FSA becomes advocate for seal environmental policies

HOUSTON—After two years of retooling, the Fluid Sealing Association has remade itself as an advocate for effective environmental compliance policies involving the sealing device industry, the FSA announced.

The Wayne, Pa.-based organization unveiled its new focus this April at its Spring Technical Meetings in Houston, it said in an April 24 news release.

“The FSA has traditionally been known as a technical standards group,” said FSA President Mike Shorts in the news release. “But there is a representation gap from industry leaders to effectively influence environmental compliance policies with respect to sealing devices.”

According to the release, the FSA seeks to become the trade association recognized as the expert in its subject, as well as a technical leader advocating and influencing environmental compliance policies.

The very function of a sealing device dictated the FSA's change in focus, according to Chris R. Swonger, FSA Government Affairs chairman and senior vice president for government relations at the Washington office of Smiths Group, a global advanced technologies firm.

“The primary role of a sealing device is to seal—to prevent leaks and emissions,” Swonger said. “With the ongoing concerns about climate change, the FSA has much to contribute in this most important area. We share our customers' commitment to upholding high standards of environmental compliance.

“There's a lot we can contribute to environmental policymaking,” he said. “We can tell government regulators what is technically feasible and what is technically challenging, and how seals have evolved.”

The FSA has developed four key strategic points to advance its new role, according to the news release. These are: Influence & Advocate, Educate, Lead and Collaborate.

The association's primary areas of focus will be technology, safety, environmental compliance, quality and best practices for sealing, it said.

“All member companies have unique technologies, which they bring to market every day,” the FSA said. “Through the new efforts of the FSA, member companies can have the added benefit of having their technologies in front of key influencers and policymakers in Washington and the World Trade Organization.”

The FSA's first goal will be to persuade the WTO to include sealing devices in its determinations of Commercial Economic Available Technologies in setting environmental compliance policies, according to Swonger.

The WTO, he explained, has ongoing negotiations to identify technologies that will be defined as environmental goods for the sake of environmental compliance. Seventeen countries, including the U.S., are involved in the negotiations, Swonger said.

“We are presenting the role sealing devices play in preventing leaks and emissions,” he said. The FSA has joined with the European Sealing Association in advocating that seals should be included on the WTO's list, he said.

End-users of sealing devices will benefit just as much as FSA members from the association's new direction, the FSA said.

“The cost of adoption of new technologies is reduced through the FSA's efforts to enhance its education programs and collaborations with mutually beneficial trade associations, standards organizations and educational institutions,” the association said.

The FSA's ultimate goal, according to Swonger, is to raise the level of awareness and recognition of the role sealing devices play in environmental compliance.

“The awareness of sealing devices is relatively low,” he said. “But as we get involved in the WTO, we see the light bulbs turning on.”

Along with awareness of sealing devices, Swonger said, will come recognition of the important engineering jobs performed by technical experts in the sealing device industry, making the world more productive and environmentally sound.

“Our membership looks forward to the dialogue that will be ongoing for quite some time,” he said.