Responsibility towards our stakeholders is an integral part of our company’s values, operating methods, management and day-to-day work. We are committed to continuously developing our responsibility and engaging in open dialogue with our stakeholders. Last year, we joined the UN Global Compact sustainability initiative.
Our responsibility efforts are based on economic, social and environmental responsibility as well as good corporate governance. In the area of environmental responsibility, our focus in recent years has been on reducing the environmental impacts of production and transport as well as the development of responsible packaging solutions. With regard to responsibility for employees, our focus areas have included the development of job satisfaction and leadership.
We joined the UN Global Compact sustainability initiative
Last year, we joined the UN Global Compact sustainability initiative. By joining the initiative, we committed to observing its ten principles in our strategy, culture and day-to-day operations. The ten principles concern human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. The Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate responsibility initiative, with more than 9,000 participants in over 135 countries. The aim of the Global Compact is to encourage companies to promote globally sustainable business.
Involved in the Responsible Care sustainability program
We are committed to the chemical industry’s international Responsible Care program. Responsible Care is an international sustainability program coordinated in Finland by the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland. The central themes of the program include the sustainable use of natural resources, sustainability and safety of production and products, well-being of the work community and open interaction and cooperation.
The principles guiding our responsibility
Our responsibility efforts in our day-to-day work are guided by a number of policies and principles, such as our environmental policy, quality policy and HR principles. All of our operations are based on our Code of Conduct for employees and suppliers. Our Code of Conduct represents Berner’s values — work, integrity and humanity — as well as the generally accepted guidelines of conduct as documented in the UN Global Compact’s ten principles.
Our operations are certified pursuant to the ISO 9001 quality management certificate, the ISO 14001 environmental management certificate, the ISO 22716 certificate regarding the manufacture and storage of cosmetics and hygiene products (GMP, Good Manufacturing Practices), and a third-party assured ISO 13485 quality system required for the manufacture of healthcare equipment.
Our laboratories in Herttoniemi and Heinävesi are GLP certified by the Finnish Medicines Agency. Defined by the OECD, GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) is intended to produce reliable and sufficiently high-quality laboratory testing for purposes such as use by the public authorities.
Development of responsibility in 2019
In 2019, we will begin the systematic development of our responsibility by conducting a materiality analysis of responsibility. As part of the materiality analysis process, we will also survey our stakeholders’ views on what Berner’s responsibility priorities should be. The materiality analysis will help us focus our responsibility efforts and reporting on the themes of economic, social and environmental responsibility that are the most material to us.