The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) has announced the formal launch of ChemAlliance, a significant new online compliance assistance service to aid chemical manufacturers and distributors of their regulatory obligations. ChemAlliance can be found on the web at www.chemalliance.org.

Formerly funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ChemAlliance was acquired by SOCMA in May and rebuilt to improve the online center’s content and usability.

“ChemAlliance helps fulfill SOCMA’s efforts to create additional member benefits and broaden our scope of activity to reflect service to the batch, custom, and specialty chemical industry, which began with our name change earlier this year,” said Joe Acker, SOCMA president. “Regulatory mandates are at an all-time high, and so are the challenges companies face to keep up with them. The addition of ChemAlliance to the services SOCMA provides further demonstrates our strong commitment to improved industry performance.”

Among the features ChemAlliance offers include a virtual chemical plant tour, which provides regulatory information and compliance assistance tips for over 20 manufacturing operations within a typical chemical plant. ChemAlliance also includes a regular newsfeed and guest articles on relevant EHS&S topics, an “Ask SOCMA” feature allowing visitors to inquire about regulatory issues, a listing of EHS&S-related events, a detailed glossary of regulatory terms, and much more. Eventually, ChemAlliance will also host webinars and podcasts, which will be archived on the site. SOCMA members will have exclusive access to all portions of this new online resource. However, annual subscriptions will be available to non-members for a fee.

“ChemAlliance is a valuable learning tool for EHS&S managers, whether they are regulatory veterans or are new to the industry,” said Bill Allmond, SOCMA’s vice president of government relations and ChemStewards. “It will be the place compliance managers go to when they need regulatory information and compliance assistance.”

The EPA will continue to serve in a technical advisory role with Battelle, which managed the site from 1996 to 2009. A podcast introducing ChemAlliance and summarizing its features can be found on SOCMA’s Web site by clicking on Podcast.