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ISO 14001 Countdown

ISO 14001 Countdown

25th July 201723rd December 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Countdown to ISO 14001 Many businesses have put in an Environmental Management System (EMS) to manage impacts, reduce costs & increase efficiency. It can help win business too, as many customers expect their suppliers to have one in place. If your EMS is certified to the international standard, you need to update it to the new ISO 14001:2015 standard by September 2018. See here for more details of the main requirements of the new standard. Here are my top tips for the countdown to the ISO 14001 deadline: 5 - Mind the Gap Start with a Gap Analysis of your current EMS to find out where you need to focus your attention. 4 - Don’t Do it Alone You may be isolated, so engage with colleagues from across the organisation & senior management to get a leadership boost. 3 - Know your Risks & Opportunities Use a PESTLE Analysis to help plan your strategy; it’s important to know the risks & opportunities facing your business in the future. 2 -...

Awards winning tips

Awards winning tips

19th July 201721st December 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Tips on How to Win Awards - A View from the Judges' Table What's the best way to promote your company's achievements on the local, regional or national stage? There are many, many business awards around now; do you take advantage of them? Just entering an award scheme has many benefits. It’s an excellent learning experience & satisfying too putting the application together - show the best parts of your business & share your achievements. Also it’s a good opportunity to look outwards, at the competition, what customers are looking for, what best practice is. Position yourself as a leader. At the awards ceremony, finalists get their name up on screen in front of the numerous guests. Why not bring your staff along to say thank you for their hard work? For the winners - not just a glittering trophy, it’s the prestige, the recognition for all of the company & it’s great to be able to use the strapline ‘award winning company’. I've...

Global Goals

Global Goals

11th July 201721st December 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Making Global Goals Local Business I attended a seminar recently with the United Nations on The Global Goals - the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. The Goals are going to transform our world, so creating opportunities for businesses to use new models, deliver new products & services into new markets. The 17 SDGs have been adopted by the UK & the other 192 Member States of the UN. They call for economic growth, innovation, affordable energy & upgraded infrastructure, as well as providing a path to end extreme poverty, fighting inequality & protecting the environment. The Goals are to be adopted and delivered by governments, partnerships, businesses & individuals - relevant at the national, regional and local level. Environmental management compliments well many of the Goals. This is clear in areas like Goal 13 Climate Action & Goal 11 Sustainable Cities & Communities. But it is also integral to Goal 8 Good Jobs & Economic Growth, Goal 3 Good Health and Goal 12...

Getting started – EMS

Getting started – EMS

12th June 201721st December 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Top Tips on Getting Started - EMS I see a lot of great speakers at environmental conferences, sharing their experiences & inspiring us to do the same. However I find most companies out there are right at the beginning of their environmental management journey and need help with the basics. They can’t identify with the work done by say M&S and Unilever, it’s just way out of their league. Hence my support of them to put in an Environmental Management System. It may not be ground breaking to some of us, but to them it’s invaluable. How to get started… Get your data together and understand your baseline - energy, waste, water, transport. Calculate your carbon footprint - it’s a great way to communicate with staff & customers, plus you set your targets from this. Write an Environmental Policy - show your commitment to managing your impacts. Develop an Environmental Management System - the processes to manage impacts, find cost savings & comply...

Chair at edie Live

Chair at edie Live

30th May 20175th November 2020 By admin Comment Closed

Chair at edieLive Last week I chaired two sessions at edieLive, the UK's leading two day energy, sustainability and resource efficiency event for businesses. Taking place at the NEC, it welcomed thousands of people interested in environmental & energy management - businesses, consultants, suppliers, students alike. We were all there to learn, to network & improve our industry. In the afternoon, I chaired the Resource Efficiency theatre session “Putting the O in H2O - Where is the opportunity in water?”. We had great presentations from L’Oréal & IHG - Intercontinental Hotels Group, about the work they’d done to integrate water efficiency into their businesses. At the hotels, clearly water in kitchens & bathrooms was key. Whereas for L’Oréal it was the water within the products & in the manufacturing processes. See my blog for edie.net earlier this year on this. Earlier in the day at edieLive, I chaired the “Getting under the skin of an energy manager” session (photo above is a view from...

Green Growth 2017

Green Growth 2017

22nd February 20175th November 2020 By admin Comment Closed

Green Growth 2017 - Report from the Chair I was very pleased to chair the recent Green Growth 17 Conference in Brighton. Green Growth 17 was organised by the Green Growth Platform, an initiative run by the University of Brighton to promote the environmental & low carbon sector. Zoe Osmond, Director, told us that since starting in June 2014, the GGP has attracted 740 members – a mixture of supplier of environmental products & services, & other businesses who wish to improve their environmental management. 130 new green sector jobs have been created, plus 70 students & graduates are working with members, on projects, research & marketing. The objective of Green Growth 17 was to inspire & enable members to connect, innovate & grow. Slides from the conference speakers are available, but I thought I’d share some of the key points I noted during the day. Tara Dean, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Brighton gave the welcome, sharing some of the UoB’s...

