Blackmores ISO Consultancy Service: The creators of isology®

Today we’re joined by Paul Robinson, Managing Consultant at Blackmores. Paul is here to introduce the Energy Management Standard, ISO 50001, why it’s important and give you an overview of its basic structure.

What you’ll learn:

• Why energy management is so critical in the current climate crisis
• The main purpose of ISO 50001
• A summary of the clauses within ISO 50001

Why have an Energy Management Standard?

There’s a big focus on trying to maintain global warming to that 1.5 degrees increase. Right now, we’re failing on that. In order to get this back on track we need to consider our current energy consumption. During COP26 we heard a lot about phasing out coal power, unfortunately there are some countries who are resistant to that and as a result have had the requirements watered down. Regardless, energy use continues to rise as does the demand.

Energy Management is particularly relevant for organisations who want to measure their impact and put measures in place to reduce their environmental footprint.

Why is it so important to restrict Global Warming to 1.5 degrees?

It’s literally the difference between survival. We’re at a tipping point now, failing to stick to this 1.5 degrees will result in rising sea levels and rising temperatures. Paul shares his experience working in Cyprus where it’s not uncommon now for the temperature to reach 45 degrees. This isn’t sustainable and it will get to the point where it’s difficult for humans to survive if we keep going at this rate. 

What is the main purpose of ISO 50001?

ISO 50001 includes continually improving energy performance, energy efficiency, energy use and energy consumption. Building an energy management system will help you to understand, monitor and measure your use of energy, and like most other ISO’s, continual improvement is at the heart of ISO 50001. Key factors it addresses are energy performance, energy efficiency and energy consumption.

What are the main clauses of ISO 50001?

ISO 50001 went through it’s latest revision in 2018, aligning it with the Annex SL format that many other ISO’s use. The clauses are as follows:

• Clauses 1, 2 and 3 – Explanatory clauses

• Clause 4 – Context of the Organisation

• Clause 5 – Leadership

• Clause 6 – Planning

• Clause 7 – Support

• Clause 8 – Operation

• Clause 9 – Performance Evaluation

• Clause 10 – Improvement

That’s it from Paul this week! Join us next week as Paul breaks down each clause of the Standard and how it can be applied. For further information on ISO 50001, visit our Standards page Here. We also have an ISO 50001 Handbook available to members of the isologyhub, sign up here to grab a copy.

If you’re just getting started with ISO, we do have a free ISO Blueprint available for download to help you to plan, create, launch and get certified to ISO Standards.

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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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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:

• 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.
• Also available on Spotify and YouTube

I thought we’d take a step back in time, to explain how Blackmores began. Not by implementing ISO Standards, but by offering support to a company that was already certified to ISO 9001 – my employer at the time.  I share my journey as a working mum juggling two children and my role as a Quality Manager, which triggered my Eureka moment resulting in the launch of Blackmores in 2006.

In the podcast, I explain about the some of the pain points that many organisations suffer with ISO Standards, and how the ISO Support Plan service alleviates these issues.  Some of the issues facing businesses include :-

1. Internal auditors not being comfortable about auditing their peers.
2. Internal auditors not being particularly objective or impartial when auditing their boss!
3. Fed up with paying for training for a high turnover of internal auditors
4. Managers not having time to update processes
5. Managers not aware of their legal, regulatory or ISO Standards requirements
6. Not updating key information i.e. Risk Register, BCP’s, environmental/energy metrics
7. Not reviewing key information i.e. Objectives, Environmental/H & S/Data Security trends

If you find you’re juggling too many balls, and the ISO ball drops every now and then, our podcast explains the solution to keeping your balls flying high! For further information check out our ISO Support Plan page.

Find out more about Blackmores by contacting us today!

To help out the ISO Show:

• Share the ISO Show on twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
• Also available on Spotify

In our second episode in the ISO 9001 Steps to Success Podcast, Rachel Churchman explains in detail about how to create and launch your Quality Management System.  Here are 10 tips for implementation:

1. Collate, review and update all your existing policies and procedures.
2. Get Quality Champions to represent each function within the organisation – they know better than anyone else what the procedures are and how they can be improved.
3. Establish your company branding and document control, so all the documents have the same company branding, font size/type and that they are dated and clearly referenced.
4. Share and document ‘Best Practice’ to ensure you have a consistent approach.
5. Get approval and endorsement from the leadership team.
6. Publish your QMS so it is easily accessible to all employees – this could be via sharepoint, a Wiki, company intranet, manual or laminated process maps next to work stations/equipment.
7. Launch your QMS – have a ‘Quality Focus’ week, posters, screensavers, meetings agendas, email from the CEO – ensure all employees are aware of the QMS and its importance to the business, clients and to individual employees.
8. Ensure your sales and marketing team have all the relevant information they need about ISO 9001 and your QMS.
9. Inform employees of the next steps – Internal audits and the external assessment and how to prepare.
10. Get feedback on the QMS from employees and empower them to take responsibility for it – it is their Quality Management and is for their benefit.

