Our 'Green' credentials

At AXA PPP healthcare we recognise the need to protect and maintain the environment for the future. Our objective is to minimise or reverse our negative impacts through managing our environmental risks and promoting awareness to all of our employees.

Our Environmental Management System was accredited to ISO 14001 during December 2008, providing an internationally recognised measure of our procedures and desire to continuously improve on environmental performance.

Between 2007 and 2009 we reduced our use of:

• electricity by over 8%
• gas by 25%
• water by 27%

How we’re making a difference

Carbon footprint

We have measured our Carbon Footprint and are working to reduce it year on year through housekeeping initiatives and capital investment in plant and equipment in our buildings. We have installed Photovoltaic solar panels which are generating 15,000 kilowatt (kw) hours of electricity per year and provide carbon neutral lighting to our main car park areas.

Paper

Our target for 2009 was to increase the use of sustainably sourced paper. To do this we use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved paper sources, using 50% recycled paper for our literature and all our copying and local printing.

Electricity

By fitting time clocks to service equipment we have reduced our electricity usage by 17,000kw saving £9,000 in the first full year. We have installed movement sensors for lighting when rooms are not used. Our installation of Dyson Airblade hand dryers across all our office sites, use 83% less energy than conventional hand dryers.

Gas

The timers on our gas supplies have been adjusted to turn off during out of office hours.

Waste management

We recycle paper, cardboard, plastic, aluminium cans, batteries, drink cups and all confidential waste. We have removed paper hand towels from the toilets, providing a saving of £25,000 over five years and reducing our landfill by 100 sacks per day.

Transport

We currently have ‘car share’ and ‘cycle to work’ schemes in place, and have replaced our diesel powered local delivery vehicles with electrically powered vans. We have introduced a green travel policy.

Building utilities

Solar reflective film has recently been applied to some of our windows, and our air conditioning plant is in a five to seven year replacement programme to ensure optimum efficiency.

Extranets

To actively promote green issues with our large Corporate clients we have introduced extranets to substitute paper handbooks and our Directory of Hospitals.