Inga Lapiņa

Integrated management systems towards sustainable and socially responsible organisation

Integrated quality, environmental, occupational health and safety management systems (IMS) are well known and deployed by various industries with different level of success. Still, a very limited number of theoretical and empirical research focuses on the interrelation between IMS and sustainable development. The authors consider IMS a tool for implementing the concept of sustainable development at the organisation level. The aim of the paper is to analyse how IMS should be designed so that it can be used for building a socially responsible organisation that contributes to sustainable development. Several research methods, such as the analysis of academic and professional publications, and logical and comparative analysis are applied in this research, and a survey on the depth of IMS integration was developed and distributed among organisations in Latvia that have an IMS. The survey revealed that understanding of IMS complexity, its integration levels and possibilities varies. Limitations of the theoretical research are that quality management (ISO 9001:2008), environmental management (ISO 14001:2004) and occupational health and safety (OHSAS 18001:2007) standards-based integrated management systems were used.

Risk analysis in certification process in the field of energy construction: case in Latvia

Due to the fact that competence evaluation is the biggest challenge at present and faulty operation of electrical equipment and construction or maintenance of low-quality dangerous electrical equipment may cause serious risks, there is a need for professional qualification certificate stating the person’s competence in the sphere. The study aims to analyse the main risks that can occur in the certification process of energy constructors in order to develop possible solutions for the improvement of the process. Identification of risks in the performance of the certification process of energy constructors was made using the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis and the Delphi method. These methods were also used to find out which areas of certification service organisation need to be developed in order to improve the quality of the work performed and increase the satisfaction with the final result of the service provided. The study discloses the main risks that can occur in the certification process of energy constructors and how to use tools of risk management in order to transform them into new opportunities. Research is focused on the certification process performed by the Latvian Association of Power Engineers and Energy Constructors.

Institutional attention to European policy agendas: exploring the relevance of instrumental and neo-institutional explanations

This article addresses how European policy initiatives in higher education, research and innovation are diffused in the European higher education research and education area. Based on an instrumental and an institutional perspective, specific expectations are developed as to how policy diffusion might unfold, and, through an in-depth analysis of the strategic plans of 19 higher education institutions in Latvia and Norway, the article identifies factors that potentially mediate European policies into the strategic agenda of universities and colleges. The findings show that European Union membership and policy area seems to matter for the attention given to European policy initiatives, while administrative capacity at institutional level have less or quite mixed effects. The article concludes that both instrumental and institutional perspectives are of value in explaining how European policy diffusion takes place.

Evaluation of Market Surveillance Implementation and Sustainability

The establishment of global value chains requires changes in the approach to market surveillance. Intermediate inputs have become an important part of the world trade, particularly as they are increasingly being sourced through imports rather than domestic production. The nature of internal markets combined with the effects of the global supply chain makes it increasingly necessary to adopt a truly coordinated approach to market surveillance. Market surveillance practices among the European Union Member States and worldwide differ by each country. Within the European Union it is the responsibility of each individual Member State, which has different resources, priorities and legislative framework, to develop and sustain their internal market surveillance. Different countries around the world develop their own standardization arrangements and start to produce more products that only conform to their own safety standards. The aim of this chapter is to analyse approaches to market surveillance through different product groups, in order to evaluate the differences between the sectors and countries.

Sustainability in Conformity Assessment: Flexibility of Technical Harmonization

The beginnings of the European Union (EU) can be attributed to the desire to promote mutual cooperation and trade in order to support production facilitation. This chapter aims to present recommendations for the improvement of the technical harmonization and conformity assessment system based on the evaluation of the existing approaches. The necessity for assessment of the existing technical harmonization approaches arose in line with the development of manufacturing and technologies, changes in management strategies and development of global value chains (GVC) where different stages of the production process are located across different countries. The research mainly employed qualitative research methods: analysis of regulations and binding documents, logical constructive analysis and comparison, interviews with experts. The authors have established an interrelation between the technical harmonization approaches and are proposing to adopt a new approach—the Technical Harmonization Approach. Through that authors encompass all elements that are essential for product quality assurance and conformity assessment to facilitate product global supply and distribution. In addition, the authors propose to adopt unified requirements for metrology and conformity assessment of products when they are in use within the EU single market. In order to facilitate the application of requirements, the authors have grouped them and propose to separately regulate each of these groups. Through that authors propose development of post sales activities. The development of methodologies of technical harmonization approaches would facilitate the work of manufacturers and other stakeholders; it would promote manufacturing of qualitative products as well as sustainable development of entrepreneurship. It is suggested that the results of this research can be used by a number of stakeholders: manufacturers, traders, consumers, etc. At the same time, the results can be used as a basis for further improvement of technical harmonization approaches and sustainability of conformity assessment that would facilitate global trade and help manufacturers to participate in GVCs.

Certification of Persons: Empirical study in the field of energy construction in Latvia

Abstract The development of the energy sector is an essential precondition for a sustainable growth of the national economy; therefore, the national energy policy is directed not only to the promotion of competition and efficient use of energy resources, but also to an increased security of power supply. Due to the fact that faulty operation of electrical equipment and construction or maintenance of low-quality dangerous electrical equipment may cause serious risks, there is a need for professional qualification certificate stating the person’s competence in the sphere. The aim of the study is to analyse the certification process of energy constructors and evaluate the compliance of competence assessment and implementation of supervision of the constructors’ independent practice with the requirements laid down in the sphere of electric power in order to develop possible solutions for the improvement of the certification process of energy constructors. The authors’ study allows assessing the certification process of energy constructors from the customers’ point of view, i.e. finding out what is important to the certified construction specialists, not to the certification bodies or supervisory authorities. The results of the evaluation show that the construction specialists’ requirements for the certification service performance are not fully met and there exist some challenges to be solved to ensure the professional competence of persons to be certified with the requirements laid down in the particular industry.