The creators of isology®

Sustainability should be a top priority for any business going into 2023. The last few years’ worth of extreme weather have proven that action needs to be taken now to protect our future. But where do you start?

While there are a lot of great ideas out there, it’s becoming increasingly clear that a standardised approach is needed to keep everything on track. Which is where ISO Standards come into play – having been promoted heavily at the last few COP conferences, there are a whole range of environmental Standards to help businesses manage and reduce their impact.

One of the most popular being ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), which was adopted by the subject of today’s interview – dotdigital.

dotdigital is an online marketing company who specialise in email and SMS marketing automation, tailoring customer experience and providing solid data analysis tools.

Mel is joined by Steve Shaw, Chief Product & Technology Officer at dotdigitial, to talk about the positive impacts following on from their successful ISO 14001 implementation, and to explain some of their fantastic sustainable initiatives introduced over the past few years.

You’ll learn

• Who are dotdigital?
• How do dotdigital manage their Environmental Management System?  
• What are dotdigital’s sustainable initiatives?
• What have they learned through the implementation of ISO 14001?

Resources

• dotdigital
• Creativity Inc – by Ed Catmull
• ISO 14001

In this episode, we talk about:

[01:07] Listen to our previous interview with dotdigital – where we discussed their ISO 27001 (Information Security) certification.  

[01:32] An introduction to Steve Shaw – He is the Chief Product & Technology Officer at dotdigtal, who oversees a lot of their innovators (which comprises of software engineers and those involved with product development and support). He also manages the various acquisitions for the group.

[03:15] Who are dotdigital? Dotdigital have been around since 1999, they have evolved and adapted to join the growing SaaS market. They provide a range of automated marketing solutions in addition to a customer experience and data platform. They recently celebrated reaching 400 employees and have become AIM listed.

[03:52] What can dotdigital’s platform do? Data collection and analysis to build a profile for single or groups of users. This data can then be used in combination with AI and machine learning to create a tailored digital journey with a brand.

[05:15] How do dotdigital manage their current ISO 14001 certified system? – Their Management System is an integrated Management System, which provides the business with a central hub to work from. They have an established team who are tasked with the management of their ISO system (this is not a dedicated role for anyone in that team). Part of their role involves looking at the businesses aspects and impacts to see where the biggest consumption of energy is happening, measuring this consumption and setting objectives to help reduce this where possible.

[06:51] dotdigital was the worlds first carbon neutral marketing automation platform that was ISO 14001 certified. They also aim to be net zero by 2030!

[07:10] They have a relatively small footprint as a primarily digital based company, only really having to consider the running of computers, air conditioning and standard office facilities. So it can be a challenge to reduce!

[08:30] What led to the success of dotgreen? – dotdigital launched a group called dotgreen, which has since thrived into a community of likeminded individuals all working together to improve and reduce dotdigital’s impact. They were fortunate to have an Executive group sponsor who can take ideas and suggestions to other leadership for consideration. This grassroots group encourages suggestions from everyone – no idea is a bad idea. Over time, the group evolved and helped to develop a sustainability programme for the business.  

[10:30] What was one of the initiatives implemented from dotgreen? – They identified that existing data centers used by the business weren’t always utilising renewable energy. So, over the course of 2 years, they worked with Microsoft to build on their Azure platform to enable dotdigital to make the switch. Azure runs on renewable energy sources, and any remaining emissions can be offset through carbon credits.

[12:00] A green option for their customers – As a result of their cloud platform now being run through green partners, they can extend the environmental benefit to their customers.  

[14:00] A sustainable culture shift – The introduction of dotgreen, it’s initiatives and the success of certification to ISO 14001 fostered a shift in the businesses culture. It spread to all aspects of the business – even resulting in their marketing team making the decision to not send out Christmas gifts and instead used the money to buy credits for tree planting. 

[15:25] What is dotvoice? – Another pillar in the internal mechanisms of dotdigital. This voluntary group look at how they can promote awareness of different issues. One such example was organising interviews to celebrate the women in tech at dotdigital for International Women’s Day.

