The quality, safety and environment control system that Hera has created basically comprises three aspects:

• “multi-site” logic certification
• process monitoring
• monitoring of the products and services provided.

After identifying the processes necessary for the management of its activities and establishing the process sequence and interactions, Hera defined criteria and methods to ensure that these processes would function and be monitored effectively.

These methods must be adequate to monitor and, where applicable, measure the management system processes. They must therefore be able to demonstrate the capacity of the processes to obtain the planned results.

Given the characteristics of the group’s companies and its organisational model, Hera considers the clear identification of guidelines and directions by the parent company to be fundamental. From this point of view, it deemed it necessary to apply some of the principles of "multi-site logic" to its quality, safety and environment management system. Multi-site logic involves the identification of all problems that require centralised governance attentive to the growth of the various local components, seeking to achieve synergies to provide a solid base for local development tailored to specific needs.

In order to meet these aims, and in line with the group’s quality, safety and environment policy, Hera has also identified the following three key aspects:

• processes in statistical “state of control”
• technically adequate test/analysis laboratories
• informing and protecting the consumer/individual

In this respect, Hera has developed a "control plan" that takes into account the characteristics of the processes and aims to guarantee the reliability of the management process. The certification of the quality, safety and environment system and the accreditation of the laboratories require that, for each “accredited test method”, the uncertainty of the measurement be defined. The uncertainty figure is fundamental for:

• checking compliance with the predefined limits
• interpreting the results correctly

The process monitoring strategy adopted by Hera involved introducing, in addition to the traditional economic and financial indicators, key service quality performance indicators that also take into account non-monetary aspects, such as the quality of the services provided, the environmental impact of the company’s activities and safety.

Page updated 22 August 2011