French winners in sustainability awards

29th of September 2015
French winners in sustainability awards

News of an industry award ceremony in France from ECJ reporter Christian Bouzols.

The French Federation of cleaning contractors FEP presented its Sustainable Development awards recently in Paris. Covering the year 2014-15, these awards went to five companies.

In the Employee Skill Development category, the winner was a small company called Bruno Fradin with19 employees which since 2007 has given every member of its staff personal mentoring adjusted to the abilities and expectations of each one. Results have amply proved the value of this approach as all the employees are totally committed to their work and there it no staff turnover. A high degree of cohesion has been established within the business and this has led to its customers having the highest regards for the skills of its people.

In the Accident Prevention category the winner was Rhonis, a business of 309 employees. This firm has put into place various measures to prevent musculoskeletal injuries. In particular it has employed an on-site occupational physician, and implemented training under the guidance of an osteopath. Additionally, many training sessions have been held on work-related risks and hazardous products. Not a single day of sickness leave has been recorded during 2013 and 2014, and staff turnover has fallen from 12 per cent in 2013 to three per cent in 2014. The rate of customer satisfaction reached 94 per cent in 2014.

In the Jury Special Award, two companies got the vote: GSF (29,000 employees) and SNEG (250 employees). GSF has developed an environmental calculator for quantifying the impact on the environment of one month’s cleaning work and for determining the measures needed to reduce these impacts. In order to reduce muscular injuries linked to cleaning activities, GSF has published an in-house magazine since 2011 informing its readers of the latest ergonomic improvements to cleaning equipment. And it set up a special health simulation unit to train inspectors in their duties involving biological cleaning in hospital environments.

SNEG has formed a training plan in which 114 workers were enrolled in 2012-13 to learn about accident prevention and safety. The head of quality assurance obtained a diploma in prevention leadership for muscle injuries in 2014. The company also involved the health and safety committee of a client company in order to validate measures that had been taken to reduce the work-related risks to a female employee. On the environmental front, SNEG ensures the recycling of papers, boxes and cartridges at its headquarters, uses selective methods for sorting and recycling empty cans, and limits water consumption.

The fifth winning company, Saturne Services (618 employees) received the Special Jury Award under the heading Global Approach to Company Social Responsibility. This firm has trained its people and taken measures in keeping with FEP’s recommendations by drafting a Company Social Responsibility charter and observing the provisions of the United Nations Global Compact. It gave top priority to training in 2014, having launched a programme involving 873 hours of training to 21 per cent of the workforce. It has trained employees in the best cleaning techniques in terms of environmental impact (use of eco-labelled products, dosing of products, learning
new methods, etc).

 

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