| For
over a decade now, CDL has been championing
the cause for green building in Singapore and
will continue to do so because it is the right
thing to do. We make it our business to take
bold steps towards mitigating our impact on
the environment and striving to apply environmentally-friendly
practices in our operations.
As a result of
these measures, CDL achieved a 10% reduction
in our total carbon emissions in 2009 as compared
to the previous year, with all business operations
contributing to the overall reduction in carbon
footprint.
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In 2003,
the Environmental, Health & Safety
(EHS) Policy was established by CDL’s
top management team. This sets the strategic
direction for all departments and employees
towards creating a ‘Green &
Safe’ culture, conserving resources
and preventing pollution.
In 2003,
CDL became the first private property
developer to be accorded ISO 14001 Environmental
Management System and OHSAS 18001 Occupational
Health and Safety Management System in
Property Development and Project Management.
In 2007, 14 of our commercial buildings
attained the Integrated Management System
ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 Quality Management
System for Property & Facilities Management.
In 2008, we were awarded ISO 14001 in
Corporate Management and Operations for
all functions at our headquarters.
The EMS,
which is based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act
model, is integrated into CDL’s
business operations. It provides a systematic
approach to minimise CDL’s operational
impact on the environment and provides
the framework for continual improvement
in our environmental performance. |
CDL places great
emphasis on our employees as well as those working
on behalf of the Company, such as our builders
and suppliers whose jobs may cause significant
environmental impact, on having the necessary
expertise, training or experience to carry out
their work.
CDL provides
training and awareness programmes to increase
the environmental awareness of employees. All
new employees are briefed on CDL’s Corporate
EHS Policy and their roles in the EMS. Employees
are also strongly encouraged to attend external
seminars and workshops to upgrade their skills
and enhance their knowledge related to environmental
management. As for our builders, CDL has been
facilitating the quarterly CDL 5-Star EHS Audit
Seminars since 2001 to raise our builders’
EHS standards and practices. Best practices
and information are shared during the review
sessions to encourage peer learning.
CDL also believes
in engaging the support of our stakeholders
including employees and external interested
parties to achieve environmental excellence.
We share with them our commitments, best practices,
programmes and environmental performance data
as well as solicit their feedback and suggestions
for continual improvement through various communication
channels. All CDL employees are encouraged to
be forthcoming with the reporting of environmental
related accidents, complaints, incidents, non-compliances
and non-conformances. At CDL work sites, we
provide a hotline number where the public can
report to us. We are committed to take all necessary
actions to prevent the occurrence of potential
non-conformances or recurrence of non-conformances.
As part of our
ISO 14001 framework, CDL is committed to comply
with all applicable legal requirements and carries
out compliance evaluation on a quarterly basis,
in particular when there are new regulations
or changes to the legal requirements. We are
also constantly assessing our business operations
to ensure full compliance with the regulated
limits enforced by the local governing authorities
such as the Building and Construction Authority
(BCA), National Environment Agency (NEA), Public
Utilities Board (PUB), Workplace & Safety
Health Council (WSHC) and Singapore Civil Defence
Force (SCDF) as well as other relevant enforcers
where appropriate.
In addition to
ensuring that regulatory requirements are complied
with during the initial planning stage, we are
proactive in influencing and engaging our stakeholders,
such as the architects, designers, engineers
and surveyors to embrace safe and environmentally-friendly
designs, plans and programmes. CDL continues
to follow through the compliance status during
the construction and operational phase. This
is done through regular site safety audits under
our CDL 5-Star EHS Assessment system.
CDL’s EMS
audit programme involves teams of internal and
external auditors conducting audits at least
once a year.
Internal audits
are essential to ensure the Company’s
EMS conforms to the ISO 14001 international
standard. The actual frequency of internal audits
depends on past audit results as well as the
potential risks/importance associated with the
activity or operations. Typically, each property
development is to be audited at least once in
its project cycle and each audit shall cover
all three stages, i.e. planning, procurement
and construction.
The Company is
also subjected to external audits, conducted
by an accredited certification body of the initial
certification and surveillance visits. External
surveillance audits are conducted each year
to verify the Company’s EMS conformance
to the ISO 14001 standard until the next re-certification
cycle.
Managing the
environmental aspects is a key element in our
EMS. CDL identifies significant environmental
aspects for our business operations that can
potentially have critical negative environmental
impacts. To measure significance, a risk assessment
criteria is used, consisting of the likelihood
of the occurrence, severity of the impact and
control measures.
CDL evaluates
the key significant environmental aspects at
our work sites, investment buildings and corporate
office. From our assessment, energy use, water
use, waste generation and carbon emissions are
our most significant environmental aspects.
We also cover other aspects such as paper use,
waste paper recycling, noise, biodiversity and
safety management.
CDL implements
and evaluates measures to mitigate all significant
environmental aspects. This is done through
setting objectives and targets, establishing
programmes and/or putting in place work procedures
and work instructions. The guiding principle
of the mitigating measures is to follow the
hierarchy of control, starting with elimination,
and then moving to substitution, isolation,
use of engineering control, use of administrative
control and last of all, use of personal protective
equipment.
CDL has set specific
environmental objectives and targets at our
work sites, investment buildings and corporate
office. For more information on the environmental
objectives and targets, please click here.
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