Forrest Stewardship Council (FSC)
The role of FSC
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization, whose mission is to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. Buying FSC products gives assurance that you are not running the risk of using illegally logged timber. The certification is carried out on behalf of FSC by accredited Certification Bodies.
The FSC runs a global forest certification system consisting of two key components:
Forest Management and Chain of Custody certification
This system allows consumers to identify, purchase and use timber and forest products sourced from well-managed forests.
It gives forest managers a market for timber and a reason to continue caring for the forests rather than clearing them for agriculture and fuel crops. The construction industry uses around 60% of all timber in the UK, the majority of which is imported. Currently there is little control over the import of illegally and irresponsibly produced timber. The products of this trade, can be found throughout the UK, from major building sites to private homes. To counter this the FSC exists to make sure that timber can be used with the confidence that its production has a positive effect on the world’s forests.
Caledonian FSC Accreditation
In August 2009 Caledonian was the first Modular construction company to become FSC accredited in the UK. This aligns with our corporate objective to provide evidence of our environmental responsibility within the Construction Industry.
Our clients rightly demand that we are able to demonstrate sustainability within the supply chain and with the FSC certification, we now have the required evidence.
Gaining Accreditation
Evaluation
Caledonian’s systems and supply chain were investigated to ensure we were able to demonstrate compliance and have developed our ISO 9000 quality standards accordingly.
Education and Awareness
As part of our drive to achieve FSC accreditation, a comprehensive training programme for all members of staff was undertaken, to ensure there was a clear understanding across the business of the importance of attaining FSC accreditation and to make sure everyone understood the
processes we needed to adopt.
We also needed to engage with members of our supply chain to make sure they understood their responsibilities and have an ongoing programme of further engagement.
