Sustainability

With operations focused on infection prevention, Bactiguard contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal: Good health and well-being. Bactiguard’s unique coating technology and product portfolio form an important link in the work to achieve the UN’s goal to eradicate infectious diseases and halt resistance to antibiotics.

Bactiguard’s operations in infection prevention play a key role in the fight to prevent infections and contribute to reducing the use of antibiotics. According to WHO, antibiotic resistance has reached dangerously high levels throughout the world and has developed into a global crisis that has to be tackled urgently.

By 2050 ten million people risk dying every year from infections that will not be able to be cured with antibiotics unless the increase in resistance can be halted. People who are infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria are more than 60% more likely to die than those infected by bacteria that are receptive to antibiotics.

Infections that patients acquire during hospital stays or in other healthcare settings (healthcare-associated infections, HAIs) are a growing problem and constitute a threat to global public health. The urinary tract, the respiratory tract and the bloodstream are the most common areas where HAIs occur. These infections often arise as a result of medical or surgical procedures. Medical devices are a common cause of HAIs.

According to WHO one in every ten patients suffers from HAIs that lead to antibiotics being prescribed, which speeds up the development of resistance.

“Antibiotic resistance is one of the most urgent health risks of our time and threatens to undo a century of medical progress,” according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO.

Significant contribution to the UN’s Global Goals

According to WHO, antibiotic resistance is a threat to achieving the UN’s Global Sustainable Development Goals. The lack of effective treatments for TB, pneumonia and urinary tract infections poses a serious threat to global public health.

By preventing infections, Bactiguard contributes directly to the UN’s Global Goal 3: Good health and well-being. The UN has stated that good health is essential for people to be able to realise their full potential and contribute to social development. The aim is to end the epidemics of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030 and to combat hepatitis, waterborne diseases and other contagious diseases. This goal is at risk if we do not succeed in our work to prevent HAIs.

Bactiguard’s technology and product portfolio help to reduce the risks of infections. Viral infections – for example the coronavirus – places the body’s immune system under stress, which increases the risk of secondary bacterial infections. One of the most serious consequences of bacterial infections is sepsis, which is the leading cause of death around the world and is the cause of one in five deaths every year. We offer significantly improved infection prevention when using medical devices. Our daily activities at Bactiguard help in the work to prevent infections. This is how we contribute to achieving the UN’s Global Goals. Infection prevention is therefore not only a strategic issue for Bactiguard, but a central component in healthcare and one of the most important sustainability issues for the future.

The most important measure of our success in this work will be when WHO is in a position to report that the levels of HAIs are falling in the world.

Trust is an important sustainability issue

The most important sustainability issue for us is our ability to contribute to better infection prevention. It is important for us to maintain the trust people have in us if we are going to be successful in this work. Bactiguard’s reputation and the trust we have from our customers, business partners, employees, suppliers, shareholders and other stakeholders are fundamental for our ability to succeed.

We strive to be a reliable, long-term partner for both existing and new customers. We want to be a reliable and trustworthy partner for healthcare services around the world. Our goal is to supply high-quality, safe products and services that help to reduce HAIs and improve health economics.

To protect our ethics and our reputation, our business relationships must always be defined by honesty, integrity and compliance with laws and regulations.

Every day we are in dialogue with a high number of stakeholders. The most important stakeholders are our customers, business partners, employees, governments and regulators, shareholders and competitors, as well as the societies where we operate. Our stakeholder relationships and dialogues must be honest, factual and transparent without risking our commercial confidentiality.

Sustainability related risks and risk management

One important risk in terms of sustainability is any damage to the trust people have in us. The main risks that we have identified are:

Product safety

We must supply safe products to patients, customers and healthcare. It is therefore an utmost priority for all employees to carry out high-quality work. We are also continually performing clinical studies in order to generate more data about our products. We particularly want to see how effective our products are in preventing infections and other complications. We also study safety, user-friendliness and patient satisfaction. More than 40 clinical studies have been performed across a total of more than 100,000 patients.

We comply with all legal and regulatory requirements for clinical studies, product development, production, goods declarations, sales and marketing.

Our CE certificates and other regulatory approvals, are proof of our quality, showing our ability to maintain a high level of quality for our products and processes.

Environment

Our activities are notifiable under the Swedish Environmental Code. Our environmental work focuses on the safe management of chemicals and waste in product development and production. Our unique coating contains very small amounts of noble metals and does not require any special disposal procedures. The metals in the coating are not destroyed during incineration and are collected at the incineration plant.

Our environmental management system is based on ISO 14001 to ensure we adhere to the existing laws and requirements on the environment and that we conduct internal audits in a satisfactory manner.