[17:10] Adapting – Like many businesses, they had to adapt over Covid to allow for home working. Following on from feedback, they have kept up with hybrid working. This means that meeting in-person usually becomes a big event! They ensure that all employees are taken care of, even creating another pillar called dotwellbeing to offer mental health support.

[21:53] Through the use of dotgreen and dotvoice, they promote voluntary days to assist with local initiatives and charities (many of which are their clients – such as the Woodland Trust).

[23:20] What have dotdigital learned over the years of maintaining an ISO 14001 certified system?

• Don’t rush for certification if it can be helped, take the time to put the right people and resources in place to start the process.
• It can be beneficial to enlist the help of a third party to guide you through your first Implementation.
• ISO 14001 helped to put tools in place to measure aspects and impacts – which in turn assisted with their SECR requirements
• Manage your system centrally. ISO Standards should be embedded into the business

[23:20] Steve’s top tips: Get leadership support, look for passionate individuals to get involved, let the Standard guide you and don’t be afraid to set lofty goals.

[23:20] Steve’s book recommendation: Creativity Inc – by Ed Catmull

[23:20] Steve’s favorite quote: “The only constant in life is change” / “Some people want it to happen, some wish it could happen and others make it happen”

You can find out more about dotdigital via their website.

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A question that we get every single time somebody asks about an ISO standard is ‘how long does it take to implement an ISO’, or ‘how long does it take to get certified to an ISO’?

In this episode, you’re going to find out what you need to take into consideration when it comes to timescales for implementing and getting certified to an ISO standard. ISO 14001 (the environmental standard) will be used as an example, but don’t worry -this can be applied to most other ISO standards.

So, are you looking to help your business? Create a system for success? To be kind to the planet, and improve your company’s brand reputation? Then we’re going to be talking about realistic timescales for making this happen.

If you’re ready to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) to help reduce your company’s damage to the climate, then you’re in the right place!

First and foremost, make sure you download our FREE ISO standards blueprint here. This helps you to plan, create and launch your EMS, ready for getting certified.

Now, let’s dive into finding out about timescales for your ISO project!

What you’ll learn:

• Timescales for your ISO project
• The different variables involved with an ISO project
• Scope of your certification
• The assessment processes

The short and sweet answer is that most businesses take between 6 to 12 months to get certified. But it depends on the size of your organisation and the complexity of it.

Let’s get to know the different variables involved with this project because there is actually a way that you can implement any EMS in a much quicker timescale (we have had companies that have achieved this in less than three months!). And in fact, you can achieve this also by going to www.isologyhub.com (our new online portal), where you can go at your own pace.

The main thing is to have a clear plan, which is well organised and disciplined. It’s worthwhile optimising both your internal and external resources. That would include your environmental champions, or your ISO coach (if you have one) if you’re looking at using the isology hub as well because that could have a detrimental impact on the timescales allowed. So, if you’re wondering what you should be doing, then it’s definitely worthwhile either getting help from someone that does know what they’re doing or finding other people within the business who have a bit more knowledge about environmental management and ISO 14001.

Now for larger organisations, it can take longer. You may take up to 12 months or even longer than that. What you need to do is consider breaking the project down into incremental phases. So, let’s say you had 10 locations across the globe. You may decide to break that down into incremental phases so that you get certain locations certified in year one, and then you can have other locations included in the scope of certification in years two and three. So, don’t think that you have to implement an EMS and get certified across all locations and services. You can go at your own pace. But ultimately, the scope would be for whatever you have set in your objectives for achieving implementation. What we do find is that some businesses implement an EMS across the entire organisation, but they might just get certified for a part of that business (this covered in a previous episode, where we look at assessments and getting quotes for certification as well!).

Remember you can extend your scope of certification at any time. It can be revisited at the annual surveillance visits that you get. Ultimately you want to build your ambitions, your objectives, and your targets for environmental management and achieving certification into your sustainability roadmap.

