foundation as to why they chose to implement ISO 14001. One of their six values
... Conduct ISO 14001 awareness training so all staff members understand ISO ...
How Affinity Health Systems’ ISO 14001 Environmental Management System resulted in high impact performance.
Company Overview: Affinity Health System is a faith-based regional health care network. Their mission, values and promise of personalized care patients are rooted in environmental stewardship. They recognize and accept their role in creating a healthy future by lessening their ecological footprint and striving for sustainable development. Affinity has one of the greenest portfolios of healthcare buildings in the United States. They have benchmarked energy usage within their three hospitals and over 26 clinics, and they look at their carbon footprint very rigorously. Many of their facilities are Energy Star rated, which means within the healthcare industry they are rated in top 25% of energy consumption. In addition, their 10th LEED Certified project will be completed this year.
Challenge: Affinity Health System’s mission and values are the foundation as to why they chose to implement ISO 14001. One of their six values is Stewardship – utilizing resources wisely today to continue their mission tomorrow is embedded in their culture, and it has been a part of their corporate heritage. Affinity Healthcare System was looking for a driver to help alleviate compliance issues – in particular for their hospitals – such as:
▪▪ Determining their status and compliance if they are large quantity generator (lqg) or a small quantity generator (sqg)
▪▪ Reducing Medical Waste ▪▪ Elimination of styrofoam ▪▪ Reduce pharmaceuticals waste ▪▪ Drill and test spill response plan ▪▪ Energy conservation measures
Affinity Health System volunteers contribute to the Extreme Makeover building project in Neenah, WI.
Affininty was looking for a driver that would help them increase awareness within their environmental surroundings while linking all departments, existing business strategy/goals and culture to move beyond compliance in their journey of continuous improvement.
2 Summit Park, Suite 425
Cleveland, Ohio, 44131
Tel: 877.426.0714
800.465.3717
[email protected]
www.saiglobal.com
SAI Global Customer Success Story | Affinity Health Systems
Solution: Affinity Health System’s environmental management system was several years in the making. It started with an extraordinary vision from Gary Kusnierz, VP of Performance Excellence, a robust cross functional team from various aspects of the organization, and internal staff taking it upon themselves to be environmental champions. All parties working together to help drive environmental performance. Implementing an environmental management system (EMS) helped them recognize current state issues. They became fully aware of their surroundings on an environmental level, as well as an increased awareness of their present state in order to design the best future state for their organization. Armed with a commitment from top management and a dedicated process improvement team of environmental champions, Affinity Health System focused on planning and developing a robust ISO 14001 environmental management system.
AFFINITY HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS - STEPS TO ISO 14001 SUCCESS Looking back, Affinity Health System has identified several efforts that were critical to their success:
▪▪ Understanding what ISO 14001 requires of your organization. ▪▪ Map out current state, and understand the issues present today to design a future state, by establishing baseline information to understand current state vs. compliance audit for better understanding or regulatory requirements.
▪▪ Develop environmental objectives and tie them to environmental aspects and impacts.
▪▪ Tailor as much of the standard to the culture of your
organization which alleviates the language barrier of ISO 14001.
▪▪ Don’t re-invent the wheel, align existing resources to conform to standards and measure effectiveness.
▪▪ Have fun with your implementation, let employees understand
organizational goals and how their role impacts overall results. Conduct In-house ISO 14001 Internal Auditor training for environmental champions and staff.
▪▪ Conduct ISO 14001 awareness training so all staff members understand ISO 14001 requirements.
▪▪ Conduct a gap analysis to determine where improvements or enhancements need to be made. ▪▪ Create tools to support environmental goals and recognize employee efforts. Compliance Audits and Internal Audits are essential, and are an excellent way to maintain the continuous improvement cycle.
▪▪ An EMS is more effective the more it matures, it’s not an overnight process. Planning is required before launching a formal program. ▪▪ Communication Plan - Develop a creative identity for your Environmental Management System. ▪▪ Continual awareness and buy in from staff is essential - including cross functional teams, environmental champions, environmental policy, staff training, intranet webpage and posters.
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This exciting achievement not only affirms our commitment to continuous improvement, but it helps us understand our ecological footprint in health care as we strive to perform beyond compliance,” – Gary Kusnierz, Vice President of Performance Excellence for Affinity Health System.
2 Summit Park, Suite 425
Cleveland, Ohio, 44131
Tel: 877.426.0714
800.465.3717
[email protected]
www.saiglobal.com
SAI Global Customer Success Story | Affinity Health Systems
SAI Global was initially recommended as the auditing and certification body to work with, but Affinity still conducted a review of other providers. It was clear very quickly as to why SAI Global came highly recommended.
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SAI Global was the right partner for us - the quality of staff involved was exceptional. When we met with SAI Global auditors it provided a real eye opener to the flexibility of the ISO 14001 process; we reviewed our process and obtained solutions tailored to existing systems. We felt we spoke the same language which was key in the certification process. Most importantly, SAI Global took the time to understand our organization and our continuous improvement culture. Overall, the level of quality, professionalism and humanity of SAI Global auditors was extraordinary.” – Iqbal Mian, Sustainability Team Leader.
The amount of creativity driving the development of our environmental management system is one of the unanticipated benefits.” – Gary Kusnierz, Vice President of Performance Excellence for Affinity
THE RESULTS HAVE GARNERED AN ISO 14001 CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION AT ST. ELIZABETH HOSPITAL AS OF FEBRUARY 13TH, 2012. This means that Affinity Health System operates an environmental management system that analyzes all operations and services within their influential control, and attempts to reduce impact to people and planet to advance prosperity of their community.
▪▪ Over the course of implementing ISO 14001, employee engagement results are up 15% over the past 5 years. ▪▪ 91% staff exposure to sustainability initiatives and understanding the role they play. ▪▪ Over 20 environmental champions – employees with ISO 14001 auditor training to assess environmental waste and compliance. ▪▪ Over 15 environmental events executed. ▪▪ 5 “s” events of all hazardous waste areas (sort, straighten, sweep, standardize and sustain), energy conservation teams, flowcharting of pharmaceutical waste, dumpster diving for food waste, etc.
▪▪ Creation of 15 environmental objectives (including the elimination of styrofoam, determining small quantity generator (sqg) or large
quantity generator(lqg) status, reducing pharmaceuticals, drill and test spill response plan, energy conservation measures and more).
SAI Global, North America’s leading management system registrar, has certified facilities all over the world and St. Elizabeth Hospital is proud to be their first hospital in the United States that SAI Global has certified to conform to world standards relating to the environment
2 Summit Park, Suite 425
Cleveland, Ohio, 44131
Tel: 877.426.0714
800.465.3717
[email protected]
www.saiglobal.com
