EMS / Senegal: 22 national resource persons trained to the requirements of ISO 14001 v 2015 standard

Like other member States of ECOWAS, the Republic of Senegal hosted, from 25 to 27 September 2018, a training workshop to the requirements of ISO 14001 version 2015, in favor of twenty-two (22) national resource persons. It is part of the implementation of the West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP).

In a Senegalese context where only eleven (11) local companies are certified ISO 14001, the objective pursued through this training is to increase the human resources available at the national level and after the regional level, in terms of the Environmental Management System (EMS) in order to impact on the number of certified companies in the field thanks to a higher support capacity.

At the opening of the workshop, Mr. Barama Sarr, Director General of the Senegalese Association for Standardization (ASN) and National Focal Point of the WAQSP, reminded that "companies often request a certificate of quality, safety, security and environmental. But currently, according to our censuses, ISO 14001 certified companies are not numerous, only eleven (11) ". It is therefore important, he continued, to train companies’ managers on the requirements of the Environmental Management System.

For the consultant-trainer recruited by the WAQSP, Theodore Sètondji Aguidissou, the need to help companies to get ready is no longer to demonstrate. "In the face of a society that increasingly wants to reconcile efficient and socially equitable and ecologically tolerable economic development, companies need to implement management system standards, particularly with regard to the environment", he stressed.

During the three days of training both theoretical and practical, participants revisited all the specificities and requirements of the ISO 14001 v 2015 standard. At the end of the work, they received training certificates from the hands of the representatives of the WAQSP.