Corruption

We operate in many different countries – through licensees, distributors or our own direct presence. We adopt a zero-tolerance approach to bribes and undue influence so that we can mitigate the risk of corruption.

Human rights

We have employees in countries where violations of human rights may occur. It is therefore important for all our employees to be well-versed in our code of conduct and ensure compliance. All employees must be aware of their rights as set out in the code of conduct.

Climate effects

Bactiguard could be negatively affected by changing climate conditions at the locations where the company has its production facilities. Bactiguard has not identified any company-specific risks
relating to changing climate conditions at these locations.

Sustainability governance

The governance of sustainability for Bactiguard is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the OECD’s principles and standards for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct. We have adopted two policies for sustainability that regulate how the company, its subsidiaries and employees are to behave and act in order to build a business that is sustainable in the long  term. These policies are the code of conduct and the environmental policy, which are adopted by the Board. All policies are revised annually.

The code of conduct and the other policies must be communicated to every employee; it is the responsibility of every manager to ensure that this takes place within their own team. It is also the responsibility of each manager to ensure that employees who need to be made aware of specific goals, rules and procedures, or any other information, are informed about them. It is up to every employee to comply with the code of conduct, as well as the rules and procedures that the company has set for its environmental work. The managers are responsible for monitoring compliance with these policies. The employees are encouraged to report any deviations and highlight good examples. These policies are monitored through internal and external audits, meetings of the Board of Directors and Group management, and, in the organisation, at group meetings and employee appraisals.

An overview of our policies for the following areas: the environment, employees and social aspects, respect for human rights and anti-corruption, can be found below:

Environment

We have identified the following areas as being the most important areas for the environment:

Production

As far as possible, our production must recycle waste, collect and sort hazardous items, and maintain a low scrap rate. We strive to be economical with water and electricity.

Chemicals

The chemicals that are used must have the lowest environmental impact, without compromising on performance. The chemicals must be able to be treated or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

Recycling

We strive to reduce the amount of waste and recycle as much as possible.

Purchases

We always strive to use eco-friendly materials. In terms of purchases, important parameters that have to be taken into consideration include environmentally sustainable manufacturing, materials, packaging and transport. Bactiguard strives to optimise the environmental performance of its supply chain.

Energy

We consume energy through heating, hot water and electricity. We are working to reduce energy consumption and to make sure that the energy that we use has an ecolabel.

Travel

For travel, we must always consider whether it is possible to choose a more eco-friendly alternative, whether it is possible to replace a trip with with a digital meeting, and whether the most eco-friendly means of transport has been chosen. Bactiguard uses different means of transport when transporting products and intermediate goods and always strives to optimise its transport to reduce negative environmental impact.

Notifiable activities

The Group engages in notifiable activities under the Swedish Environmental Code (environmentally hazardous activities and health protection) and to the Swedish Work Environment Authority (use of contagions in risk group 2). The notifiable activities concern portions of the production process and the research and development the company conducts.

Employees and social aspects

Motivated employees is key if we are going to be successful in our mission to prevent infections. To ensure that we have motivated employees, it is important that our business contributes to sustainable societal development in accordance with our vision and that our culture is characterized by our core values. These core values form an integral part of everything we do and help to create a positive work environment.

We work together to achieve our goals and therefore create a work environment where employees can experience job satisfaction and feel a sense of commitment. We utilise our employees’ individual skills, which span the entire value chain, including product and business development, production, clinical studies, marketing and sales.

Every employee must receive correct and fair remuneration based on their individual performance and their contribution to the company’s success. Employees should be offered suitable training to develop relevant competence, grow within the company and progress in their career.

During the pandemic employees who can carry out their duties outside the workplace have been asked to work from home to minimise the risk of transmitting the infection.

All employees are encouraged to report any breaches of the code of conduct. Reports must be dealt with quickly and fairly, and be subject to a detailed investigation. In 2021 no reports were made and there are no reports under investigation.

Respect for human rights

Every employee should be treated equally and fairly. Recruitments and promotions are based on competence alone. We strive to create a work environment where everyone is respected, irrespective of their individual differences, abilities or personalities. No employee or potential employee should face discrimination or harassment because of their age, ethnicity, gender, religion, neurodiversity, nationality, sexual orientation, family situation or political beliefs.

We do not accept child labour or forced labour.

Every employee is entitled to choose whether or not they want to be represented by a trade union and negotiate collectively. No employee may be discriminated on the grounds of trade union membership.

Anti-corruption

We adopt a zero-tolerance approach to bribes. We do not allow anyone to be offered payments or other benefits to influence them to recommend, use or buy our products or services. We do not negotiate or sign agreements with business partners, where we have reason to believe that they pay bribes or make unsolicited payments. We do not discuss with competitors or enter agreements with them about pricing, market shares or other similar illegal activities.