I look forward to you joining us for the final episode of the ISO 9001 Steps to Success Series on the ISO Show, where we’ll be sharing tips on the final steps to implementing a QMS and preparation for the ISO 9001 assessment.

Listen to the ‘ISO 9001 Steps to success’ series by subscribing to us on iTunes or Soundcloud   

And click HERE for further information on our ISO 9001 Steps to success service

To help out the ISO Show:

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

Over the last 13 years that I’ve been running Blackmores, the most popular standard has been without doubt ISO 9001.  We’ve implemented the Quality Standard for hundreds of businesses large and small, so I thought this would be a great place to start with our first ISO Show series.  We are introducing for the first time a 3-part series, ISO 9001 Steps to success, which will take you through how to implement a Quality Management System – from initial idea through to assessment. 

Rachel Churchman is my guest on the ISO 9001 Steps to success series.  As a Managing Consultant at Blackmores, she brings a wealth of experience in implementing ISO Standards and will guide you through the Blackmores ISO Steps to success for the successful delivery of your ISO 9001 Project. 

In episode 1 Rachel highlights:

• Why ISO 9001 is so popular – it’s not just a Quality System…. It’s a ‘Best Practice’ system for running any business
• How to establish the scope of certification
• What is involved with a Gap Analysis to understand how compliant you are to ISO 9001
• Where the typical gaps are within a business that needs to be filled to pass an assessment
• What type of evidence you need to start to establish
• Who needs to be involved with the creation of the QMS

Rachel guides us through understanding how to get under the skin of a business to establish the context of the organisation. This includes establishing risks, opportunities and interested parties and provides some handy tips to achieve this: –

• External issues – PESTLE – Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal, Ethical and Environmental.
• Internal issues – SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
• Identify interested parties that are affected by or could have an impact on your business.

Listen to the ‘ISO 9001 Steps to success’ series by subscribing to us on iTunes or Soundcloud

And click HERE for further information on our ISO 9001 Steps to success service

To help out the ISO Show:

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

I’m really excited to be launching our new weekly Podcast – ‘The ISO Show’, which also features our recently updated website.  The ISO Show is the first of its kind to share ‘tips for success’, dispel some of the myths around ISO Standards, and help you to achieve certification.

Over the course of the year, we have a great line up of guests that I’ll be interviewing.  These are leading business people who have implemented ISO Standards and seen great success.  They will be sharing their experiences and tips to help you overcome any ISO related challenges and help you achieve your goals. 

There are millions of companies around the globe that are certified to ISO Standards, and the number is growing. As ISO Standards are for all businesses and sectors – from a micro business with 3 people to large multi-national blue-chip firms, we will be interviewing across a broad range of successful business

The ISO Show is for those people who haven’t got the first clue about what an ISO Standard is and are wondering what all the fuss is about, right through to highly experienced ISO Assessors and professionals who would like to gain an insight into new standards and views within the world of ISO Standards.

So why should I do this Podcast show?  Well, as the founder and Managing Director of Blackmores, the leading ISO Standards Consultancy firm in the UK I felt it was about time we heard from successful business on how they achieved their success through ISO Standards and, also for someone to have the balls to set the record straight about some of the myths around ISO Standards – even now when I visit businesses, and people talk about the original quality standard BS 5750 (many of which are still scarred by the experience I hasten to add) and expect the standards to be the same.  Well the ISO Show will help to set the record straight.

I’m also really lucky that I work with a FANTASTIC team of ISO Experts here at Blackmores, who will be sharing their experiences and knowledge on implementing management systems – we’ll have a number of ‘How to implement series’ on the most popular ISO Standards, which will take you through the implementation process, step-by-step, supporting you along the way.

However, to begin, the first few podcasts will be much broader as they apply to any business looking to be more successful, with the first one being – ‘How to win business with ISO Standards’.

Alongside the Podcasts, there will be free downloads such as checklists and guides available at wwww.blackmoresuk.com to further help you.  Please feel free to share these with your colleagues and also subscribe to the Podcast to get the latest hints and tips for success.  I look forward to catching you on the first ISO Show!

To help out the ISO Show:

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

Written by Melanie Blackmore