Overcoming the Challenges to Environmental Management

Overcoming the Challenges to Environmental Management

20th December 20167th September 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Overcoming the Challenges to Environmental Management There are many challenges to environmental management in business, some external but more often coming from within. Here are my thoughts on overcoming some of these challenges. Make it your USP and gain competitive advantage Customers and clients expect their suppliers to do an element of environmental management, from carbon footprint calculations to ISO 14001-certified Environmental Management Systems. So take the initiative: use it as your USP to differentiate yourself from your competitors; show customers you reflect their values, and use this to win business. Overcome your short-termism Most organisations (private & public) tend to focus on the short-term - budgets, pay-back periods, share price, terms of office, KPIs etc. To truly understand the risks & opportunities for your business, thinking a bit longer term makes sense. A sustainable business should engage with everyone it works with to look at, and reward, longer-term results. Why exclude energy efficiency projects that have a pay-back period of 2 years? Why aren’t the...

ISO 14001 Success

19th October 201622nd August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Roband demonstrates environmental leadership Roband Electronics is pleased to announce that its Environmental Management Systems (EMS) has been successfully recertified to ISO 14001 - and this time to the new ISO 14001:2015 standard. The EMS is used to manage impacts, reduce risk, identify opportunities for cost savings and address customers’ needs. Carbon emissions have been reduced by 2%, waste by 5% and electricity by 9%. The new ISO 14001 standard has extra requirements, including a strong focus on leadership & alignment to the business strategy. ESHCon guided Roband through the transition process starting with an ISO 14001 Gap Analysis. Based in Charlwood near Gatwick Airport, Roband is an independent British company specialising in the design, development, manufacture and support of electronic power supplies. Roband is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Andrew Gold, Managing Director of Roband, said: “Our ISO 14001 system has been useful in getting our staff involved & showing our commitment to environmental protection. I am delighted with the team’s achievements.” ESHCon’s Director...

ISO 14001 Survey

ISO 14001 Survey

29th September 201622nd August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

ISO 14001 Survey Every year the ISO (International Standards Organisation) conducts a survey on usage of the various standards. The results for 2015 have recently been released. In the UK the total number of ISO 14001 certifications stood at 17,824, a rise of 8% over the previous year. The trend has overall been a steady increase, although there was a small fall in 2014. A 17% rise has been seen since 2010. Worldwide, there are 319,754 certifications, a 1% rise. As the new 2015 standard had only been introduced in September 15, there are understandably very few certifications to this (46 compared to 17,778 for ISO 14001:2004). ISO 50001, the standard for Energy Management Systems, has seen a dramatic increase in 2015, up by 289% to 1,464 certifications. This was no doubt due to ESOS where ISO 50001 was one route to compliance with the legislation. Both standards lag far behind the standard for quality ISO 9001, which has a total of 1,033,936 certifications worldwide...

Save Water

21st September 201622nd August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Free Water Saving Devices for SMEs Southern Water are offering non-domestic customers (including SME businesses, schools, charities, parish councils) to whom they supply water, free water saving devices. A free visit is offered from an experienced water expert who’ll assess your water use and prescribe a number of water efficient products that will be fitted for free. These include automatic urinal controls, water-efficient shower heads, dual flush mechanisms & Save-a-flush bags for toilets, and tap flow regulators. Controlling water use in urinals, so that it only flushes after use (and not each time the cistern fills), saves around £100 per year in water costs. The programme is being focused on certain target areas within our supply area and each visit will be for a period of four hours. All products that are fitted will work with existing taps, showers and toilets and alongside behaviour change advice will lead to ongoing savings on utility bills. To register an interest and to find out if you are in...

What is an EMS?

What is an EMS?

21st September 20164th January 2018 By admin Comment Closed

ISO 14001 - What is an Environmental Management System? All companies should be thinking about embedding environmental management into their business processes. An environmental management system (EMS) is a system to actively manage your impacts and comply with the law. This can be a simple system, or something more formal, developed to the international standard ISO 14001. With over 300,000 certificates issued across the world, ISO 14001 is the best known standard. Organisations start out on this for a variety of reasons: Customer expectation - Customers now expect suppliers to demonstrate commitment to their own values. Often, through tender documents, they will ask for carbon footprint, policy or ISO 14001. Competitive edge - Showing how their EMS makes them better than their competitors. Legal requirements – They may come under legal reporting requirements, be on the Environment Agency’s radar or are simply aware of the range of legislation that applies to them. Cost savings - With ever increasing costs and pressures on the...

Automatic meters

8th September 20166th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Automatic meters on the way Are you an electricity-using business? More than likely! Then new legislation probably applies to you. A new OFGEM regulation called P272 will affect all businesses using electricity meters in profile classes 05 – 08. By April 2017 you must use automated meters, and these meters must send regular half hourly usage data to energy suppliers. This will mean that you will know what your consumption is by the half hour (like 00 profile meters do now), which is useful for monitoring usage patterns & identifying efficiencies. As a result, to remain competitive energy suppliers will need to introduce time-of-use tariffs, with lower rates available for energy during off-peak hours. First check your energy bills to see what profile class you have. This is the first two digits of your S Number, on the uppermost row. Then, speak to your energy supplier or energy broker who may be able to help you. Return to Homepage Contact Me or Email Me...

