There’s a new energy within the walls of MUIR and it is positively brimming from the newly formed Sustainability Team. Six MUIR employees were called to action for a Sustainability initiative in hopes of attaining the 2012 SGIA Sustainability Recognition Award to be awarded in early 2013.
These new team members were carefully handpicked and then contacted by top management to discuss their willingness to take on this added responsibility. They would be asked to step away from their workstations to meet with the EHS Director (that’s me) on a weekly basis to set goals, make and execute action plans and communicate sustainability initiatives to their coworkers throughout the company. This would be a challenge as business is continually growing and every man (or woman) is needed to meet production demands. In the end, our team demographics would include a client relations rep, an inventory handler, a raw material handler, a screen printer, a die cutter and an accounting clerk. This team fairly represents the entire company in all three buildings.
Where would we go? How would we get there?
Our destination was clear. At the end of our trek we would have created a Muir Sustainability Management System (SMS). Would it be best to build a new SMS from scratch and add to the already existing MUIR Quality and MUIR Environmental Systems? Or take the existing MUIR Environmental System and integrate the elements of a sustainability management system? Obviously, the second option would be the most desirable and require the best concentrated effort without replicating elements already defined in the EMS/QMS. The QMR (Quality Rep) and I, the EMR, have worked diligently to combine the similar elements of the Quality and Environmental Management System to facilitate the External Auditing process for our ISO certifications. There would be no benefit to create a third system to later wish it had been integrated from the beginning. So we began the journey…
Each week, we gather together on Wednesday mornings. Whether we are reviewing the existing EMS, walking through the necessary steps to take the MUIR Environmental Policy to a new and improved level, which includes both the ISO and the Sustainable Green Printers (SGP) Sustainability elements, or touring the plant to see the current status of our recycling program, one thing is clearly evident. There is an excitement, a real sense of commitment to the team mission and a bond among these team members that they would have never had the opportunity to experience in their normal work day life. These team members are the pathway to embedding the MUIR Sustainability initiative in our workplace. We have exactly the right people working together on this very important journey. It is incredibly inspiring just to watch them at work.
All six were smiling as they headed out the door last Wednesday. They had been charged with the assignment to “go forth and communicate” with their co-workers about the new and improved environmental policy. For a few it would be an easy accomplishment. But for others, it was an opportunity to step out of their comfort zone and step up to a new territory, a level of leadership in their mission for Sustainability.
It is with a very heavy heart that I share that Muir suffered a great and grievous loss in the unexpected passing of Muir Sustainability team member, Gabriele “Gaby” Rybczyk. Gaby was a strong supporter and cheerleader for the environmental efforts of Muir and the well-being of our earth. She was so pleased to be asked to be a sustainability team member and her enthusiasm for its mission was contagious. She is dearly missed by her co-workers and fellow team members. Her kind and gentle spirit will be a reminder to our team that its mission is a good and worthy one.
To see the newly update and approved MUIR Environmental Policy, please visit our website at www.muirgraphics.com/isos
No comments:
Post a Comment