Concrete actions

EPC Groupe has developed some concrete and novel ideas in the area of environmental protection:

• Near the EPC France building, a lagoon has treated industrial wastewater for over a century. The silver carp reintroduced in this lagoon are a testament to the purity of the water. The company also aims to obtain ISO 14001 certification by 2012.

• On the same site, a plan to install tens of hectares of solar panels is currently being studied. The Group’s environment subsidiary Diogen is leading on this project.

• In the United Kingdom, EPC UK Additives has been granted IIPC by the Environment Agency. This subsidiary works closely with the Essex Wildlife Trust to protect the island on which it is located, which has been designated as a “site of special scientific interest”. The numerous seals, owls and a very rare species of moth found along this coast are living proof of our respect for the environment.

EPC Groupe › environment

The concept of sustainable development and the environment is made complex by individuals varying interpretation. EPC Groupe has developed its own philosophy and implements concrete environmental protection solutions.

Sustainable development is a process which combines:

• Human development,
• Respect for the natural environment,
• Guaranteed economic growth.

This process attains a balance over time through the choice of measured actions which incorporate all three pillars in order to achieve full and sustainable success.

The company is structured to meet this major requirement. Since 2006 it has adopted a corporate-level Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) policy to coordinate all actions undertaken in its 44 subsidiaries, thus guaranteeing a healthy and safe environment for all parties concerned.

Within this structure, all HSE managers of the Group’s subsidiaries report to two area managers who, in turn, are supervised by the HSE director.

The approach to safety which is at the heart of the company’s ethos provides a basis for standardising practices and behaviour in all subsidiaries, guaranteeing the future integration of environmental targets which will reinforce the Group’s requirements in terms of sustainable development.

At the Human Resource level, the Projected Job and Skill Management policy enables employees’ potential to be effectively matched to the characteristics of each job (skills, risks, ergonomics, stress, autonomy, etc.). A value charter is also supplied to each new recruit.