Catalonian environment minister confirms HARTMANN’s exemplary environmental management
HARTMANN’s production site at Mataró, Spain awarded EMAS II and ISO 14001 environmental certification.
As a health sector company, HARTMANN feels a particular responsibility to continually improve the quality of people’s lives. Accordingly, a thoughtful and sparing approach to natural resources is an important part of our self-image. Environmental protection at work makes an important contribution to this – both at head office and at the company’s sites throughout the world. Because of this, the companies in the HARTMANN GROUP have their environmental management monitored regularly by independent organizations. HARTMANN companies in eigth countries with 19 sites have now received certification. The site in Mataró, Spain was commended for its exemplary environmental management.
On January 12, 2005, the company’s Spanish subsidiary, PAUL HARTMANN S.A. in Mataró, was presented with EMAS II certification by the Catalonian environment minister, Salvador Milà. Plasters for the entire HARTMANN GROUP are manufactured in Mataró.
This is particularly gratifying for the company because it is actually something known as re-certification. In 2005 for the first time there is a new integrated certification procedure for the fields of environment and quality which was conducted on the basis of both ISO 9000 and ISO 14001.
The catalogue of requirements to be fulfilled in advance before receiving certification is extensive. Checks are made not only on a company’s environment management programmes and its measurable objectives but also on environment-relevant installations and the functionality of the emergency management system. Equally important is adhering to the tested criteria with regard to staff qualification, for example, in the case of staff training courses aimed at developing an awareness of environmental issues, establishing competence centres and training staff in internal and external communication of environment-related issues.
Because they are internationally valid standards, EMAS II and ISO 14001 certification can have a particular bearing on the competitive tender business aimed at winning contracts. The reason: certification means reliability and engenders trust on the part of the customer, vis-à-vis authorities and, not least, in the public sphere.