GDB Chairman

GDB Chairman

1st August 20167th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

GDB Chairman Gatwick Diamond Business - Supporting & empowering local business Established for over 60 years, Gatwick Diamond Business GDB has been the leading voice for business and commerce in Sussex and Surrey. Representing business across the South East, we provide a united voice to influence local and central government issues. A member of GDB for a number of years, I still find it is the best membership group for businesses, always meeting new & interesting people, making useful contacts and finding great opportunities. For the past 3 years I have served on the Executive Board and now I am very pleased to be made Chairman. Our plans for GDB are to build on existing successes, to expand upon the real value of membership, make connections between members & provide a voice and lead on important regional issues. I am also pleased to welcome Debra Vice-Holt of the University of Brighton as Vice-Chairman. With the Executive in place and now welcoming the new staff to the...

Water Deregulation

Water Deregulation

22nd July 20167th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Water - The Choice is Yours In 2017 the water industry is being deregulated in England and Wales. So, as with electricity and gas supply, businesses will be able to choose their own water provider. Large business customers (consuming >50,000m3 of water a year) already have that supply choice and indeed businesses in Scotland have had retail competition since 2008. By having a choice of provider, it is expected that business customers will see savings, discounts and more attractive payment terms, plus providers are likely to help you improve water efficiency. All businesses and other organisations (not households) will be able to shop around for their water and sewerage suppliers from April 2017. The water coming out of your pipes doesn’t change, it’s really just who you pay! Water users with high spends or lots of sites with low spend are likely to see the biggest potential gains. What you should do now You may be able to switch supplier now - review your current water...

Ecodriving training

Ecodriving training

18th May 20165th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Ecodriving training To save money when driving it’s not just down to your choice of vehicle – your driving techniques make a big difference in fuel efficiency. Being heavy on the pedals. Not thinking ahead. Not using gears correctly. All these increase fuel consumption and make for a less smooth ride. Can your company benefit from ecodriving training? Ecodriving training can help provide: reduced fuel consumption and carbon emissions increased MPG by up to 15% reduced risk of vehicle accidents reduced vehicle wear and tear get your staff involved in your environmental work. “Since the training took place, fuel consumption has reduced across our fleet by more than 20 per cent. Some of which is from efficiencies gained from our vehicle replacement programme, which accounts for about 8% of the fleet per annum, but the remainder is generally felt to be from better driving practices. When a fleet uses about 200,000 litres of fuel a year, as we do, this soon adds up.” Rob Newman, Service...

ESOS – Time Flies!

ESOS – Time Flies!

22nd July 20157th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Time Flies! ESOS – 2 Months and Counting With less than 2 months until the deadline for the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme, businesses need to get going on this urgently. The date to notify the Environment Agency of your compliance is 5th December 2015. Remember even if you’re not a large company, you may still need to participate in ESOS because of others in your corporate group. There are 3 stages to ESOS: measure energy consumption, conduct energy audits & report compliance. As the clock is ticking, you should have by now collated energy & transport data for your reporting period (1 year which includes 31st Dec 14). Data should be in kWh for elec/gas, litres for fuels, maybe miles for business travel – and it needs to be validated. Many companies are finding this a bit of challenge, especially transport. Then schedule the energy audits as soon as possible, these should cover your significant energy consumption and recommend improvements for saving energy. Most Lead ESOS...

SusLive

SusLive

29th April 20155th November 2020 By admin Comment Closed

Sustainability Live Well I had a busy few days at Sustainability Live recently. SusLive is the leading UK exhibition for energy technologies and services, taking place over three days in April 2015 at the NEC. I used the time to network with a variety of contacts – suppliers, clients and partners. It’s always good to catch up with people there in an informal setting. Plus I was busy ‘on the stage’ so to speak. I gave two presentations and chaired a session in one of the Energy Efficiency theatres. These workshops and seminars were designed to offer practical guidance and advice about implementing sustainability and energy management initiatives. ISO 50001 and 14001 – Making the Connection With ISO 50001 a route to compliance under ESOS, many companies are interested in putting in an Energy Management System to this standard, but don’t know where to start. My first session covered the connections between this and ISO 14001. There are many links in how the systems work,...

ISO 14001:2015

11th March 20156th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

What’s new with ISO 14001? ISO 14001 is the best known standard for environmental management. There are over 300,000 certificates issued across the world. It has been 11 years since ISO 14001 was last reviewed and the new standard has just been released - an exciting time for the environmental management industry. ISO14001 systems will need to: Cover not only your impact on the environment, but also how the environment (external conditions) affects you Be integrated into the business, not a standalone system or just a tick-box exercise Have more involvement from senior management, showing leadership Cover supply chain and products in use, as well as direct operations. Include the views of wider stakeholders Have higher quality data management and focus on environmental performance. There will be a transition period of up to 3 years for organisations to certify to the new standard. It is wise to start thinking about it now. It’ll make your transition smoother and you’ll see the benefits sooner. I am working...