Now, it was mentioned earlier that you could fast-track creating an EMS, but you do need to establish a time to gather evidence and make sure that the system is working and is effective. So, when you’re planning your launch just make sure that you’re effectively targeting all key stakeholders (all stakeholders must be aware of this). And the general rule of thumb is to allow three months past the launch to make sure that your system is fully established because when it comes to certification, your certification body will expect to see some evidence and records. So, let’s say, within your EMS you say that you have provided training for employees. You need to be able to show the evidence of that on the records and that doesn’t happen overnight (obviously). So, with monitoring and measuring information on your environmental footprint, you need to allow time to do that. Ultimately what you’re doing is proving that you ‘walk the walk’, and you will allow plenty of time to demonstrate that you’re serious about reducing your company’s environmental footprint.

Finally, one of the things that a lot of businesses don’t really take into consideration is the time allowed for the assessment.  Make sure that you have briefed your employees ahead of the dates of an assessment. Essentially, ensure you consider the timescales for your stage one and stage two assessments.

Let’s find out what’s involved in the assessment process…

Typically stage one is completed first, and then stage two could be within a few weeks or up to a couple of months after. You need to manage timescales so you can go through stage two relatively quickly. You just need to allow a few days in case there are any findings and if you need to implement any corrective action! Once you’ve completed the assessment, you’re not actually formally certified as an organisation. There’s a due diligence process that takes place behind the scenes with the certification body, and it can even take several weeks before you actually get a copy of the certificate. Try and factor that into your overall planning, if you’re looking at having a communications plan for celebrating your success, that’s why six months is typically a good timescale.

A final factor to bear in mind is that if you’ve already got a management system in place, you could potentially fast-track the integration of ISO 14001 if you’re developing an integrated management system.

Now, hopefully, that’s been helpful to you for implementing an EMS and getting certified to ISO 14001.

Remember the isology hub is now live, so feel free to join as a member to get access to all the support that you need on our online membership portal. It’s the one and only go-to place for all things ISO. We’ve got video tutorials, check sheets, quick wins, and we’ve even got a module on timescales as part of the Planning stage. We take you through all seven stages of isology, in the isology hub. There’s everything that you need in there to create, launch, and build your ISO system for success. So head over to www.isologyhub.com!

And finally, don’t forget your FREE ISO standards blueprint here, where we cover timescales and there’s even a planner within it on timescales which you can use to get your ISO management system kick-started.

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

• Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

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There are many resources to consider if you are planning to implement ISO 14001 to ensure that the project is successful, including time, people, finance, infrastructure, technology, and suppliers.

The resources you’ll learn about in this episode includes:

• Time
• People
• Finance
• Infrastructure
• Technology
• Suppliers

Time

The amount of time you spend on the Environmental Management system (EMS) will pay back in dividends once you’ve achieved certification. So, if you apply minimal effort and commitment, that’s what you’ll get out at the end! You need to allow time for how much waste your business is producing and the environmental life cycle analysis of your products and services, so that you have an easy to manage EMS. 

People

The most successful 14001 projects involve leadership commitment, a project leader, and environmental champions.

Let’s find out exactly what this means…

Project leads: The project lead will be responsible for planning, creating, implementing, compliance, and the overall delivery of the implementation project.The isology hub is a great place for the project leader to gain a deeper understanding of ISO 14001!

Environmental champions: It can be tremendously valuable to have a group of people who are passionate about helping to make your company more environmentally friendly. It works really well if you can get a cross-representation from across the key functions within your business.

Finance

One of the aims of the isology hub is to provide a low-cost ‘Do it yourself’ (DIY) solution to implementing an ISO 14001 EMS. Should you find that you are struggling for time, and have extra budget for support, then there is an option to upgrade your membership to the ‘ISO Coach’ level. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to have an ISO Coach for 6 months to take you through the seven isology steps, or you may simply wish to outsource to a consultancy firm such as Blackmores UK Ltd, the team behind isology.

Infrastructure

Through implementing an EMS, your aim is to reduce costs associated with your buildings, activities, equipment, and supply chain. Many opportunities for reductions are no-cost or low-cost solutions i.e., ‘Switch-off’ Campaign, switching to renewable energy, printing double-sided, or (even better) not printing at all!

