Food safety is of course one of the most important topics when it comes to the transport of food related products. RMI has adopted the system of ISO22000, which includes the HACCP methodology, to make sure that these products are not contaminated with any foreign material of a chemical, physical or microbiological nature. The HACCP method is accepted on a global basis as the most effective tool to identify any risk in the chain and to determine measures to control these risks of contamination. There fore R.M.I. is operating a fleet of containers that are strictly dedicated to Foodstuffs. Also, the R.M.I. HACCP team is constantly monitoring the critical points in the supply chain, like cleaning stations.
R.M.I. is a family driven company with high moral standards which it wants to see expressed in its day to day business. R.M.I. is reluctant to see its business affects, in a negative way, the health and safety of any creature and simultaneously R.M.I. wants to serve the interests of its customers in the best possible way. As a company, R.M.I is aware to be part of society and has integrated in its policy the moral obligation to behave in a responsible way.
Operating in markets like the chemical and food industry, R.M.I. is used to different environments in which different values prevail. In the chemical industry dangerous goods are being produced and handled, so the focus is mainly on issues of physical safety of the operations where in the food industry this focus is more directed to questions of the hygienic handling of food. R.M.I. is familiar with the requirements of these markets and has adopted these values as an integral part of its quality system. All SSHEQ related topics are covered by the R.M.I. policy: safety, security, health, environment and quality and they have been actively implemented in all working processes of the company. Personnel is being trained and evaluated according to these principles of quality, subcontractors are being selected and audited to the same and so on.
The main focus of R.M.I. is customer satisfaction. The continuous effort to improve the quality of our services is integrated in our business processes. To be able to improve constantly we make sure that we act upon what ‘we do right’ and what ‘we do wrong’. We regularly check our performance level with our customers and we have assured to learn from incidents, non-conformances and near misses on a day to day basis.
Also, as operator of intermodal transport activities, R.M.I. has a particular focus on activities on loading and unloading sites, terminals and cleaning facilities. We believe that the activities on these sites present the main risks that the business and our personnel are exposed to. This includes not only risks for our drivers, but for all personnel involved, for the environment and also for security reasons. Therefore we seek close cooperation with our customers and representative bodies to try and improve the quality and safety level of the operations in a collective effort.
Thus we have selected our quality systems to best serve the needs of our customers, ourselves and of society by selecting the following standards:
ISO 22000, covering the application of principles of food safety, SQAS, covering the needs of the chemical industry and we follow the Responsible Care program which was issued by the European Chemical Transport Association.
R.M.I. has also joined the SQAS quality system. This system, which was created by the CEFIC (the European Chemical Industry Council) is designed to make the quality of the service providers to the chemical industry completely transparent and to provide a tool for continuous improvement. It has proven to be a useful tool of communication of transport companies with the chemical industry about the desired level of performance and the effectiveness of improvements to the quality level. R.M.I. is also actively participating in the creation of the best standards of practice in this field.
For the animal Feed customers R.M.I. has joined the GMP+ Feed Safety Assurance Scheme, which was developed by the PDV (Produktschap Diervoeder) and which is recognized worldwide as the highest standard in the manufacturing and transport of Feedstuffs.
In 2009 R.M.I. has joined the Responsible Care Program, which was launched by the ECTA (European Chemical Transport Association). This program is promoting a healthy and sustainable way to do business and was initiated by the chemical industry in the 1980’s and has spread over the chemical industry globally since then. Recently this scheme has been rolled out to the logistic sector by ECTA and R.M.I. was among the first transport companies to join it. It provides R.M.I with an additional tool to monitor its performance in terms of health, safety and environmental performance in accordance with the rest of the European chemical providers of transport. Data and experience are being shared on this platform with fellow transport companies in order to be able to learn from each other’s experience, to improve the safety performance together and to help the society to reach the targets that are set by the European Union to reduce CO2 emissions. This being said, the choice for intermodal transport by R.M.I. is in itself a choice for ‘green’ logistics compared to other modes of transport, because the part of transport by truck, the most polluting part, is being minimized in this concept. A choice for intermodal transport is clearly a choice that is being supported by the ambitious environmental policy that has been developed by European Union for the next decades.