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SUSTAINABILITY AT AS ARBEITSSCHUTZ
The word supply chain law has been bandied about in the press for months, at the same time causing uncertainty for many companies. The Supply Chain Act, in short, regulates corporate responsibility, according to which human rights must be respected in global supply chains. In 2023, we are not yet covered by the law, but we are already implementing many of the requirements placed on companies. We are also doing everything necessary to fully implement the due diligence obligations regulated by law. We have been an amfori BSCI member since 1 April 2023. Through this association, companies are supported in establishing an ethical supply chain. We have also set the goal that by 2025 we will only work with suppliers in the Far East who are BSCI-audited or have an equivalently recognised standard.
Even when AS Arbeitsschutz was founded, the focus was on sustainable development of the company. Quality instead of quantity is still important to us. Thanks to this basic idea, we have grown continuously. Sustainability as a topic is firmly implemented in our company, which is why we have set our vision "Our goal is to protect people's health as well as the environment and to make life easier". It is therefore not only important to us to offer the highest quality and value for money in line with the market, but also everything behind it!
Code of Conduct
Our Code of Conduct speaks to our desire to create rules so that we face our business partners with trust, teamwork, honesty and respect. We are convinced that all companies are made up of people who have different and individual needs. They must be valued by companies and should therefore work for equal opportunities for their employees. These four principles form our Code of Conduct:
✓ Management practices that respect all employees and their rights
✓ A safe and healthy workplace
✓ Safer products for all business partners
✓ Negative effects on the environment are minimised
Certified quality and environmental management according to ISO 9001 and ISO 19004
Many years after ISO 9001, we have had our management system certified. This describes the international standard for quality management systems.
In addition, we have also been certified according to the environmental management standard ISO 14001 since 2023, which we are proud of!
amfori BSCI member
The amfori BSCI Code of Conduct also applies alongside our internal Code of Conduct. It is a more comprehensive commitment document that amfori members and their business partners can use to conduct due diligence on human rights and environmental protection in their global supply chains.
✓ Explanation of the human rights of the United Nations (UN)
✓ Recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO)
✓ UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP)
✓ For multinational enterprises: OECD Guidelines
✓ UN Principles for Business and for Children's Rights
Silber Medal by EcoVadis
AS Arbeitsschutz has been awarded the EcoVadis Silver Medal since October 2022. This puts us among the most sustainable companies audited (top 20%). Since its foundation in 2007, EcoVadis has been the most reliable and largest provider of sustainability assessments of companies worldwide. Over 100,00 companies have already been assessed.
Environmental protection guideline of AS Arbeitsschutz
The aim of AS Arbeitsschutz GmbH is to make a major contribution to the protection of our environment. Every entrepreneurial action should happen in harmony with nature. In order to realise our intention, we have established environmental guidelines as a binding part of our business policy.
Core standards in our company
We have developed core standards that build on and complement our guiding principles. Our standards are the starting point for close and trusting cooperation. They can be divided into these areas:
✓Aspects of social ethics
✓Restricted and/or prohibited ingredients
✓Sustainability with regard to ecology
SUSTAINABILITY IN OUR PRODUCTION FACILITIES
We consider it very important to work with production partners who have certain certifications and audits. Human and labour rights of the employees should be respected, as well as the safety of the raw materials. This is ensured, for example, by the BSCI audit, SA8000 and OEKO-Tex certification. The company's infrastructures, e.g. water treatment or the provision of energy, are audited by us. These points are included in the evaluation of the company.
Protecting people's health as well as the environment and making life easier - these are our main goals in everything we do. Our multi-level quality controls constantly check the requirements of our products, such as clothing, safety shoes or protective gloves.
You can rely on that with us:
✓ Productions that are certified or audited
✓ Quality testing
✓ Sustainability
Exemplary procedure:
→ Inspection of starting materials
→ Finished goods are inspected
→ Goods are transported to the Bedburg central warehouse
→ Product management carries out incoming goods inspection
→ Release for sale
COMPANY
Quality is our promise: We want to develop brand awareness and make our brand value tangible. Sustainable optimisations and strict quality controls have always been carried out by us.
With these measures we want to make our company even more sustainable:
- Plastic waste is reduced by eliminating individual packaging
- Natural fibre instead of plastic for our new hangtags
- More and more paper is eliminated from information brochures
- Alternatively a digital catalogue
- Digital archiving
- Equipment (PC, printer, forklift trucks, etc.) is switched off when inactive
- Plastic shipping bags and sacks are avoided, cardboard boxes are reused
- Unofficial papers are printed on both sides and/or reused as scratch paper.
Our products - safely packaged sustainably
We are constantly thinking about how we can package and produce our products even more sustainably. In 2019, we took a big, voluntary step: all individual packaging for protective gloves (except chemical protective gloves) has been eliminated. This allows us to banish a considerable amount of plastic waste, helping to reduce plastic production. One plastic bag may not be much, but often mass makes all the difference.
ENGAGEMENT
As a medium-sized company in the Rhineland, we not only create jobs here in our region, but also provide support for various projects - regionally, supra-regionally or globally.
People and actions that drive change always have a place in our hearts. We have already supported the local food bank, but also fundraising campaigns for Ghana. We are happy to support people and their projects with donations in cash and in kind and are impressed by great ideas and actions.
WE SEE GREEN
Protecting the environment concerns us all - whether professionally or privately. The rethinking does not stop at the market. Often, users are also interested in the origin of the product and under what conditions it was produced. Working in a resource-conserving way definitely takes more effort. We gladly accept the effort in order to do something good for people and the environment and to leave a liveable earth for future generations.
We want our supply chain actions to make a difference. That's why our actions don't end in our own operations. We have ISO 14001 certification, a silver award from EcoVadis and are members of amfori BSCI. As a result, we have implemented and initiated many projects that we would like to further integrate into our business.
We consider sustainable action to be just as important as economic action. We check every new project in our company for economic and ecological effects. We check new suppliers for the quality of their products, their ability to deliver and also for sustainable and social standards. Only then is it possible to do business with us.
Our task force keeps an eye on the company's need for optimisation with regard to sustainability. It talks openly with the management about the issues and their implementation.e summarises what is particularly important to us and what we will continue to work on. Take us at our word.
Thank you very much!