Technology

Try and use the current technology you already have within your business to your advantage i.e., communications channels and apps. Some organisations choose to implement software to assist them. 

And now finally…

Suppliers

Many of your suppliers will be able to provide essential support and evidence to support your environmental initiatives. These can include facilities management and waste management, for example.

If you would like any help implementing ISO 14001, then make sure to sign up to the isology hub waitlist. This is a game-changing innovation in the ISO standards field. All the resources that you need on ISO 14001 will be available on www.isologyhub.com.

And let’s not forget your FREE ISO standards blueprint to kick start your EMS! You can download this here.

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

• Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

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The aim of this episode is to have a clear plan for your ISO System for Success – from choosing the ISO Standard, to branding and establishing a place where everyone can access the system – so that you can move onto creating your ISO System.

You’ll learn about:

• Setting your expectations
• Deciding which ISO standard(s) and scope
• Getting leadership buy-in
• Resourcing
• Choosing a certification body
• Creating a Project Plan
• Deciding on branding of your ISO system
• Establishing a ‘home’ for your system
• Creating a Communications Plan
• Identifying your current level of compliance

1. Set your expectations
2. Clarify why you want to achieve an ISO certification
3. Identify what you’ve already got in place
4. Decide on your goals for the set time
5. Shortlist which ISO Standard (s) to implement
6. Decide whether ISO Certification is the right choice

• Decide which ISO Standard(s) and scope
• Research your standards options
• Identify what your stakeholders are seeking reassurance for
• Brainstorm where your operational weaknesses are
• Where do you need to raise standards within your business?
• What would be beneficial from a Sales and Marketing perspective?
• Establish the scope of your system
• Decide what your scope of certification will be

• Get leadership buy-in
• Validate your ISO initiative
• Present the benefits and ROI
• Establish timescales and resources

• Resourcing
• Establish project sponsor
• Establish a project lead
• Establish your ISO Champions
• Consider getting assistance i.e., at www.isologyhub.com

• Choosing a Certification body
• Get quotes from an accredited Certification body
• Review the costs of certification over the 3 years your certificate is valid.
• Check if the Certification body has experience in your sector for the standard you are interested in.

• Create a Project Plan
• Establish roles, responsibilities, accountabilities
• Establish Project milestones
• Decide on timescales for project milestones
• Identify key dependencies

• Decide on the branding of your ISO system
• Decide how you want to position your system within the company
• Choose a name for your system
• Choose your system branding

• Establish a ‘home’ for your system
• Where will your system live?
• Identify how employees will access the system
• Decide if the system is to be integrated with other systems
• Determine how you would like employees to get the most from the system

• Create a Communications Plan
• Establish what you are going to communicate, when, how, and with whom
• Brainstorm ideas for your Launch
• Start to consider the communication of your success once your company has achieved certification.

1. Identify your current level of compliance
2. Purchase a copy of the ISO Standard
3. Review your company policies and procedures against the requirements of the standard
4. Create an Action Plan with responsibilities and timelines for the completion of tasks.

Hopefully, that’s helped understand what’s involved at the planning stage of introducing an EMS.

If you would like any help implementing ISO 14001, then make sure to sign up to the isology hub waitlist! This is going to be a game-changer in the ISO standards field, which is why we won the support of the UK government through their sustainable innovation grant. All the resources that you need on ISO 14001 will be available on www.isologyhub.com. So, click on the link to join the waitlist to be notified of when you can get access to our online membership portal. It is the go-to place for all things ISO. We’ve got video tutorials, check sheets, quick wins, eLearning courses, and just about everything you need to create, launch and build your ISO system for success.

Don’t forget to download your FREE ISO standards blueprint hereto get your EMS kick started!

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

• Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube |iTunes | Soundcloud

If you’re wondering where to begin with strengthening your environmental credentials, a great way to do this is to implement ISO 14001. This is a world-leading standard for businesses on environmental management.

In the last episode, I shared with you what an environmental Management System (EMS) is. So, if you haven’t heard that yet, I’d recommend that you have a quick listen before listening to this one because it’s essential listening, it provides an overview of what an EMS is.

