• The Engineering Department, acting in accordance with its quality management system, performs quality, environmental and safety audits at new construction job sites. At the end of construction and before delivering the facility to the internal customer, a safety review is performed at the request of the Environmental Protection, Safety and Quality Department at Group headquarters to verify that the facility meets the project’s safety specifications.
  • In the case of critical supply contracts, compliance with environmental, health and safety procedures and with the Code of Ethics is spelled out in the contracts.
Accessible Information and Communications
The Purchasing Department and the Group’s suppliers communicate through a single, dedicated web portal that provides access to information and can be used to share technical and administrative documents.
This portal can also be used to manage business-to-business (B2B) transactions and supplier qualification procedures and to check on the progress made in implementing projects (completion reports or measurement sheets) covered by contracts with Edison.
Efficient Purchasing Processes
In the case of repetitive purchases of nonstrategic items, the Company is increasingly placing orders from online catalogs via dedicated software through the B2B system (active agreements increased from 37 to 45 in 2006), instead of forwarding orders issued directly by users, which are managed with the SAP/R3 operating system.
Audits at New Construction Job Sites
Type of audit     Number of audits in  
  Department 2004 2005 2006
Quality, environment Engineering 55 69 31
and safety audit   (at 22 jobsites*) (at 20 jobsites*) (at 15 jobsites*)
Safety review Environment and Safety 8 9 3
  + Engineering      
Audit Environment and Safety 7 7 6
* Job sites of relevant size involving more than 1,000 man hours.    
ENERGY
FOR THE COMMUNITY
The fundamental principles that govern our presence at the local level are respect for the environment, commitment to safety and dialog and support for the economic and social development of our host communities.
At every location where it operates, Edison strives to build lasting and quality relationships with local partners (suppliers, customers and business associates, government and the community) for a balanced development.
The most significant impact that Edison’s activities have at the local level is the economic and occupational benefits that it generates through suppliers and contractors as a result of the capital investment program it launched in the 1990s and which will continue until 2012. In 2006, construction of new power plants and programs to restructure or upgrade existing facilities, coupled with other work carried out through contractors both at field offices and at Group headquarters, generated more than 4 million man hours of work.
Dialoguing with Our Host Communities
Because its facilities are located throughout Italy, the Group interacts with a number of public and other local institutions, generally within the framework of Agreements signed with local government agencies in connection with the construction of industrial facilities.
The projects pursued by the Company focus on protecting the environment and providing information to local communities. Most Agreements call for environmental improvements that exceed statutory requirements, particularly with respect to the monitoring of air quality and noise levels. Work carried out to control, study and minimize environmental impacts is often augmented by initiatives to improve local areas, such as landscaping and reforestation of municipal lands.
The work carried out to provide information to local communities is equally important. Edison’s facilities welcome visitors, provided a request is made in advance. In addition, technicians from local regulatory authorities can request access to the power plants at any time to verify that they are being operated pursuant to applicable laws, regulations and local agreements.
Helping Those Who Need to Grow Edison and the School System
Edison is keenly aware of the needs of younger generations and of their environment. Accordingly, it is involved in programs that focus on environmental education and energy conservation or provide support to children in order to safeguard their fundamental rights to education, to recreation and family life.
The Vajont October 9, 1963 Foundation
In 2003, Edison joined the town of Longarone, the Veneto Region, Enel and the towns of Castellavazzo, Erto, Casso and Vajont to establish the “Vajont October 9, 1963 Foundation.” The purpose of the Foundation is to promote studies and scientific research in the prevention of hydrogeological risks and to organize research and study activities, and scientific, cultural and promotional projects designed to prevent unbalanced uses of natural resources, so as to avoid future recurrences of disasters such as 1963 Vajont flood.
Among several initiatives currently under way, the Foundation is about to complete a research project carried out with the Psychology of Development and Socialization Department of the University of Padua entitled The Vajont Disaster: Preserving a Memory of This Traumatic Event and Sharing It with Future Generations. This study focuses on how sharing the memory of an event within a family impacts the representation of the event in future generations. Its findings will provide an insight in the cognitive and emotional impact of the memory of this traumatic event, how the event’s perception changes over time and the event’s impact on people lives.
The purpose of another study that is nearing completion (The Va-jont Disaster: Long-term Consequences on the Mental Health of the Survivors) is to determine the incidence of post-traumatic disorders among the survivors of the Vajont disaster and the impact of these disorders on mental and physical health, assess the medical and psychological/social needs of survivors, analyze the impact of the
disaster on the next generation and collaborate on the definition of a project for the establishment and organization of a center for the documentation of the psychological impact of severe trauma.
The Foundation’s main endeavors in 2007 will involve the establishment of a research center for the prevention of natural disasters and the study of civil protection issues in cooperation with the Provincial Administration of Belluno and the University of Padua. The research center will work primarily to support municipal administrations, public institutions and any private parties that operate businesses related to the management and use of the environment. The center plans to study and prevent soil erosion problems and civil protection issues in connection with natural disasters (river and other floods) in populated areas and intends to create a permanent link between the university research community and local institutions.
Mo.di.Te, another study planned for the beginning of 2007 in collaboration with the Universities of Padua and Genoa, will involve the development of effective modeling tools to study the development and propagation of river floods and the resulting movement of sediments, with the objective of assessing the effectiveness of environmental protection alternatives.
The knowhow acquired will be made available to professionals and entities responsible for soil conservation and environmental management through professional development courses, seminars, conferences and publications.