Abbott’s diagnostic facility in Longford has won a prestigious award from its headquarters for its excellence in environment, health, safety and energy. The Environment, Health, Safety and Energy Excellence Award recognises Abbott sites from around the world for their contribution to the environment, health and safety.
The Abbott award was presented to the Longford facility for its success in completing a significant construction project at the site, which saw no waste materials being sent to landfill. Innovative processes put in place by the construction team during the thirteen month building period allowed all waste materials to be recycled or reused, therefore significantly reducing the effects of the building work on the local environment.
The award also recognised the strong health and safety record achieved during construction. Over the course of the project during which 88,262 hours were worked by more than 400 workers there were no accidents or incidents (lost time accidents or recordable incidents) recorded. This is a significant achievement, which required the coordination of over 363 external contractors by the Abbott engineering team.
This is not the first time Abbott’s diagnostic facility in Longford has been recognised for its environment, health and safety credentials. The facility was also named Abbott Global EHS Manufacturing Plant of the Year in 2009 and won multiple National Irish Safety Organisation (NISO) medical devices awards since the site was established in 2005.
“At Abbott we are committed to safeguarding the environment in which we operate through sustainable business practices. The Longford facility is the first Abbott site in Ireland to complete a construction project of this scale without sending any waste materials to landfill. That is a fantastic achievement and I thank the Abbott project team and our construction partners, John Sisk & Son, Leo Lynch & Co and Kirby Group Engineering for their dedication to our environmental goals during the project,” says Stefan Molitor, site director of Abbott Longford.
“This is just one environmental initiative we have undertaken at our facility. We are taking a multi-faceted approach to minimising our impact on the environment; from the way we manufacture our products, to how we manage our facilities, to engaging and involving employees in environmental initiatives,” he adds.
Abbott Ireland manufactures and markets a broad range of health care products including medical devices, and pharmaceutical, diagnostic and nutritional products. Abbott has eight manufacturing facilities located in Clonmel, Cootehill, Cork, Donegal, Longford and Sligo and a thirty party manufacturing management operation in Sligo. It has commercial operations in Dublin and shared services in Dublin and Westport. Abbott has been operating in Ireland since 1946.