail certificate; each chemical company interprets and scores the report against its own criteria.

How often does the SQAS assessment need renewing?

A repeat assessment must be carried out after three years at the latest. In practice this means results stay current for about three years, so it is wise to plan the next assessment ahead.

Is SQAS a software?

No. SQAS is a CEFIC assessment scheme, not a software program. Separately, there are software tools that help you organise the documentation and data around your assessment; that is a distinct aid, not SQAS itself.

Measure and reduce your logistics footprint with Manglai

While SQAS assesses your safety and quality performance, measuring and reducing the environmental footprint of your logistics services strengthens the other half of the equation. Manglai helps companies calculate the carbon footprint of their services and transport with frameworks such as ISO 14083, so you can show your chemical customers not just a good SQAS report but also solid data on your environmental performance.