Volkswagen leads the way in environmental awareness

Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) has been awarded the new International Environmental Certification – ISO 14001:2015. The certification was announced by Thomas Bunge, an external auditor from TÜV NORD, who praised VWSA for its health and safety consciousness.

“It must be noted that the Occupational Health and Safety Management System, BS:OHSAS 18001, is well embedded at VWSA, with all employees understanding the importance of the principles of good health and safety practices. This is evident in the results,” says Bunge.

VWSA is one of only five manufacturing plants in the Volkswagen production network to receive this certification in 2016. Furthermore, its efforts to improve its safety, environmental and energy management performance processes were acknowledged by achieving this certification within a year. (Most organisations take two to three years to receive a similar level of compliance.)

In addition, VWSA has also successfully implemented the International Standard on Energy Management, ISO 50001, at its Sales and Marketing offices in Johannesburg – ensuring that the entire VWSA organisation now has a formalised and certified Energy Management System in place.

Thomas Schaefer, chairman and MD of VWSA, says that the company strives to ensure that all of its facilities comply with and adhere to the required standards.

“We are very grateful for the diligent work of our Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental department, as well as all our employees, for their roles in helping our company to receive the certification,” says Schaefer.