Supplying preservative-treated wood is a highly competitive business, where sales often come at the expense of quality. The Wood Protection Association explains
how third-party quality schemes can help create demand.
Market research shows that inconsistent treated wood quality and end-user guidance are made worse by low buyer awareness around verifying that wood has been treated correctly for its intended use. As a result, the fitness for purpose of treated wood is being called into question.
In an age where sustainability and climate impact are key factors in choosing one product over another, treated wood should have a distinct advantage, but market perceptions about performance quality undermine its growth potential.
For wood treaters and those who sell preservative-treated wood, moving to third-party quality verification is the only credible way to build end-user confidence and grow demand. It is an objective to which the Wood Protection Association (WPA) and Timber Development UK (TDUK) are totally committed.
Third-party quality schemes work
Evidence from the USA, Canada and Scandinavia shows that independent, third-party verification of treated wood quality is highly credible. Third-party quality schemes have operated for decades in these markets and are recognised as the main factor in sustaining buyer confidence and demand for treated wood.
Suppliers often point to treatment plant operations within the scope of an ISO 9001 certificate as evidence they are treating wood correctly. This is not necessarily the case. ISO 9001 confirms a quality management system in place aimed at consistently producing treated wood. It does not measure or verify the fitness for purpose of a treatment process or treated wood product – that’s the role of a third-party treated wood quality assurance scheme like the WPA Benchmark.
Making the case for accreditation
There are compelling benefits for selling third-party accredited treated wood:
- Objective: Independent of a business and its suppliers, third-party schemes provide credibility and an unbiased approach to assessing compliance with the National Standards for wood preservation. Objective, third-party verification of quality is especially important in supply chains where there are concerns about the performance of a product.
- An expert perspective: The specialised experience and knowledge of independent auditors offer a fresh perspective that can help to improve control of the treatment operations.
- Confidence boosting: Independent evaluation boosts seller and end-user confidence in the fitness for purpose of treated wood. The growth achieved in markets that operate with third-party verification is tangible evidence of this. Selling treated wood that can be trusted adds commercial value and differentiates the supplier from those for whom treated wood performance is not a priority.
- Time, money, and (even) reputation saving: The fresh perspective provided by independent third-party evaluation of treatment processes and individual products can improve operating and marketing effectiveness. Experience shows that the WPA Benchmark scheme also minimises customer complaints relating to the performance of quality-assured products – saving time, costs and potential reputational damage.
- Enhancing ISO 9001 quality management systems: ISO 9001 certification shows operations are consistent but does not certify wood is being treated correctly for its end use. Adding independent verification of treated wood quality enhances ISO certification and demonstrates the unequivocal commitment of a supplier to the twin fundamentals of business success – quality and customer satisfaction.
- Environmentally positive: Unlike man-made materials that consume finite raw materials and lots of energy to convert them into building products, softwood species used to make treated wood products are sustainable. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the environment and lock it up as carbon in finished wood products.
- Nationally relevant: Accredited wood treaters and suppliers are part of a major UK industry-led initiative to differentiate and promote the producers of correctly treated wood from wood treaters where quality and customer satisfaction are not the priority.
- Promotionally beneficial: Selling treated wood that comes with an independent verification of quality is a supply chain game-changer. It’s far superior to the ‘green treated’ wood with no performance provenance that is common to the UK. Treated wood that can be trusted offers a major opportunity for suppliers to grow sales and profitability based on a strategy of quality products and customer satisfaction. The WPA and TDUK are committed to investing in national campaigns to promote wood that is correctly specified and treated for its end-use, but which is also independently quality verified by the WPA Benchmark scheme. Tapping into these promotional messages and materials to meet their own customer communication needs is an added value benefit for suppliers.
- Compliance with the TDUK Code of Practice: Members of TDUK supply over 80% of all the wood products sold in the UK. Its Code of Practice requires that members only sell treated wood that has been produced under a third-party quality assurance scheme for wood that has been factory-impregnated with a preservative. Third-party accreditation provides TDUK with clear evidence of compliance with this membership condition.
Why timber treaters opt for WPA Benchmark accreditation
WPA Benchmark is a third-party quality scheme for treated wood developed in conjunction with wood treaters, preservative suppliers and the Building Research Establishment (BRE). It aims to provide wood treaters with a credible way to tackle concerns about treated wood performance and verify compliance with UK industrial wood preservation standards in BS 8417 and the WPA Code of Practice.
BS 8417: Code of Practice for the Preservation of Wood defines the minimum levels of preservative treatment necessary to ensure the durability of wood in specific end-uses. However, BS 8417 does not provide instruction on how these critical minimum requirements are to be achieved – it points to the WPA Code of Practice: Industrial Wood Preservation to provide the essential guidance in achieving this performance benchmark.
The WPA Benchmark third-party quality scheme operates on the principle that wood consistently treated according to the WPA Code of Practice is a durable material exhibiting the minimum penetration and retention requirements for the relevant end-use and service life. There are two elements to the WPA Benchmark scheme:
- Approved treaters: Accreditation of a wood treater’s operations.
- Approved products: Quality compliance of a specific treated wood product or range of products where performance expectations are a high priority for customers, e.g. ground contact products.
Only WPA Benchmark-approved treaters can be certificated as producers of WPA Benchmark-approved products.
www.thewpa.org.uk/quality-schemes
* This article was originally published in the November/December 2024 issue of TDUK’s Supplying Timber magazine.
