LEYAL insists upon an ongoing commitment from all employees to a high standard of safety and health, expecting all its contractors to follow the same high standards. Moreover, LEYAL's commitment to the environment is paramount and is demonstrated daily by the Company's ship dismantling and recycling practices.

In recent years Turkey has made significant steps towards harmonizing its legislation with relevant EC Directives towards Turkey's preparations for EU membership. More specifically, and in relation to waste management, all the requirements and provisions of the Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste (OJ L 377 31.12.1991) have been introduced into the Turkish national legislation related to hazardous waste management (BLHWC), except the provision related to reporting to the Commission (Art. 8 of Directive). Moreover, the full list of hazardous waste and the concentration limits laid down in 2000/532/EC have been adopted by the By-laws of Hazardous Waste Control (BLHWC), as per Annex VI and VII, including mirror entries. The progress of the Turkish waste legislation is clearly reflected in the annual European Commission enlargement progress report which states that "Transposition of the acquis on waste management is already well advanced. Alignment with the [EC] Waste Framework Directive is high and the Hazardous Waste Directive has been transposed."

To ensure proper planning for the treatment of hazardous materials on board a vessel, LEYAL employs a well-trained team of experts that inspects the vessels prior to the commencement of any dismantling operation. The role of this first team is to identify, mark and organize the removal of hazardous materials present on board the vessel. A pre-demolition cleaning team is then utilized whose role is to contain and remove hazardous materials from onboard the vessels. Depending on the nature of the waste, it is either immediately disposed of through the use of nationally certified disposal companies, or it is temporarily stored in dedicated storage areas, to be delivered to certified disposal firms at a later date. All the waste management related operations are coordinated from LEYAL's newly erected Environment Management Center (EMC), and controlled by the regional office of the Ministry of Environment.

LEYAL's sensitivity for safe environmental ship dismantling and recycling is not limited to applying current best practices, but is also reflected in ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification its holds since 2006. Being at the forefront, LEYAL is also participating in the European Union R&D Funding Program for the development of improved alternative vessel dismantling techniques and procedures, as well as environmentally sound management procedures for the removal, temporary storage and disposal of hazardous materials.