You are a buyer and you have to take societal and environmental criteria into account in your tenders and orders for office furniture.
You are a buyer and you have to take societal and environmental criteria into account in your tenders and orders for office furniture. By trusting companies that have obtained the NF Office Excellence Certified mark, you opt for a responsible purchase and actively participate in a process of progress in your company or in your community. Unlike self-labels, the "NF-OEC" brand offers a guarantee of readability and impartiality guaranteed by AFNOR. Its framework is measurable and quantifiable. "NF-OEC" is therefore a major asset in the development of an exemplary sustainable purchasing policy.
These criteria must above all be measurable. They will be able to evolve over time because responsible purchasing is a young approach and teeming with ideas. The role of certification is not to be "fashionable" but to choose safe, sustainable and quantifiable criteria. They do not relate only to the product and its life cycle but to the couple "product more company". They can be grouped into four strong themes:
The manufacturer has demonstrated that it has implemented equity and diversity objectives at all levels of the business. These goals can be measurable in terms of completion or progress. These include, for example, gender parity, voluntary employment targets for seniors or those under 25, or the number of work-study contracts.
Like many criteria, compliance with existing EN (European) or ISO (international) standards is a prerequisite in this area. Added quantified indicators to demonstrate the willingness of the company to go further in its approach. Whether it is the existence of training in gestures and postures, a proactive policy in terms of prevention of accidents at work or collaboration with the CHSCT or other indicators, at least one of which is measurable.
The company is the place where a multitude of audiences with different expectations meet, employees, customers, communities, suppliers, residents ... Interacting is establishing relationships with all of the parties, evaluating them, analyzing feedback to make them converge towards a common approach to progress. The quality of the relationship with local authorities and residents, the existence of a consultation procedure with employees, the implementation of a joint approach with suppliers and the presence of satisfaction surveys with customers are assessed, for example. .
NF Office Excellence Certifié takes into account criteria to reduce the impact on the environment at each stage of the furniture life cycle. Raw materials, manufacturing, transport ... but also the end of use of the furniture and its recycling are assessed.
It is not enough that the company has adopted a societal approach, NF Office Excellence Certifié also guarantees that the fitness for use of the certified product is at least equivalent to that of other products of similar quality. The product must meet safety requirements (impact resistance, fire performance, electrical safety, etc.), durability in use (resistance to wear, good resistance to light and temperature, etc.), but also to the criteria of comfort and ergonomics: physical, aesthetic and practical comfort. The morphology of the users is quantified through anthropometric surveying campaigns. Manufacturers are taking studies to improve office ergonomics even further, through numerous innovations in materials, design and settings.
Choosing NF Office Excellence Certified is not necessarily synonymous with an expensive purchase. If we consider the costs throughout the life cycle of the product, we see that certified products often allow savings to be made while encouraging behaviors favorable to the durability of use. More generally, societal approaches translate into six virtuous effects favoring the creation of additional values for the company or the community:
The FCBA Technological Institute is responsible for impartially evaluating the conformity of products and the company according to the benchmarks downloadable from this site. NF Office Excellence Certifié translates a voluntary approach by manufacturers, who are all referenced on this site. You can therefore contact them easily. You can also use the interactive office furniture catalog in the FIND [DV: lien vers recherche certificat en FR] section and use the documents allowing you to better draft your specifications according to the most recent advances in environment and social responsibility.
Public and private buyers, to help you write your specifications, FCBA provides you with various tools for download: To not forget anything: a standard grid and concrete examples
Model:
CCTP description sheet
Examples:
CCTP office chairs
CCTP office furniture
* To be completed: a commitment model based on societal and environmental criteria
Model: Commitment to comply with environmental criteria
Glossary: Societal criteria and sustainable development
* NF Office Excellence NF certified standard: NF-OEC
For more information, you can reach Stéphane Dolique (FCBA): stephane.dolique@fcba.fr