ISO 14001, Environmental Management: In 2019, William Cook Europe & Cook Medical Ireland manufacturing sites were certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management standard. Early in 2022, Cook Winston-Salem was also certified to ISO 14001. The attainment of this certification was the work of many dedicated Cook employees developing processes and protocols for monitoring each consumption and waste stream.

The ISO 14001 standard also extends to goal setting for future management and reduction of consumption and waste. We are proud to have three manufacturing sites achieve this certification and are intent to achieve the certification at our manufacturing sites around the globe over the next few years.

Cook Medical Australia took the lead on renewable energy by being the first Cook Medical manufacturing site to use solar power to supplement energy use. In 2020, 386 rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panels were installed at the company’s Brisbane facility. Since 2015, a total of 770 panels have been installed on the main building and two other buildings. In 2015, Cook installed a 100 kW solar system, and with the latest solar installation, the buildings now have a 245 kW solar array.

“The increased use of renewable energy is a major part of the company’s commitment to sustainability and the environment,” said Dr. Samih Nabulsi, vice president and managing director at Cook Medical Australia. “Our manufacturing and warehouse facilities operate almost 24 hours a day, which means we consume a significant amount of energy, so we are committed to finding ways to reduce our usage.”

The biggest advantage of the solar panels is a decrease in the company’s carbon footprint, saving 315 metric tons of carbon a year and reducing grid electricity, as the panels supplement electricity for the facilities. “The company is now more energy efficient, and as an added benefit, we are also seeing preliminary cost savings with our electricity bills reduced by approximately 30%,” said Samih.

In 2020, Cook Ireland, located in Limerick, had begun to replace all lightbulbs to LED lighting to reduce energy consumption year on year. By March, we had successfully changed two thirds of our non-production space. At that point, due to COVID-19, we had to reprioritize and focus on other areas of the business.

To protect our employees and accommodate our social distancing and the introduction of new health and safety measures on-site we created a second work shift. Despite doubling our operations daily in the plant, we were pleased to close out 2020 with only a 2% increase on energy usage.

Furthermore, in compliance with advice from the Government, we grounded all foreign and local travel and made arrangement for office-based staff to work from home. This in turn had a significantly positive impact on our carbon footprint.