From health and safety and fair working practices to sustainability, recycling and ensuring environmental responsibility, legislative compliance has become a key aspect of business activities in all sorts of industries. Our colleagues in France have taken a look at some of the compliance challenges their customers face and at the solutions that Safetykleen France is providing. We hope you find it interesting and helpful, and if you’d like to find out more about the way we handle these challenges in the UK, please do get in touch.
Compliance is generally defined as all actions aimed at complying with laws, regulations and other standards applicable by the company, its managers, its employees and also by all its stakeholders. It covers very different areas such as legal, HR, technical, accounting, tax and environmental.
The main catalysts for this approach are:
- The many regulatory obligations that tend to be increasingly complex and burdensome across jurisdictions, and which give rise to sanctions;
- Risk control (anticipation, prevention, management) that developed with the Sapin 2 law;
- Media coverage of non-compliance and the fear of bad publicity;
- The beliefs and requirements of major customers and/or partners of companies that have been increasing over the years to form a virtuous circle in favor of compliance.
At Safetykleen, compliance issues are subject to a rigorous and proactive approach to better control risks, contribute to the safety and health of our employees and customers, and register as a partner involved in sustainable development. Thus, ensuring compliance with our customers, in the light of the ever-changing legislation, is part of our fundamental principles.
Compliance is an integral part of Safetykleen's philosophy, which is why we are part of a forward-looking and proactive approach to risk management. Through our continuous improvement approach, we ensure that we comply with regulatory requirements in order to deliver high quality and compliant services.
Rémi BOISSON, HSE Engineer, Safetykleen France
Compliance procedures for transport
Companies have a legal responsibility to ensure that the production, storage, transportation, and disposal of waste is done without harming the environment. Safetykleen has a safety advisor for the transport of hazardous materials who ensures that all regulations related to transport of dangerous good comply with legislation.
This advisor holds a CIFMD certificate (Interprofessional Committee for the Development of Training in Transport of Dangerous Goods) and carries out audits and training to ensure that the teams and processes set up by Safetykleen comply with the European Agreement on the International Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR).
Safetykleen also ensures that all the rules relating to the transport of waste for which our customers were responsible are met, in order to allow them to concentrate on their business activities.
A pre-filled BSDD (Dangerous Waste Tracking Border) is also provided for waste recovery to ensure they are in line with regulatory obligations on waste monitoring.
Compliance procedures for the environment
Because Safetykleen integrates environmental issues into its strategy and our activity includes the treatment of so-called hazardous waste, all of our waste management sites are subject to a high standard of waste management regulation. In France, this is achieved through an order that specifies the requirements facilities are expected to meet in terms of protecting the environment (ICPE) and complying with the Environmental Code.
For example, Safetykleen can operate under 2718-1, which corresponds to a “Dangerous Waste Transit, Grouping or Sorting Facility” and 3550, which corresponds to “Temporary Hazardous Waste Storage.”
The requirements arising from these standard are checked during inspection visits carried out by the French Regional Directorate of Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL), and achieving compliance with them allows the French team to more fully support the requirements of customers as they undergo their own process of certification and compliance for the disposal of their waste.
As part of the implementation of an integrated management system, Safetykleen also plans to implement an ISO 14001-compliant Environmental Management System in 2021, which addresses consumer environmental concerns. In particular, this standard seeks to continuously improve the company’s environmental performance by controlling the impacts on the environment in which it operates.
Compliance procedures for security
Safetykleen puts the safety and health of its employees and customers first. That’s why we’ve been working to migrate from the European OHSAS 18001 standard to the international ISO 45001 standard, which defines an expanded scope of occupational health and safety risks and opportunities.
All Safetykleen France/Belgium sites have been ISO 45001 certified since February 2021. This certification of the occupational safety and health management system ensures that we implement the necessary measures to preserve the safety and health of our employees and that our service offering is carried out safely for our customers. This includes several processes of risk analysis, training and awareness of employees, continuous improvement and regulatory monitoring.
In a process of continuous improvement, we are constantly setting new goals, and are currently focused on reducing accidents, both in terms of frequency and severity.
Compliance procedures for our products
Our continual cycle of research and development ensures that many of our chemicals are not classified as hazardous.
Solvent-based degreasers have long been the norm for removing the most stubborn contaminants and dirt. The vapours emitted by these products are harmful to the health of its users, are dangerous if inhaled and have a high content of C.O.V. (Volatile Organic Compounds) and their potential flammability.
As an alternative, Safetykleen offers water-based cleaning fluids that are just as effective and provide a more environmentally friendly and safer solution for our employees and customers.
In addition, all of our products comply with REACH regulations, which are the acronym for “Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals.” REACH is a European Union regulation, which came into force on1 June 2007 andaims to protect human health and the environment from chemical risks, while strengthening the competitiveness of the European Union’s chemical industry.
Safetykleen assesses all risks resulting from the use of our chemical applications and ensures that we take the necessary steps to manage any identified risk in order to guarantee a healthy workspace for its users.
This is also why all our products comply with regulatory labelling with the presence of hazard pictograms and mentions of hazards on machinery and drums, which are defined by the CLP regulation (Classification, Labelling, Packaging). The CLP Regulation, also known as Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 of the European Parliament, sets out the European rules for classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals. This labelling helps to alert users of our products to take all measures to prevent the associated risks, Helping them to preserve safety and health at their location.
All of our products follow an internal and supplier approval process and are accompanied by Safety Data Sheets (SDFs) to further optimize the prevention of risks associated with the use of our products.
To reduce the chemical risk, all our teams are trained and equipped with PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) including gloves, goggles, masks, workwear and safety shoes, and many of our parts washers incorporate PPE in the form of protectives gloves and protective screens to avoid splashing on users.
If you want to improve your organisation’s compliance, care for the environment and guarantee better working conditions for your employees, contact our team of experts now. They’re here to help you assess the risks and explore your parts cleaning needs.
