ESHCon regularly sends out an e-newsletter to contacts – here’s the latest from June 2017.
Countdown to ISO 14001 & Support
Stepping out of your comfort zone
Last month I attended edieLive, the UK’s leading two day energy, sustainability and resource efficiency event for businesses. I chaired two sessions, on water management and energy, and I also spoke about how ISO 14001 could help energy managers step out of their comfort zone.
There are many things make a manager uncomfortable & I considered three: Communicating; Risk management; & Other (non energy) activities. Using ISO 14001 helps address each of these issues.
See here for a summary & findings of my sessions.
Because most organisations are still early on in their environmental journey, they need a bit of hand-holding. Hence I use ISO 14001 to give them a formal structure to achieve their objectives.
World Environment Day
5th June was World Environment Day. I saw a lot of tweets & stories, mostly about connecting with nature, so I put together a few thoughts in tweets:
The environment is not just about nature, it’s about people: our interaction with air, water, land, flora & fauna. Our everyday actions affect all of these – but us as well.
And it’s not just about our impact on the environment; it’s the environment’s impact on us. Affecting our health, our economy, our lives.
For #WorldEnvironmentDay here are ESHCon’s 15 Top Tips to get your business started on its environmental management journey.
And remember the words of Mark Twain … “Plan for the future because that’s where you’re going to spend the rest of your life.”
Clean Air Day
Then later on in the month was #NationalCleanAirDay. So that day, I left the car at home & walked to the conference I was attending (~4 mile round trip). It was a beautiful sunny day, I got some exercise & had time to listen to an audio book about business planning. I call that a win!
Cou
ntdown to ISO 14001
If your EMS is certified to the international standard, you need to update it to the new ISO 14001:2015 standard by September 2018. Here are my top tips for a smooth transition.
Many of the companies I speak to are finding the leadership & lifecycle elements cause the biggest challenges. Use a PESTLE Analysis to help plan your strategy & understand the risks & opportunities facing your business in the future.
Mentoring programme
Last year I joined the student mentoring programme at the University of Sussex, where business people are linked to students of the School of Business, Management and Economics. I have found this a very rewarding experience, helping young people set goals & plan their lives ahead. If you’d like to get involved, the next training session is 2nd October.
Other News
Renewables on the rise
Earlier this month, renewables generated more electricity than coal and gas in Great Britain for the first time.
Water retail market switch
In the first two months after the water industry was deregulated, 22,539 supply points have switched water retailer.
Small units leak testing
Under the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015/310, an exemption ended in Jan 2017, so that equipment containing less than 3 kg of F-Gas will now need to be leak tested, although no frequency of testing is given. Check out your asset registers.
A Decade of Delivering
10 years on from its launch, Plan A addresses the key environmental, social and ethical challenges facing M&S.
How technology is tackling food waste
With over 600,000 tonnes of food a year sent to landfill in the UK, the food manufacturing industry is looking to innovation & technology for addressing food waste.