The certification process

Why CNES undertook the ISO 14001 certification process

‘The concept is valid no matter what the certification involves', replied Gilbert Blondet-Gonté, Assistant Director in charge of Range Safety and Protection of the Environment at CNES/CSG. 'In any particular field, this involves regular assessment with respect to an acknowledged reference and an undertaking to comply with regulations by working in a particular way.’

‘As for any industry, the activity at CSG affects the environment and thus has to be evaluated continually. The ISO 14001 process has the effect of emphasising the positive impact of Space exploration by highlighting the different preventive measures taken. This requires that all CNES/CSG employees gradually begin taking the environment into account. Not everything is perfect. But we do have to control this impact on the environment and rectify problems as soon as possible in order to reduce risks drastically. The principal activity of the Guiana Space Centre for the last forty years, namely launches, implies that CNES is able to control specific risks.’

Towards integrated certification

Following two annual ISO 14001 audits, the next audit will take place in May 2008, and this time, CNES/CSG should be ‘re-certified’ for three years. This will be taking place at the same time as the re-certification process for ISO 9001. Up to now, the auditors have confirmed compliance with the standard. The biggest task lies in monitoring regulations and analysing procedures in relation to them. The environment has to be taken in a global context: each day, we are working on safety, the environment and quality. This is an integrated management process whose final objective is to create a reference integrating these three fundamental aspects of the industry. For the moment, we are considering the possibility of working towards ISO 18001 certification for safety in the workplace.

'Each gesture counts'

This slogan, in addition to the slogan 'Reaching Space without losing the Earth' was seen everywhere at CSG during the ISO 14001 certification campaign. There were posters in all of the buildings, stickers near switches, conveying a clear message, requiring that every one get involved to make a habit of simple gestures. All employees were asked to reduce consumption of energy, water and paper and also to recycle batteries and ink cartridges by depositing them in small retrieval bins installed all over the Space Base. The result was that in 2006, 768 kg of batteries and 1923 kg of printer consumables were collected, against respectively 653 kg and 1468 kg in 2005. In the Technical Centre, water consumption dropped by 50% in one year following the repair of a leak in the iced water generating unit.

At the same time, a module for raising awareness of the Environment enriched the Safety training undertaken each year by each employee on the base. Recently, the hundreds of general faxes reaching fax machines in all departments, were eliminated and replaced by e-mails. Furthermore, many employees adopted an automatic signature at the bottom of their e-mails, consisting of two small lines encouraging others to only print the document received if it is absolutely necessary and if possible on scrap paper of which one side has already been used.

The employees at the CSG have become aware of the need to recycle: the battery bins are always having to be emptied. Likewise, the use of retaining tanks has become a habit. The awareness campaigns are regularly maintained through the internal communication Department to reinforce these environment-friendly gestures.

ISO 14001 and manufacturers on the base

The seven members of the Communauté Industrielle Spatiale de Guyane* have undertaken their own environmental process. Companies working on the Base who are under contract to CNES/CSG and which participate in its activity, are directly involved with the certification process. The application of the ISO 14001 standard is covered by a specific clause in Industrial Contracts. These are service and exploitation contracts: the CSG supplies the tools and asks them to mobilise particular resources in order to achieve the objectives, all of which are related. The inclusion of this standard as an obligation in industrial contracts gets manufacturers involved with the process and they may also have useful ideas to put forward.

* CISG: Air Liquide Spatial Guyane, Arianespace, Astrium, CNES/CSG, Europropulsion, Snecma, Regulus, with ESA as observer