Blackmores ISO Consultancy Service: The creators of isology®

As a leader in its field, Blackmores have worked in collaboration with the Brewery over the last 5 years, firstly with implementing ISO 9001 and ISO 20121 and then providing on-going support through our ISO support Plan.  So I’m delighted that Arantza (Quality Assurance Director for The Brewery) has joined us today to share with our ISO Show listeners her experience and ISO Journey, along with hints and tips for making events sustainable.

Here are a few highlights:

1. I know that you have been with The Brewery for many years, please could you share with me your journey to implementing ISO 20121 and ISO 9001?

ISO 9001 provided the structure

Socially responsible organisation, one of the first organisations in the UK to be certified to ISO 20121.

Profit, people and planet, the three pillars go hand in hand at the Brewery

• Why choose to be certified to ISO 20121?

Help to be more sustainable, also looked at ISO 14001 the Environmental Standard.  The social and economic was important, ISO 20121 gave a more holistic.  With ISO 9001 it helped to provide a structure to bring together all the elements that were in place.

• What are the main benefits?

Two main benefits that we hadn’t considered, not as a company we have more awareness of how our operations have an impact not only for clients, but stakeholders and are socially responsbible i.e. neighbours.  We have to consider how everything that we do, how to negate any negative affects.  Have to be sustainable not just to reduce plastic,

Benefit – commitment from staff, agency staff.  The issue can be a lack of commitment due to the short-term period of employment which is based around events.  Any  issues have to be investigate, find the route cause,

Interestingly, Arantza has used the Corrective and Preventive action clauses, to improve communications to prevent any issues from happening again.  Now, any issues are raised straight away and management are informed, therefore there is greater trust and empowerment, as issues are not only being raised be staff, but staff are saying why and what can be done to correct the issues. This has helped to develop a culture of continual improvement.

• What would you say you’ve learnt from the experience of implementing ISO 20121?

The standard tells you what to do not how to do it.

Engage the team, support and explain to staff the reason why.

• What top tip would you give to someone implementing an ISO Standard?

Consider how we affect the social network of the company to be sustainable. 

If you’d like to learn more about what The Brewery does – visit their website!

If you need assistance with ISO 20121 – we’d be happy to help.

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The Events industry in the UK is worth £39.1 billion – accounting for 30% of the UK visitor economy. This includes music events, sporting events, exhibitions and various festivals and cultural events.

It’s awesome that this is so great for the economy, and for people getting together to have a great time, however, the sad fact is that the lack of sustainability in events these events is having a devastating impact on our planet.

According to the stats from WRAP – Many events only recycle around 15% of waste from events – the rest goes to landfill

The Music Industry alone created 23,500 Tonnes of waste a year, and only 32% of that is recycled

Recognising that something needed to be done about this wasteful industry a standard for sustainability events was created by the events industry for the events industry known as ISO 20121.

Just to give you a bit of background, ISO 20121 is 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 capitalizes on the more positive impacts through improved planning and processes.

So this standard started out as a British standard – BS 8901 in 2009. This was when we first got involved with implementing the standard for events companies and venues that hosted events.  But it wasn’t until the Olympic Games 2012 in London, that the standard really made its mark.

I think this really helped to push the topic of sustainability to the top of events management companies agenda’S.

I understand that 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.

One of the many questions we get asked is about the scope of certification

So let me just talk you through the options here:-

Venue – i.e. Wembley Stadium

Organiser – Events Management company or just a company that organises or hosts a lot of events.

Want to learn more about ISO 20121? Take a look at our Steps to Success.

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

• Share the ISO Show on twitter or Linkedin
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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

Need assistance with ISO 20121? We’d be happy to help, simply Contact Us.

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