The Vasa Museum, the Maritime Museum in Stockholm, and the Naval Museum in Karlskrona, all of which are part of the Swedish National Maritime Museums agency, have together become the first museums in Scandinavia to become certified to the international standard ISO 14001:2004. This was achieved as a result of the hard work carried out by the Swedish National Maritime Museums agency, over the course of many years, to reduce its negative impact on the environment.

The Swedish National Maritime Museums chose Intertek as their certification body. With the help of Intertek's services, customers can be assured that their management systems are efficient and continuously improving.

"It's always more interesting to certify companies that are highly committed, and also within industries that have not previously been certified. During the audit, the Swedish National Maritime Museums brilliantly demonstrated how it has adopted the new way of thinking within environmental management. They're well on the way to creating three green museums," said Ebbe Ombäck, an environmental management systems auditor at Intertek.

"The environment is one of the most significant global issues. We can make a contribution by setting a good example and showing our visitors our commitment to the environment, not least at the Vasa Museum, which attracts a large international crowd with over a million visitors every year," said Robert Olsson, Managing Director of the Swedish National Maritime Museums.

Here are some examples of changes that the Swedish National Maritime Museums has implemented:

• Waste: All the waste produced by the three museums' offices, workshops, and restaurants is collected and sorted, and has been for several years now. Environmentally-friendly alternatives are requested when making purchases and in procurement processes. 
  
• Training: In 2008, all employees received training on environmental issues and the environmental management system. 
  
• Chemicals/fuels: All hazardous chemicals are exchanged for environmentally-friendly alternatives when possible. For example, they have changed over to using biodegradable coatings on all of the Naval Museum's barks and smaller museum boats. "The Swedish National Maritime Museums have already reduced this by a further five percent over the course of this year, and the aim is to become even better," said Kristin Mizer, the agency's Environmental Coordinator. They are also working to reduce the museums' total consumption of fossil fuels, hazardous chemical products, and paper in the long-term.
  
• Transportation: An important environmental objective is to reduce the amount of travel by air between the museums in Stockholm and Karlskrona by ten percent in 2009.  The agency's service vehicles have been replaced with electric or hybrid vehicles, and the entire motor vehicle fleet will be green before the end of the year.
  

Contacts
For further information, please contact:

Intertek
Emma Hogbrant, EMEA Marketing Manager - Systems Certification
Telephone: +46 (0) 8-750 00 00
emma.hogbrant@intertek.com

The Swedish National Maritime Museums
Robert Olsson, Senior Curator
Telephone: +46 (0) 706-65 69 24
robert.olsson@maritima.se

Kristin Mizer, Environmental Coordinator
Telephone: +46 (0) 709-66 68 26
kristin.mizer@maritima.se

-ends-

About Intertek
Intertek (ITRK.L) is a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world. From auditing and inspection, to testing, quality assurance and certification, Intertek people are dedicated to adding value to customers' products and processes, supporting their success in the global marketplace. Intertek has the expertise, resources and global reach to support its customers through its network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and over 23,000 people in more than 100 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.intertek.com.

About the Swedish National Maritime Museums
The Swedish National Maritime Museums is a Swedish state administrative agency that comes under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. It is responsible for the Swedish national museums that have a maritime focus. The task of the agency is to preserve and develop maritime cultural heritage as well as to increase knowledge about it. The Swedish National Maritime Museums includes the Maritime Museum and the Vasa Museum in Stockholm as well as the Naval Museum in Karlskrona. To find out more, please visit www.maritima.se.