Going green just got easier with EMS Easy: September 2009

EMS Easy

A south-west based media company employing fewer than 10 staff has become the latest business certified under environmental management standard ISO14001, using a toolkit simplifying the process and making the standard more accessible to small businesses. For larger businesses the toolkit offers greatly reduced implementation costs compared to traditional methods.

Environmental charity Global Action Plan is now delivering EMS Easy training in the UK enabling companies of all sizes to achieve internationally recognised standards - ISO14001 or EMAS.

The idea behind EMS Easy is that it simplifies the process of certification by replacing a paper-based approach to managing environmental performance, with something more visual and intuitive, which takes as its starting-point ‘what is happening on the ground’.

The toolkit shows that the entire management system documentation can be a tenth of of any other system and implementation takes only 4-9 months, compared with the usual 15-18 months.

Four of Global Action Plan’s clients have achieved ISO14001 using the toolkit in the past year – none of them employing more than 50 staff – dispelling the myth that environmental management standards are the sole preserve of large organizations.

It is actually easier for small businesses to achieve ISO14001. At the end of the day, their operations are simpler; there is less bureaucracy, less management levels, less hierarchy, less employees to get on board. Thomas Store, Senior Sustainable Business Consultant, Global Action Plan

No business is too small to achieve ISO14001, we currently have one client who runs a website-based company from her bedroom. Previously businesses needed substantial spare staff capacity and/or to buy in consultancy time.

EMS Easy reduces the staff and consultancy time needed and subsequently reduces the cost of implementation. EMS Easy is also proving to be much easier for businesses to understand and, importantly, engages staff more effectively, increasing the chances of successful accreditation.

Another option for businesses was to use the phased implementation approach according to the British standard BS8555 where by companies could split up implementation of ISO14001 and get recognition on the way. EMS Easy takes a company directly to ISO14001, potentially in less time than needed normally and without the additional certification costs BS8555 can entail.

Another company Global Action Plan have helped is Cornish based Line-X Protective Coatings, who became the first company in the UK to achieve certification using EMS Easy.

Despite being a small company, Line-X has just 5 members of staff, the results were significant. They included a 75% reduction in water consumption, a 30 per cent reduction in electricity usage, a saving of 10,000 vehicle miles with an associated 12 tonne reduction in CO2 emissions.

Add to this the fact that Line-X now exceed legislative standards in pollution prevention and maintenance procedures and this illustrates how even the smallest companies can gain an environmental and financial advantage through the process.

Until now, achieving and maintaining your environmental standards to this level would have required a full time employee. However, the EMS Easy system is so easy to use — you just fill in the blanks and keep an eye on things each month to make sure you're up to scratch. Helen Smith, finance director at Line-X

Recent research carried out by the Government gives further credence to the belief that certification could help give businesses a competitive advantage. This research found that 95% of large construction firms would favour subcontractors with green certification. The main reasons given were a reduced risk of prosecution and a belief that overheads would be lower.

As a large construction firm, we have our own set of robust green policies in place and provide environmental training for workers. However, it is essential for subcontractors to understand the value of having their own environmental policies rather than relying on the principal contractor. This gives them an added advantage in a competitive tender and saves them money. Stuart Rowe, Contracts Executive at Ellmer Construction

This is further backed up by Bernard Keogh, MD for building contractors Arque Construction, who have also completed EMS Easy through Global Action Plan.

Waste management in the construction industry is notorious. I’ve always been concerned by the high levels of rubbish that end up in landfill. I was reminded by the improvements that were being made when I worked with architects who said they only worked on sustainable projects; there was clearly a growing market for them. But I was moved into decisive action about three years ago whilst completing tenders for work where you had to pre-qualify by having green credentials in order to apply. Bernard Keogh, MD, Arque Construction

EMS Easy is all about making permanent and lasting change in the workplace and this involves changing attitudes and behaviour. Implementing such change in the workplace has many direct benefits as already discussed but it also has other “softer” benefits. Staff feel more valued and included in business decisions and by changing their behaviour they also start to make changes at home.

The EMS Easy toolkit was developed by Heinz Werner Engel as part of an EU funded programme to enable companies, of all sizes, to achieve environmental certification to ISO14001 and the European standard EMAS in a straightforward and simple way.
Global Action Plan is a training organisation for EMS Easy and worked with 35 clients so far, more than any other EMS Easy registered UK organisation.