Vestre Viken hospital trust certified to ISO 14001
DNV GL has certified Vestre Viken Hospital Trust’s environmental management system according to the ISO 14001 environmental management standard. This certification underlines the hospital trust’s commitment to sustainability and to safeguard lives and health.
The certification includes the trust’s hospitals in Ringerike, Drammen, Bærum, Kongsberg and Hallingdal.
“A considerable amount of work has been put into getting our management system in place. It is encouraging to reach the first leg of this relay. I am convinced that we will contribute to the environment around us through our daily work and efforts. We must all carry our own in terms of sustainability. I believe we are well on our way and we are looking forward to our continued cooperation with DNV GL,” said Nils Fr. Wisløff, Managing Director, when he received the certificate on behalf of Vestre Viken Hospital Trust.
Continuous improvement
All hospitals have activities that affect the outside environment. The environmental management system will ensure a reduction of waist, noise and smells and less use of energy. The environmental management system contributes to continuous improvement and to achieve optimal operation of processes that can harm the environment.
“In order to reduce the environmental impact on the outside environment it is important to control and prioritize the most important environmental aspects. With an environmental management system in place and certification to the international ISO 14001 standard Vestre Viken Hospital Trust now has a systematic method to identify and reduce negative impact on the environment,” says Morten Taraldsvik, Lead Auditor in DNV GL.
A sustainable organization
“The environmental management system helps the organizations to focus on improving the areas that have been identified as the most important ones and thereby continuously reduce the effect on the outside environment,” says Karin Stensmyren Monsen, country manager of DNV GL – Business Assurance in Norway. “We congratulate Vestre Viken Hospital Trust with a formidable job and I like to underline that this work will also strengthen their efforts to be a sustainable organization. Through certification they have achieved acknowledgement of their efforts and also accepted the obligation to move forward with the continuous improvement.”
The new versions of ISO 14001 and 9001 will be more interrelated; making it easier to establish a management system according to the quality management system standard – ISO 9001. Bærum Hospital, one of Vestre Viken Hospital Trust’s hospitals, is already ISO 9001 certified. All together these two certifications will lay the ground for the trust’s position as the first Norwegian hospital trust to be certified for quality.
ISO 14001 certification
The ISO 14001 standard is an internationally renowned standard for environmental management developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) based on two concepts: Continuous improvement and compliance to rules and regulations. The environmental management system at Vestre Viken Hospital Trust is certified according to the ISO 14001 standard, resulting in it being measured against and in adherence with the standard for good environmental management. Because the certification has been done by a third party – DNV GL – the customers know that they can rely on Vestre Viken Hospital Trust working to reduce the environmental impact of their organization, products and services to a minimum.
About Vestre Viken
Vestre Viken Hospital Trust has approximately 9500 employees and provides hospital services and special health care services for 470,000 people in 26 municipalities. It is owned by Helse Sør-Øst and was established 1 July 2009 when Ringerike hospital, Buskerud hospital (now called Drammen hospital), Asker & Bærum hospital (now called Bærum hospital), and Kongsberg hospital were merged into a single hospital trust. Services are provided in close cooperation with the municipal primary health care services.