Now, I’m going to just provide a high-level overview of ISO 14001. But if you’d like to get all the resources on implementing ISO 14001, then the isology hub membership is the place to go. It has everything that you need, including video tutorials, downloads, workbooks, check sheets, and also a stack of training classes as well to help you to create your very own bespoke ISO 14001 compliant EMS. We’re super excited to be launching this game-changer in ISO standards. So, if you don’t want to miss out, go over to the membership site, which is www.isologyhub.com to join the waitlist, and don’t forget to download our free ISO Standards Blueprint here, which provides you with all the information that you need on the key steps to plan, create, launch and get certified to an ISO standard.

Let’s dive into ISO 14001!

What you’ll learn:

• The purpose of ISO 14001 and why it exists.
• The structure of the standard (including the key clauses)
• Key ISO 14001 principles
• Key benefits of ISO 14001

Let’s start right back at the beginning…

Key purpose of ISO 14001

• This standard is a specification. It’s a document that you can purchase online, which provides a framework for actually building an EMS

• An EMS is to provide a framework to help support any organisation to improve its overall environmental performance and provide a sound basis for sustainable development initiatives.​

• It’s designed to embrace continual improvement, and enhance operational performance, which is similar to any other ISO standard. So, if you’ve already got an ISO standard in place, the chances are that you’re in a really good position to integrate the elements of ISO 14001 because there are quite a lot of similarities.

The structure of ISO 14001

• The first 3 clauses within the standard are actually auditable.
• Clause 4 is all about understanding your organisation and its context.
• Clause 5 is leadership commitment. This is all about leadership and commitment, roles, responsibilities and authorities.
• Clause 6 is the planning stage, which is all about addressing actions to mitigate risks, and enhancing your opportunities as well.
• Clause 7 is called support. This is actually around things like resources, both physical, processes, facilities, competence, and awareness.
• Clause 8 is all about operations. So, these are your operational controls for reducing your environmental footprint, and also having controls in place for things like emergency preparedness, and how you respond to an environmental incident.
• Clause 9 is performance evaluation. So, once you’ve got your operational controls in place, it’s really important that you evaluate the effectiveness of those controls.
• Finally, clause 10 is the improvement clause that focuses on non-conformity, corrective action, and continual improvement​.

So, by just running through that briefly, you’ll probably be thinking, “oh yeah, well we’ve got that and yep we’ve got that too”…but it might just not cover environmental management. So, that’s where you need to make those tweaks and changes.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with ISO standards you might be thinking, “well that’s pretty comprehensive”. And yes, it is actually! It does provide you with a holistic framework for managing environmental performance.

Key principles of ISO 14001

Now, looking at the key principles then of ISO 14001…ultimately, it’s down to:

• Protecting the environment by preventing or mitigating adverse environmental impacts​
• Mitigating the potential adverse effect of environmental conditions on the organization​
• Assisting the organisation in the fulfilment of compliance obligations​
• Enhancing environmental performance​
• Controlling and/or influencing product and services design, manufacturing, distribution, consumption, and disposal, using a life cycle perspective​

So, those are the fundamental principles of ISO 14001. If you’re focusing on achieving certification to this standard, then you really need to focus on clauses 4 to 10 of the standard. These are the elements that are implemented within your business and they are the areas that the independent third-party body will be looking at when it comes to your stage one and stage two assessment.

There’s a lot more advice and information on that over at www.isologyhub.com, which provides a full list of the key and essential documents, what is desirable and provides examples of those using templates, guidance, and training.

So, to wrap up…

What are the benefits of ISO 14001?

• Reduced costs due to less wastage​
• Simplified and effective documentation​
• Improved sales and marketing opportunities​
• Improved communication and morale company-wide​
• The acquisition of a symbol representing the internationally recognised environmental standard ISO 14001.​

If you’d like all the resources needed to implement ISO 14001 yourself or if you’d like to join one of our ISO 14001 six-month coaching programmes, we’ve got seven places available! So, head over to www.isologyhub.com to find out more, and don’t forget to download your FREE ISO Standards Blueprint here. 

