Today, we have a story for you. It is a story of collaboration, innovation and commitment to environmental protection. Beeing, our company, that creates projects for the protection of the environment and biodiversity with bees has recently established a partnership with LS Engineering & Safety S.r.l., a consulting and safety company with a great desire to do something concrete for the environment. So, together, we developed a special project: the adoption of a corporate beehive, at their headquarters. And we’re excited to share with you how it went.
We met and interviewed NAME, one of the founding partners of LS Engineering & Safety S.r.l., who told us about the present actions and the future projects of the company, together with how the collaboration between our two organizations created concrete and innovative initiatives to protect biodiversity.
Tell us about you and about LS Engineering & Safety!
LS Engineering & Safety is an integrated engineering company, specialized in the design of safety systems and plans, and in business consulting on the subject. Our activity develops continuously and represents the evolution of the traditional design studio towards organizational models of a “unitary company” type. The company is in fact composed of four macro areas of intervention – ENGINEERING, SAFETY, ARCHITECTURE and TECHNICAL – that can act individually but, as part of an integrated project (thanks to the activity of Project Management), best express their essence and the result.
In 2019 the company obtained the ISO 9001 Certification, a very important step towards the pursuit of concrete values such as culture and organizational identity based on quality, respecting time and costs. In 2019 we got the KNX certification, world standard for the design and programming of supervision and home automation systems.Since 2023 we are certified ISO 14001: sustainability and environmental protection are the essence of our way of being and working!
I am one of the founding members of LS ENGINEERING & SAFETY SRL and since 2021 I have been in charge of the organization in general, of Human Resources, Marketing. I also collaborated in the construction sites of our clients, as works manager or coordinators for safety in the execution phase.
What are the values of the company in the field of environmental, social and economic sustainability and what positive impact do you want to achieve on your sector, on the territory, and on the community around you?
I can say that LS Engineering & Safety plays a fundamental role in terms of sustainability: all the services offered by our business involve the theme of environmental, economic and social impact. Just think about the fact that we deal with management, the phase where companies consider and predict the consequences of what they create. And we do it in all areas of our work: from energy efficiency to the choice of materials, from strict compliance with all environmental regulations and constraints to the dissemination of this culture both towards our customers and the companies we operate with. Our services offer value in terms of sustainability for our customers but also produce value for the company itself. It is not enough to think about “zero impact”: we want to have a “positive impact” on our market.
We are a small company that thinks big: so, not to leave our commitment to words, since 2023 we have decided to certify ISO 14001. Moreover, even if not obliged, we started to work on the publication of our Sustainability Report. We have a Company Regulation and a Code of Ethics, where the values related to environmental, economic and environmental responsibility are shared by all and well present in ordinary business.
What can a company like LS Engineering & Safety do to achieve its sustainability goals?
We believe that the first step to introduce the concept of sustainability is to develop a strong awareness. So, we started from developing knowledge and moved on to the introduction of small actions, like minimize the use of plastic in the company, dematerialize work (as much as possible), spread the sustainability culture with free meetings (open to the community as well), choose a company headquarters outside the city center, which is already suffering from traffic and pollution, facilitating sustainable transport as an alternative to cars. Sometimes you get great results even from small choices!
A company cannot forget that sustainability also has a social side. And actions on the social environment are equally important. Some initiatives a company can choose are to support non-profit associations, prefer the recruitment of collaborators from their own territory, ensure the flexibility of working time that allows people to keep a work-life balance and live better!
One point I particularly care about is the focus on achieving gender equality. In the field of engineering, the gender employment gap is clear and marked, and it is our responsibility to fight it. These are just some of the actions we engage in, but every reality can find its place, its commitment, its space to take part in environmental, social and economic sustainability.
How did the partnership with Beeing come about? How did the idea of adopting a company beehive come about?
Last year we were thinking about what else we could do as a company for an even wider and more concrete impact on the environment around us. So, we looked around, we discussed ideas and gathered suggestions. We wanted to involve everyone, so we took a poll and put the initiatives we had on the table to the vote. You already know how this ended up: the idea of supporting bees in order to guarantee us a future on Earth has immediately received the support of everybody! Moreover, this project would allow us to operate in our territories.
We chose Beeing for its philosophy, the actions it promotes but also for how the company looked: simple and sincere! It immediately inspired confidence. So, we joined the initiative to adopt a company hive and to give our customers and collaborators the honey of our bees. We wanted to tell everyone about our commitment to show how it was possible and how rewarding it was.
Did the project involve employees? Did it encourage employees to take action to protect the environment?
The project involved everyone! They had chosen it, after all, so they participated in the installation of the hive and created a beautiful word of mouth around it. They told their family and friends about it. We often think about how our bees are doing, we meet the beekeeper who takes care of them and we like to think that they are making the world around us greener and more livable.
What are your future plans to expand or further improve the project?
With no doubts, our will is to progress on this path, that will never be abandoned. We are a small reality, but, as said before, we are able to offer much to the environment for the activities we do and for the ideas we can spread. This year we will all meet to take stock of the situation and decide together how to proceed with both the corporate beehive project and maybe with some other initiatives!
It’s true that the budget sets limits but, as we said, sometimes it takes little actions to have an impact: for example, a day of team building to clean up the garbage next to our offices could be a good idea!
What is the key message you would like to convey to other companies or organizations wishing to undertake similar environmental sustainability initiatives? What are the basic steps you would advise them to follow in order to succeed?
We believe that today companies cannot avoid taking sustainability into consideration: it must be included in the budget and looked at in every decision that the organization takes. I have noticed that often we do not realize how there are already small sustainability-friendly initiatives in the company, thanks to the commitment of individuals. We need to strengthen them, give them publicity, animate and maintain that interest.
Thus, you open the way to more demanding projects, that will be, at that point, based on real sensibilities, on interests that are present, felt by the employees. And they will be able to make a huge difference.
Collaborating with LS Engineering & Safety S.r.l. has given us strength, hope and confidence. For our company, Beeing, it is always exciting to meet companies that work and grow promoting a harmonious development between human activity and natural ecosystems.
Take part as a company in a project for the protection of environmental biodiversity and create your positive impact on the environment, society and economy with us!