METALWORKING LUBRICANTS
The UKLA Metalworking Fluid Product Stewardship Group’s 25th anniversary
David Wright, Director General, UKLA
This year we are marking the occasion of the 25th anniversary for the UKLA Metalworking Fluid Product Stewardship group since its inception in the year 2000.
The scope of the group at the time was that current legislation within the European Union required both manufacturers and suppliers of MWF’s (metalworking fluids) to provide products that were both safe to use and ecologically acceptable.
There was an increasing emphasis on workplace- related health and safety matters, and, since it was believed that this trend was likely to continue, there was an increasing likelihood that future legislation and regulation would seek to influence the formulatory methodology of these already complex products to a greater and greater extent.
As a result of these concerns, and in order to promote positively the technological advancements of this sector of the lubricants industry, the British Lubricants Federation (BLF) sought to establish a Metalworking Fluid Product Stewardship Group with the support of the Health & Safety Executive.
Rob Stubbs, formerly of Polartech was instrumental in establishing the group. ‘The starting point for the
BLF (British Lubricants Federation) MWFPSG was a conversation I had with David Neadle in the late 90’s about issues I had been seeing on my travels in North America associated with MWF Health and Safety (H&S) especially in the automotive industry where unions were particularly active. ILMA had formed a group to protect the lubricant industry’s interests and I was concerned that some of the issues could manifest themselves in Europe.
We also felt that there was an increasing level of regulatory activity especially impacting on MWFs in Europe and that we needed to have an industry voice that could engage in a non-competitive way with regulators, government bodies and other interested parties. REACH, the Biocides Regulations and pressure on amines and boric acid were all issues coming to the fore.
It should also be remembered that at this time the internet was still in its infancy and its was often especially difficult for small and medium sized companies to attain much of the relevant information that we access so easily these days.
At the time, while many of these issues were European based, we felt it would be very difficult to
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.188 AUGUST 2025 47
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