Mehiläinen Receives Environmental Management Certification - Environmental Responsibility Means Day-to-day Choices

Mehiläinen has been awarded the Environmental Management System certificate, ISO 14001, which encompasses all of Mehiläinen Oy’s operations nationwide.The environmental viewpoint has been made a fixed part of Mehiläinen’s daily management and everyday activities.In accordance with the environmental certificate granted by Inspecta Certification, Mehiläinen has committed itself to environmentally responsible activities on the principle of continual improvement.

The Mehiläinen staff and management are very happy about this recognition of their environmental work and about receiving the certificate on the eve of the World Environment Day. The UN World Environment Day is celebrated on Saturday, 5^th June 2010. The day’s objective is to raise the issue of the changes that are occurring in our environment.

Mehiläinen’s environmental policy is a part of the Company’s quality management and existing operating system which was certified in 2005 in accordance with the ISO 9001 standard. The realisation and development of the environmental policy at Mehiläinen’s various premises is evaluated annually as a part of the quality assessments that conform to the quality system. To Mehiläinen’s customers, the new Environmental Management certificate is a manifestation of the fact that Mehiläinen’s services are based on activities which are environmentally responsible and support sustainable development.

“We want to take responsibility for the environmental impacts of our activities and strive to reduce the loading factors we have already observed. In our strategic planning, we take into account the environmental effects of business, implement a responsible procurement policy and construct work processes and methods in a way that they reduce environmental load,” explains Personnel and Quality Manager Margita Klemetti. “The most significant environmental effects in Mehiläinen’s operations are connected to the consumption of energy and the creation of waste.”

Mehiläinen’s environmental policy is closely integrated with its existing operating system and Mehiläinen’s values. “One of our four value pairs, caring and taking responsibility, creates an excellent basis also for environmental responsibility and our activities whose aim is sustainable development,” Klemetti continues.

Environmentally responsible activities bond well with the ethically orientated frame of reference of the health care domain. One of the focuses of Mehiläinen’s environmental policy is to increase their staff’s knowledge about the environment. In time, environmental issues will become firmly established as an important part of the Company’s corporate culture. Another aim, once the principles involved in a respectful approach to the environment have been adopted at work, is to expand them with each employee to the world outside work.

For more information, please contact:

Personnel and Quality Manager Margita Klemetti, tel: +358 40 513 5107
Quality Control Chief Jaana Ikonen, tel: +358 400 480 901

Mehiläinen Group is the best known and most highly valued private provider of health care and social services in Finland. Mehiläinen’s nationwide service network offers versatile social and health services for private, corporate and municipal customers. Established in 1909, Mehiläinen has approximately 1,700 employees and 1,900 practitioners. In 2009, the turnover of the Mehiläinen Group was EUR 167 million. Mehiläinen belongs to the Nordic Ambea Group which is one of Europe’s largest providers of health and nursing services.