I look forward to catching up with you on the next episode, where I’m going to be sharing with you how to plan your ISO 14001 implementation project!

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

• Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

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 An exciting announcement about a game-changer in the world of ISO standards was made in the last episode….which was about the isology hub!

What you’ll learn:

• What is the isology hub?
• What is an EMS?
• what is inside an EMS?
• Which documents must you include?
• Examples of Documented Information include
• What can an EMS help with?

Let’s have a little reminder…

What is the isology hub?

It’s a Netflix version of unlimited ISO standards support, which includes videos, checklists, sample policies, templates, plus many other things such as eLearning courses! You’ll get access to binge-worthy content to help you raise your game and take your business to the next level.

So, what is it that makes the isology hub such a game-changer you ask?

Well, it’s a game-changer because it provides a DIY (do it yourself) solution to implementing an ISO standard. Our inaugural ISO Roadmap is for an Environmental Management System (EMS). So, in effect, it’s a roadmap for you to implement an ISO 14001 EMS.

Over the next few episodes, I’m going to be sharing with you some of the topics that we cover in the isology hub in terms of ISO 14001. We have an ISO 14001 roadmap, and we kick off by explaining what an EMS is, and we feature step by step, specific actions that you can take to make your business more sustainable and take it to the next level!

But before I kick off with explaining what an EMS is in this episode, I’d just like to announce that we have an awesome ebook guide for your ISO project.

And it’s free of charge!

It’s called the ISO Standards Blueprint simply go to isologyhub.com to download it for free. The great thing about it is that it’s a guide for any ISO standard. So that’s why the ISO Standards Blueprint is a blueprint for implementing any ISO standard.

Now, let’s dive into explaining what an EMS actually is…

What is an EMS?

• An EMS is a blueprint for how you run your business sustainably and be kinder to the planet.
• It provides a framework (a home) for your policies and procedures
• Helps you to identify and reduce its impact on the environment.
• A system to optimise your resources to be as efficient as possible
• Leads to reduced operational costs, and therefore increase in bottom-line profitability.

So…what is actually inside an EMS?

• Policies
• Procedures
• Documents
• Records

Which documents must you include?

• Where the standards say ‘SHALL’ you must obey….
• Scope and boundaries of the EMS (4.3)
• Environmental Policy (5.2)
• Environmental Aspects and Impacts (6.1.2)
• Compliance obligations (6.1.3)
• Environmental Objectives (6.2)

And…

• Documented information determined by your organisation as being necessary for the effectiveness of the Environmental management system.

Examples of Documented Information include:

• Aspects and Impacts Register  – captures your environmental footprint
• Roles and responsibilities – Who does what
• Operational procedures – How things are done
• Core ISO System procedures – document control, communication, Management Review, Internal audit – these all help you keep on top of the management of your business.
• Environmental legal register
• Risk Register
• Environmental objectives/KPI’s
• Environmental Policy
• Metrics to monitor and measure  – what do you need to monitor and measure that will help shift the needle in the direction you want to go.
• Meeting minutes
• Samples / Supplier records

In Summary…What can an EMS help with?

• Assign roles and responsibilities, and see exactly where there are bottlenecks,
• Ensure value-adding monitoring, measurement, and analysis of data, that in turn will assist the business to make better-informed business decisions,
• Identifies all the statutory and regulatory requirements – and helps keeps your business compliant and avoid reputational damage and fines.
• Understand where corrective action needs to be taken, and how this can be potentially avoided in future

Hopefully, that’s given you a snapshot of what an EMS is!

We go into this in a lot more detail in the isology which is where you’ll find everything you need to implement an EMS and achieve certification to ISO 14001

So, don’t forget to download your FREE ISO Standards Blueprint over at isologyhub.com

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:

• Share the ISO Show on Twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

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Richard Matheron is the Quality and Continuous Improvement Manager at BP Chargemaster. He’s had a long career as a quality professional and hands-on Manager, with his background mostly being in engineering and manufacturing management.

