Sørlandet Hospital Trust wishes to contribute to Norway achieving its climate and environmental goals. Environmental certification according to the ISO14001:2015 standard is a visible proof of an organization working to protect the environment and that government requirements are met. Green hospital is the specialist healthcare services' response to environmental and climate challenges.
Sørlandet Hospital Trust is environmentally certified
Sørlandet Hospital Trust takes environmental and climate challenges seriously. On September 11, 2014, the trust was environmentally certified, thereby fulfilling the requirement from the Ministry of Health and Care Services to be certified according toISO 14001by the end of 2014. The certificate confirms that our system complies with an internationally recognized standard for good environmental management and that the hospital trust is actively working to reduce environmental impacts to a minimum. Since then, we have annual audits. We were last recertified according to ISO14001:2015 in February 2018.
Environmental certification is not the final goal, but an important tool in the hospital trust's environmental work. Sørlandet Hospital Trust continuously works to reduce environmental impact, and we have conducted a mapping of how we impact the external environment. The result is that we have a significant impact in the following areas:
Energy consumption
Transport
Waste generation and handling
Consumption of equipment, chemicals and pharmaceuticals
Catering and production of food
Reduce specific energy consumption adjusted for degree days by 1% per year
Install charging stations for future electric/hybrid service vehicles
3% reduction in business travel by air compared to 2014
Increase the general sorting rate to 60%
Reduce hazardous waste by 25% compared to 2016
Remain free from all use of palm oil and palm-containing products
Good patient care and patient safety are the cornerstones of our operations. This is a social responsibility that we want to fulfill with minimal negative impact on the external environment. As a visible proof of this, Sørlandet Hospital Trust HF was environmentally certified according to the ISO 14001 standard in 2014. In the further environmental work, we will work to achieve our own goals in the hospital trust, while also working to underpin national and regional guidelines for hospital trusts.
We are committed to complying with current legislation and regulations, and we consider relevant environmental legislation as a minimum requirement. Sørlandet Hospital Trust wishes to address global environmental issues through local actions. We want to achieve this through continuous improvement of our environmental work on the way to a green hospital and a green future.
The hospital's management, in collaboration with all employees, shall perform their work tasks with minimal negative impact on the external environment. We have a clear ambition for the coming years to improve our operations to the benefit of patients, employees and the external environment.