As the coronavirus pandemic continued, environmental training for personnel was migrated online, and the concept was revised. Environmental content in the orientation material for new employees was also updated.
The HUS Environment Agency regularly provides environmental training for HUS employees. In 2021, we trained 67 new environment managers for various units. Environment managers are a vital component in the HUS in-house environmental network. In their training, they are given an overview of how environmental matters are managed in our organization and the skills with which to promote environmental awareness in everyday work in their respective units. Refresher courses for environment managers were attended by 88 previously trained environment managers.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, all the training was provided as online training sessions, and we adapted the content of the training for environment managers to make it more suitable for remote teaching. The annual environment seminar intended for all HUS personnel was also provided as an online seminar this time, allowing for a larger attendance. There were 136 participants. No study excursions were organized during the year under review.
We also gave a few local or focused training and info sessions on topics such as chemical management training. At these sessions, employees were provided with detailed environmental information relevant for their specific job duties.
Environmental responsibility groups at HUS held a few regional training and info sessions on current topics such as plastic sorting and recovery.
Advisory services and cooperation
At Meilahti and Jorvi, we continued our waste management monitoring meetings, whose purpose is to improve waste management at our properties and to resolve any issues collectively with the entire waste management chain. The operators in the waste management chain also contributed to the planning of waste management facilities and processes in multiple hospital projects.
In addition to holding numerous training sessions, the HUS Environment Agency advises and assists employees actively on various environmental matters by phone, by e-mail and via Yammer, for instance.
During the year under review, we updated the environmental checklist that environmental responsibility groups and environment managers use as a tool for identifying the current state of environmental matters in their respective units, the results of successful efforts and principal development needs. We also updated the environmental content in the orientation materials for new employees. Our goal is for every employee to identify their potential for influencing the environmental aspects of their work.
The HUS environmental responsibility teams met with each other twice in the year under review to share their notes on progress in environmental matters and what they each have achieved.
Need for diversity in environmental communications
In the spring, we circulated an online survey to poll employees on the importance of communications on various environmental themes and on which topics they would like to get further information. The greatest need for information was identified for: the climate footprint of our operations; our carbon neutrality efforts; the goals of our environmental program and progress therein; training and events; ecological product options; and environmental acts in other units. In addition to electronic communications channels, unit environment managers were identified as an important source of information on environmental matters.
We took the responses on board and revised the focus areas of our environmental communications. During the year under review, we developed new communications practices, for instance for sharing implemented environmental measures between units, and we prepared info packages on plastic recycling in practice.
We sent out four environmental newsletters to personnel, with information on current environmental topics, on the progress of climate efforts at HUS, and on instructions for waste sorting and chemical matters. We also participated in the National Energy Conservation Week.
We publish an environmental tip for our employees’ everyday work in every issue of the personnel newsletter Husari. The job duties of an environment manager and the launch of climate efforts at HUS were also covered in the newsletter.