Environment

At Siemens Healthineers, we value our stakeholders and are aware of the impact our operations might have on them and the environment. We place particular importance on the wellbeing of our employees and others affected by our activities and on maintaining high environmental standards.

We are committed to achieving the following objectives:

• Ensure compliance with environmental regulations in Great Britain and Ireland, and where appropriate, exceed legal requirements.
• Continuously improve our environmental performance through our integrated management system that meets ISO 14001 standards.
• Provision of effective systems and appropriate resources and facilities to enable our colleagues to fulfil their responsibilities in an environmentally responsible manner.
• Ensure environmental processes are in place.
• Educate, train, and encourage colleagues to work in an environmentally responsible manner.
• Ensure relevant environmental information is communicated to all interested parties in a clear and timely manner.
• Maintain effective emergency response arrangements and resources to identify and deal with foreseeable adverse events.
• Consult and engage with our colleagues promoting open dialogue on environmental matters.
• Conduct our operations in an environmentally responsible manner, aligned with our Environmental Sustainability goals. These goals, and our commitment to be Net Zero by 2050, are detailed in our Carbon Reduction Plans.
• Select suppliers who minimise their own environmental impact and work in a safe manner.

Siemens Healthineers EHS Policy is implemented through an Environmental Management System and overseen by governance arrangements that involve all levels of the Company. Our performance is monitored and regularly reviewed by the appointed member of the management board, to ensure that our standards meet our high expectations and that the Policy continues to be of value to our business and our stakeholders.

The scope of our Environmental Management System covers the provision of sales and service of medical devices within Great Britain and Ireland.

The scope of the Environmental Management System covers the following business areas:

• Advanced Therapies
• Diagnostics Imaging
• Laboratory Diagnostics
• Point of Care Diagnostics
• Services
• Ultrasound

In today’s world all businesses have a part to play in protecting the environment and helping their customers meet their own environmental commitments. We recognise this and have established an Environmental Management System that spans our entire organisation.

Our sales and service operation in the UK and many of our manufacturing sites are certified to the IS0 14001 environmental management standard. In addition, all our German manufacturing sites are validated against the Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), which goes beyond legal obligations and helps us to continually minimise the environmental impact of our manufacturing processes and our products.

All our products are designed according to award-winning environmental design guidelines and each new equipment generation leads to major advances in environmental protection.

Improving the quality of healthcare whilst lowering operational costs is an essential part of our strategy. The environmental performance of products has a direct impact in this area and our customers benefit through: 

• Optimised environmental operating costs throughout their equipment's lifecycle.
• Products designed to provide optimum image quality whilst minimising radiation dose.
• Products designed to minimise the use of hazardous substances.
• Cost-effective recycling or disposal of products at end of life.
• Access to an excellent service team whose acts minimise its own environmental impact .

As a large producer of EEE, we joined a producer compliance scheme (ERP) in the UK. We are also registered with the Environmental regulators as WEEE and Battery Producer (see PRNs).

As a producer of industrial batteries under the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, we are obliged to take back waste industrial batteries free of charge from our customers and from any other end-user if they’re the same chemistry as batteries we placed on the market (Lead acid) or if they cannot be returned to another producer.

You will find more information on how to return waste industrial batteries to us in the below attachment. We will make the necessary arrangements for the return, proper treatment and recycling of your waste industrial batteries. 

As stated by the Legislation, we are also available to make alternative arrangements with our customers where agreed at the time of the purchase.