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Activities
IPA works in standing committees and ad-hoc working groups to tackle issues of commom concern and generate information relevant to the industry and stakeholders.
Security Committee
The Security Committee (SecCom, with sub-groups for mining companies and fabricators) unites experts from the membership and discusses topics such as the identification of materials by fingerprinting procedures, safety provisions at their plants and operations as well as the management of thefts. The SecCom provides a platform for interaction with law enforcement bodies on crime trends and modus operandi, pertaining to illegal trafficking of PGM bearing material. Whenever possible, the Security Committee invites law enforcement bodies to participate at its meetings in order to strengthen public-private-partnerships.
Health and Environment Science Committee
The Health and Environment Science Committee (HESCom) works to advance knowledge and understanding of the potential risks of PGM to human health and the environment to support the risk assessment and safe use of PGM based on sound science. HESCom comprises scientific experts from IPA member companies in disciplines including PGM chemistry, Occupational Health, Industrial Hygiene, and Toxicology. HESCom regularly supplements its expertise with that of external global experts in specific fields of relevance to its activities.
HESCom has delivered a number of Environment- and Health-related projects. In particular, in relation to improving understanding of the risks of respiratory allergy in workers exposed to complex halogenated platinum salts (CHPS), and improving the ability to measure and control levels of these chemicals in the workplace. Considerable effort has also been expended on advancing knowledge of the chemical speciation of platinum in the environment, through the development and application of state-of-the-art analytical chemistry techniques, which have demonstrated that levels of CHPS in the environment are extremely low.
The work of the Health and Environment Science Committee is led by different Technical Teams:
- Chemistry & Analytical
- Epidemiology and Health Surveillance
- Toxicology
- Workplace Exposure Characterisation and Control
- Communications
Sustainability Committee
The Sustainability Committee (SusCom, with sub-groups on IRMA, LCA and Scope 3 calculations) serves as a common platform for exchange on sustainability and best practices in the fields of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) issues. It supports the IPA member companies in acting as responsible players through encouraging sustainability thinking and communicating their activities and ESG performance to stakeholders. Within the SusCom, Members openly dicuss their approach towards sustainability auditing in the supply chain and jointly generate life cycle assessment data on the environmental footprint of PGM production that is made available to stakeholders.
The LCA 2017 data set is now available in the Product Solution Sustainability Software (formerly GaBi) and can also be requested by professional users through our LCA data questionnaire. Data is currently being updated on 2022 production year.