Working for everyone’s safety: employees, customers and suppliers

Ceramics and stoneware are extremely fast and easy to clean and keep in perfect condition without the use of detergents and sanitisers which are harmful to people and the environment – in fact, a few little precautions is all it takes to guarantee the long-term protection and beauty of your tiles.

Porcelain stoneware floors and walls can be sanitised with steam or cleaned with warm water and an ordinary neutral cleaner or just an alcohol and water solution – products safe both for people and the environment.

In 2022, Marazzi Group became one of the first companies worldwide to achieve Certification under ISO 17889-1, the world’s first ISO sustainability standard for the construction industry. This standard, launched in 2021, is the first international standard which assesses the sustainability of tiles according to 38 qualitative and quantitative, performance, environmental, social and economic criteria. Products are assigned a score which analyses their entire lifecycle, from raw material selection to production, distribution and installation, through to use and end-of-life management, also assessing worker and consumer safety criteria. Only ceramic tiles which achieve a minimum score of 117.5 out of 130 can be defined as sustainable and thus receive certification.
This prestigious accolade, issued by Certiquality, demonstrates the company’s commitment to safeguarding the natural heritage and people, in line with goal 12 of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for responsible production and consumption.

We have adopted an occupational health and safety management system, based on the international standard ISO 45001, which guarantees a safer workplace for all employees and workers who operate within our premises, guaranteeing standards higher still than those laid out by Italian workplace health and safety regulations. The company is constantly investing in training and raising awareness in its personnel, in order to encourage a safety-based and rules-compliance culture in all work environments.

The ISO 45001 certification of the plants is an important recognition achieved in 2018 which bears witness to our commitment to preventing workplace accidents and occupational disease. The certification provides significant benefits, such as reduced risk of accidents, protection of workers’ health, reduced costs for managing accidents, and increased productivity.

Internal and external audits also help us maintain our focus on this area and monitor our progress.

The low-environmental impact inks, in use in the lines with digital ink-jet printing technology, have been designed in synergy with our ceramics district partners, and with the ink manufacturers who have been working in partnership with the ceramics industry for many years. These compounds do not generate harmful emissions, do not represent hazardous waste, and allow for a reduction in odorous emissions compared to traditional inks, thus representing a step forward in protecting the health and safety of our workers and the local community. In terms of sustainability, this new type of ink allows for reductions in odours due to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 30%, and avoids the use of natural gas-powered post-combustion systems, thus reducing CO2 emissions.

What’s more, we use water-based substances to affix the grits in the ceramic decoration process. These grits are glass particles which are applied to the ceramic surfaces to create porcelain stoneware with special effects. These adhesives, which are waterborne rather than solvent-based, reduce malodorous emissions by 70% and VOC emissions by 50%.

We guarantee the highest level of product safety to our customers thanks to rigorous quality controls and tests performed on every single ceramic product. Most of Marazzi’s collections have received GreenGuard Gold certification, the highest level offered by the GreenGuard program which guarantees the absence of hazardous emissions in indoor environments. UL -Underwriters Laboratories, the certification body which issues GreenGuard certification, is an independent non-profit founded in 2001 in the United States to develop a series of technical requirements for the certification of materials used in indoor environments.

Certified products meet very strict and exhaustive international standards requiring low VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions in indoor environments, contributing to reducing air pollution and the risk of chemical exposure. Certification also allows constructors to obtain points and credits for green building protocols.

The GreenGuard Gold standard (UL 2821 “GREENGUARD Certification Program Method for Measuring and Evaluating Chemical Emissions From Building Materials, Finishes and Furnishings Using Dynamic Environmental Chambers”) includes analysis of over 360 VOCs and requires lower emissions levels than the base GreenGuard standard to be met in order to guarantee that the products are suitable for use in highly sensitive environments such as schools and healthcare structures.

Transparency about the raw materials of natural origin we use to make our products is a priority for us. This is why we publish our Health Product Declaration (HPD): a self-declaration on the chemical composition of the product, managed by the non-profit HPD Collaborative, which allows users to assess the degree and type of hazard associated with individual components of construction products.

We have also signed up to Declare, a voluntary self-declaration programme that aims to steer the building materials industry towards healthier, more eco-friendly products through transparent ingredient disclosure, and also offering eligibility for LEED credits.

Our self-declared products are classified as “Red List Free”, i.e. they do not contain any ingredients on the Living Building Challenge “Red List” asno chemicals which pollute the environment, no chemicals which bioaccumulate in the food chain to toxic concentrations, and no chemicals harmful to production and construction workers.

NSF/ANSI 51 certification is issued by the American National Standard for Food Equipment – the independent organisation which certifies products for the food area in private and commercial catering – in confirmation of the quality and composition of the raw materials used to produce the large porcelain stoneware slabs.

NSF establishes the requirements a product must fulfil to ensure that it does not shed hazardous or toxic substances – such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead – into foods and is easy to sanitise and maintain.

The majority of Marazzi’s The Top slabs hold NSF/ANSI 51 certification, guaranteeing high international food safety standards for surfaces from the collection used as food preparation and work surfaces.
What’s more, the NSF/ANSI 51 certification marks guarantee that production formulas constantly comply with the specifications, since the certifying body may perform audits at any time without notice.

Our new antibacterial technology for ceramic surfaces is able to eliminate up to 99.9% of bacteria and other harmful microorganisms present on the product, keeping surfaces cleaner and making their daily care even easier. By incorporating additives that fight microbial growth in the initial product firing phases, we are able to guarantee the highest levels of hygiene, cleanliness and safety for our ceramics, without compromising on the aesthetics and technical qualities of the surfaces.

The bactericidal action is an irreversible treatment which guarantees durable bacteriological protection, and meets the strictest international standards. The silver ion technology used is completely harmless for people and pets and is not hazardous for the environment.