JSIF Gets ISO Certification

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), has achieved International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001:2004 Certification, which will strengthen the agency’s overall environmental management capacity in carrying out its various development projects.
JSIF was recommended for ISO 14001 Registration in December 2008 and received certification in January.
JSIF board member, Prudence Kidd-Deans, in making the announcement at the ground breaking ceremony for the Bucknor Integrated Infrastructure Package and the Multi-purpose Centre, held recently in Clarendon said that JSIF was the only Government agency in the English-speaking Caribbean to have this honour.
The ISO 14001: 2004 is an environmental management standard. It specifies a set of environmental management requirements for Environmental Management Systems (EMS).
Designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact, the standard helps organisations to protect the environment, to prevent pollution and improve their environmental performance.
Mrs. Kidd-Deans said that through the standard, the JSIF would seek to strengthen the overall environmental management procedures, achieve improved environmental performance and demonstrate its commitment to continuous management and process improvement.
She assured the residents that the works to be carried out in the community would take the environment into consideration while avoiding cost overruns.
Member of the Bucknor Concerned Citizens Benevolent Society, Etwal Coleman, while pledging to honour the citizen’s 10 per cent contribution to the projects in sweat equity, charged JSIF to ensure that the works were of the highest standard and was completed within the set time frames.
Construction of the approximately 600-square metre multi-purpose centre is slated to last for 12 months and upon completion, will comprise of a meeting hall, library, shops, kitchen, office and restrooms, while the rehabilitation of water systems, roads and storm infrastructure, will be carried out over a 18-month period.
Both projects are to be undertaken at a combined value of $100.5 million.