Currently, Richard is working for BP Chargemaster helping them transform themselves from an SME to an international world-class business. BP Chargemaster is the UK’s biggest name in electric vehicle charging. They design, build, sell and maintain the most popular charging units in the country, and have begun to expand their business worldwide.

Today, Richard is here to discuss his experience with implementing ISO 9001 (Quality Management) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management). These have been a fundamental component in his management of transitioning the company from an SME to an international organisation.

Richard explains why these ISO’s are so necessary, and why it’s so important that a company has someone who can focus on continuous improvement within their business. He reiterates the importance of people to not be afraid of change and discusses some of the most effective ways to carry out positive improvements within your organisation.

He explains the ways having a priority board and suggestion box can help to drive continuous improvement, and how often the best solution for an issue isn’t a complicated one but is one of the simplest…

Website: www.bpchargemaster.com

Mobile phone: 07813098736

Email: Richard.matheron@bp.com

You’ll learn

• How the demand for electric charge vehicles is changing. 
• The types of tax incentives and grants that are available for businesses who use electric cars.
• Why digital security is more important now than ever before.
• How to grow your business from an SME to an international organization.
• The most effective ways to drive continuous improvement.
• The best ways to track the effectiveness of new improvement measures.
• How ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 have helped Richard.

Resources

• Blackmores
• BP Chargemaster
• Egonomics

In this episode, we talk about:

[00:30] Who Richard is, what he does for a living, and what he’ll be sharing with us today.

[01:50] The types of dance that Richard teaches in his free time.

[03:44] BP Chargemasters position in the electric vehicle charging market.

[04:55] How demand for electric cars has changed over the last year.

[05:39] The tax incentives and grants that are available for businesses for using electric cars.

[07:14] What Richard does as the Quality and Continuous Improvement Manager at BP Chargemaster.

[10:05] The value of data and the importance of digital security.

[12:29] How to best manage a company that’s growing from an SME to an international enterprise.

[18:22] The way Richard drives continuous improvement at BP Chargemaster.

[20:43] What ‘8 D’ is and how it can help to identify the causes of problems and the best ways to improve on them.

[25:06] How Richard tracks the different improvements that he puts in place.

[27:27] The book Richard recommends to those working in the business world.

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We welcome back Derek for the final part in the ISO 14001 Steps to Success series, where we discuss hints and tips for ensuring that your Environmental Management System (EMS) is compliant and ready for your Certification Body Assessment visit.  The hints and tips include:-

• Develop an Internal Audit Schedule
• Thoroughly audit against the all the clauses of ISO 14001 including legal compliance
• Focus on revisiting where the gaps were identified in the Gap Analysis
• Ensure all employees have received communications on the EMS and forthcoming internal audits
• Typical findings from an audit and how these are interpreted – Major non-conformities, Minor non-conformities, Observations and Opportunities for improvement.
• What to expect in an internal audit and how to prepare
• Importance of speaking to the right people in the audit
• Typical areas of non-conformances – Operations and documentation
• Mistakes to avoid – Checking waste transfer documents
• Management Review – ISO 14001 is prescriptive in providing very clear input and outputs. This is typically completed via a Senior Management Meeting, and helps to review risks, performance against environmental objectives.

See further information of ISO 14001 Steps to Success If you are keen to get started today, we also have a FREE ISO 14001 Checklist for our ISO Show listeners, contact us today for your free copy. To help out the ISO Show:

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We welcome back Derek for the second part in the ISO 14001 Steps to Success Podcast, sharing key considerations for creating an Environmental Management System (EMS).

An average EMS is a 30 page manual – however others have a light touch – just a few pages and links to documents.  As Derek points out you don’t actually need a manual, however Derek recommends having a structure and a ‘helicopter’ view so that your environmental documents and controls can be easily accessed by employees.

ISO 14001 already has a structure – we only need to cover clauses 4.0 – 10.0 which does provide a structure if you are looking for one.  The EMS will include a scope – which is simply a description of what you actually do as an organisation.  It will also cover how you operate from an environmental perspective, including leadership commitment, monitoring and measurement of the environmental performance.

