1 Purpose

This document is Step Solutions’ single policy for both quality and the environment. It satisfies the requirement for a quality policy under ISO 9001:2015 §5.2 and the requirement for an environmental policy under ISO 14001:2015 §5.2, and it sets the direction for the integrated management system (QMS and EMS) operated under the Management System Extent (G30-H100).

The policy provides the framework for establishing and reviewing both quality objectives and environmental objectives.

3 Statement from top management

Step Solutions AS delivers consulting, engineering, programming, software development, mechanical construction and assembly, testing, installation, commissioning and maintenance services from offices in Oslo and Gjøvik.

Our customers depend on the quality of our work – both the systems we engineer and deliver, and the digital products and services we develop – to operate their own businesses safely, efficiently, competitively and in an environmentally responsible manner. Through the same activities, we influence environmental outcomes both directly, through our own operations, and indirectly, through the engineering and software solutions we design for our customers.

Top management of Step Solutions AS recognises this dual responsibility and is committed to:

·       delivering products and services that consistently meet customer requirements and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and enhancing customer satisfaction through the effective application of the management system;

·       protecting the environment, preventing pollution, and continually improving our environmental performance;

·       fulfilling all applicable compliance obligations; and

·       continually improving the suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the integrated management system.

Quality and environmental performance are treated as one management responsibility, not as two parallel systems. Decisions on design, engineering, procurement and project execution are expected to serve both aims together.

4 Our commitments

In line with ISO 9001:2015 §5.2.1 and ISO 14001:2015 §5.2.1, Step Solutions AS commits to the following.

4.1 Customer focus

·       Understand customer needs, quality and environmental requirements and expectations and translate them into clearly specified deliverables.

·       Meet or exceed agreed requirements for our project work, machine deliveries, and digital products and services.

·       Measure and act on customer satisfaction, treating complaints and feedback as primary inputs to improvement.

4.2 Quality of products and services

·       Apply disciplined design, engineering, software development, testing and commissioning practices to deliver right-first-time outcomes.

·       Plan, monitor and control projects to deliver on time, within budget and to specification.

·       Apply recognised engineering, software and testing standards in our delivery processes.

·       Manage suppliers so that externally provided processes, products and services meet both our quality requirements and our environmental requirements.

4.3 Protection of the environment

·       Prevent pollution arising from our offices, project sites, manufacturing activities and business travel.

·       Use energy and natural resources efficiently and promote sustainable resource use across our operations.

·       Reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with our activities and contribute to climate change mitigation, recognising the carbon impact of our buildings, equipment and travel.

·       Apply a lifecycle perspective in engineering, design and procurement decisions, considering environmental impacts from material selection through use, service and end-of-life of the systems we deliver.

· Minimise waste generation and ensure responsible handling, segregation, reuse and recycling of waste streams.

4.4 Compliance with requirements and compliance obligations

·       Identify, maintain and fulfil all applicable customer, statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements relevant to our products and services.

·       Identify, maintain and fulfil all applicable compliance obligations, including legal requirements, customer environmental requirements, contractual environmental commitments, and voluntary commitments to which Step Solutions AS subscribes.

·       Periodically evaluate compliance and act on any deviation.

4.5 Continual improvement

·       Continually improve the QMS and the EMS to enhance both product/service quality and environmental performance, using objectives, KPIs, targets, monitoring data, audit results, nonconformities and management reviews as inputs.

·       Set, communicate and review quality objectives and environmental objectives at relevant functions and levels, maintained in the management systems Objectives Register.

·       Apply risk-based thinking to anticipate and prevent problems rather than react to them, addressing quality risks and environmental aspects in the same assessment where they arise from the same activity.

4.6 Engagement and competence

·       Provide the leadership, resources, training and awareness required for personnel to perform their work to the required quality and to fulfil their environmental responsibilities.

·       Engage employees, consultants, suppliers and customers in identifying and acting on opportunities to improve quality and environmental performance.

5 Scope

This policy applies to all activities, products and services of Step Solutions AS as defined in the Management System Extent, covering all offices, all project sites where Step Solutions AS personnel are deployed, and all employees and consultants acting on behalf of the company.

It applies in full to both the Quality Management System and the Environmental Management System. Where a requirement below is specific to one of the two systems, this is stated explicitly; all other requirements apply to both.

6 Responsibilities

The table below replaces the separate responsibility tables previously held in G10-H04 §1.5 (quality) and G10-H05 §4 (environmental). Each role now carries a single, stated accountability for both disciplines.