The onus doesn’t necessarily need to be on an ‘Environmental Manager’, as many businesses don’t need one. However, identifying and understanding roles and responsibilities is key and can be referenced in a Job Description/Organisation Chart and/or Process Maps to make it crystal clear ‘who does what and when’.

Controls need to be established to mitigate risk, and to control and minimise the environmental impact i.e. CO2 emissions of the organisation. Derek’s preferred method is to create visually engaging processes in collaboration with the process owners.  It’s always good to get operatives involved in the creation and implementation of the environmental system, as they will know exactly what waste the company is producing and how it can be reduced, which will in theory, ultimately result in cost reductions.

Once the EMS is documented, taking into consideration the culture of the organisation you need to keep looking at different methods of sharing and educating the workforce on how to reduce your environmental footprint.

See further information of ISO 14001 Steps to Success 

We look forward to catching you on the next episode of the ISO Show where Derek will cover the final episode in the series on how to implement ISO 14001.

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Join us on our ISO Show 3 part series on Implementing ISO 14001.  The leading global environmental standard, is still as popular as ever for businesses that are serious about acting responsibility and not just paying ‘lip service’ to ‘going green’.

Derek Hall, Senior Consultant at Blackmores shares the benefits and values of ISO 14001, including how putting good environmental management into practice can improve the bottom line.

The first step on the ISO 14001 journey is to begin with looking at what the company ‘wants’ and ‘needs’ and how this works with the associated interested parties i.e. employees, contractors and clients.  Following the ISO 14001 Gap Analysis,  the organisation will need some ‘breathing space’ to reflect on the findings, share the report with the management team, before planning the next steps.

Prior to creating the Environmental Management System (EMS) structure its worthwhile beginning with three key areas:-

• Identifying significant environmental aspects – Creating an Aspects and Impacts Register Review energy, waste, water, procured goods etc in relation to what the company does
• Understand the environmental legal compliance obligations – these need to relate directly to the organisations activities, locations and services delivered.
• Establish Environmental objectives – Once the environmental aspects and legal compliance requirements are understood, setting realistic objectives can help to reduce operational costs and give an organisation a competitive edge.

If you are keen to get started today, we also have a FREE ISO 14001 Checklist for our ISO Show listeners, contact us today for your free copy. To help out the ISO Show:

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The UK events industry accounts for 30% of the UK visitor economy generating £39.1 billion.  Yet, it is still incredibly wasteful, with only 15% of waste going to landfill.  Our ISO Show this week features Lucille Ryan, Sustainability Manager from Informa who provides an insight into how Informa reduces waste and demonstrates a commitment to sustainability to buck the wasteful trend in the industry.

As the world’s leading exhibitions organiser, with over 4,400 employees delivering over 550 international events and brands in more than 40 countries.  Informa, are raising the bar for sustainable events globally.

In the first quarter of 2019, Informa Markets took home an impressive amount of industry honours.  In total, the global exhibitions leader received 45 distinctions from a variety of industry networks.   

In our podcast this week we delve right into the Sustainable events standard ISO 20121.

To give you a bit of background, ISO 20121 was created by the events industry for the events industry. Applicable to any size organization that either runs or hosts events, and wishes to improve the sustainability of their events.  The standard provides a framework to establish, an event sustainability management system, which not only helps to reduce the negative impacts of events, but also capitalizing on the more positive impacts through improved planning and processes.

This standard started out as a British standard – BS 8901 in 2009.  Which was when Blackmores first got involved with implementing the standard for events companies and venues that hosted events such as Wembley Stadium.  But it wasn’t until the Olympic Games 2012 in London, that the standard really made its mark.  One of the key aims of the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012, was to leave behind a positive legacy in terms of economic, environmental and social benefits, with minimum material waste, energy consumption, or strain on local communities.

I hope you can join Lucille and I discuss Informa’s sustainability initiatives and how this is making a positive impact on the events industry.

If you would like to find out more about Informa, head on over to their website: www.informa.com

Their latest Sustainability report can be found HERE

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