ISO 14001 | IMS International LLP Blog

Site Waste Management Plans (NI)

Sep 022011

The Department of the Environment Northern Ireland (DOENI) has consulted on proposals to make site waste management plans (SWMP) a legal requirement for certain construction and demolition projects in Northern Ireland.

The consultation closed on 11 March 2011. The regulations will be called The Site Waste Management Plans Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 and are expected to come into force in autumn 2011.

Who will the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 affect?

If you are involved in construction, demolition or excavation projects, with an estimated cost greater than £300,000, you will be affected by the new regulations and will be required to prepare a SWMP. The regulations will include all methods of construction, including civil engineering, modifications to existing constructions, site preparation, on-site pre-fabrication and work relating to utilities.

What is a site waste management plan?

A SWMP is a plan that details the amount and type of waste that will be produced on a construction site and how it will be reused, recycled or disposed of. The plan must be updated during the construction process.

There are additional requirements if the cost of the project is greater than £500,000.

Who will be responsible for the SWMP?

The client and principal contractor will be responsible for the SWMP. They must ensure sub-contractors employed on the site are aware of and comply with the key waste management controls.

What happens next?

The DOENI will consider the responses received to the consultation and use them to develop the proposals. The regulations should come into force in autumn 2011.

The above information is courtesy of Netregs.

Need ISO 14001 certification to help demonstrate you are legally compliant and maintain an Environmental Management System? Visit the IMS website for a free, no obligation quotation and further information on the requirements of the standard.

What is BREEAM?

ISO 14001 No Responses »

Aug 242011

BREEAM is an environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings and now has over 200,000 buildings with certified BREEAM assessment ratings and over a million registered for assessment since it was first launched in 1990. Many clients of IMS apply the BREEAM requirements to their management systems and in some cases have achieved considerable energy and cost savings by introducing the requirements.

BREEAM sets the standard for best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation and has become one of the most comprehensive and widely recognised measures of a building’s environmental performance.

A BREEAM assessment uses recognised measures of performance, which are set against established benchmarks, to evaluate a building’s specification, design, construction and use and will begin from the planning stage. The measures used represent a broad range of categories and criteria from energy to ecology and include aspects related to energy and water use, the internal environment (health and well-being), pollution, transport, materials, waste, ecology and management processes.

An initial assessment establishes the potential performance of the building and this is monitored and improved throughout the project to receive a full score at the end. The scoring mechanism is stringent and to achieve a good or excellent rating is a significant achievement.

A Certificated BREEAM assessment is delivered by a licensed organisation, using assessors trained under a UKAS accredited competent person scheme, at various stages in a buildings life cycle. This provides clients, developers, designers and others with:

market recognition for low environmental impact buildings,
confidence that tried and tested environmental practice is incorporated in the building,
inspiration to find innovative solutions that minimise the environmental impact,
a benchmark that is higher than regulation,
a system to help reduce running costs, improve working and living environments,
a standard that demonstrates progress towards corporate and organisational environmental objectives.

Clients, planners development agencies, funders and developers use BREEAM to specify the sustainability performance of their buildings in a way that is quick, comprehensive, highly visible in the marketplace and provides a level playing field.

Property agents use it to promote the environmental credentials and benefits of a building to potential purchasers and tenants.

Design teams use it as a method to improve the performance of their buildings and their own experience and knowledge of environmental aspects of sustainability.

Managers use it to reduce running costs, measure and improve the performance of buildings, empower staff, develop action plans and monitor and report performance at both the single building and portfolio level.

For Further information visit the BREEAM website

ISO 50001:2011-Energy Management Systems

ISO 14001, ISO 9001, News, OHSAS 18001 No Responses »

Aug 232011

ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems will establish a framework for industrial plants, commercial facilities or entire organizations to manage energy. Targeting broad applicability across national economic sectors, the standard could influence up to 60 % of the world’s energy use.

Energy is critical to organisational operations and can be a major cost, whatever the activities. An idea can be gained by considering the use of energy through the supply chain of a business, from raw materials through to recycling and thinking about not only the cost impact but the environmental impact.

ISO 50001 will provide public and private sector organisations with management strategies to increase energy efficiency, reduce costs and improve energy performance.

The standard is intended to provide organisations with a recognised framework for integrating energy performance into their management practices and can be integrated with ISO 9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001 due to its common elements.

For further information on the ISO 50001:2011 standard, download the publication from the ISO Standards website here

IRCA Registered ISO 14001:2004 Lead Auditor Course 25th-29th July

ISO 14001, Training 1 Response »

Jun 072011

Spaces still available for the IRCA Registered ISO 14001:2004 Lead Auditor course held in Redditch 25th – 29th July 2011.

To book a space contact IMS on 01376 500068 or email info {at} imsworld(.)org

EU and Indonesia sign deal on illegal timber

ISO 14001, Legislation, News No Responses »

May 132011

Indonesia and the European Union have finalised an agreement aimed at ending the trade in illegally-sourced wood.

The agreement will mean that EU companies will only be able to import timber that is certified as complying with Indonesian environmental laws.

The East Asian nation possesses some of the world’s most lavish forests, which in turn support spectacular wildlife.

Currently, European countries import about $1.2bn (£720m) worth of timber and paper from Indonesia each year.

This accounts for about one-sixth of the nation’s exports.

Last year, a major assessment concluded that the rate of illegal logging in Indonesia had declined by about 75% over the preceding decade.

Even so, it said, 40% of the timber harvested was illegal.

This was despite an initiative dating back to 2003 in which the government, alongside environmental groups and some companies, attempted to rein in illegal loggers, processors and exporters.

Meanwhile, the US and EU have recently stepped up measures designed to block wood and wood products of illegal origin.

Wood products as well as raw timber will be included in the measures

The US amended the Lacey Act so that companies are responsible for making sure their imports are legal, and the totemic Gibson guitar company is among those investigated as a result.

Last year, the European Parliament passed legislation with similar components, which comes into effect in March 2013.

Companies wanting to export to the EU will have to be able to track their products from forest to exporting port.

Independent auditors – yet to be appointed – will be charged with verifying that companies’ tracking is up to standard.

These auditors will report back to a joint Indonesian-EU committee.

Although only exports to Europe are covered by the agreement, the EU hopes that setting up the system will help Indonesia curb illegal logging and illegal exports across the board.

This information is courtesy of the BBC

ISO 14001:2004 IRCA Registered Lead Auditor Course

ISO 14001, Training No Responses »

Apr 132011

The next IRCA Registered Lead Auditor course for ISO 14001:2004 has been released, the course will take place on the 25th-29th July 2011 and will be held in Redditch.

For further information please see the IMS International website

Benefits of UKAS Accredited Certification/Inspection Bodies

AS9100, CE Marking, ISO 14001, ISO 9001, Notified Body, OHSAS 18001, Reliance Technical Service, Testing No Responses »

Mar 212011

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the Sole Appointed National Accreditation Body within the United Kingdom.

On the 9th July 2008 the EU Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted the EU Regulation 765/08 on Accreditation and Market Surveillance.

With effect from the 1st January 2010, the EU Regulation established a legal framework for the provision of accreditation services across Europe. The Department for Business Innovation & Skills appointed the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) as the UK’s NAB.

UKAS are signatories to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), the European Co-operation on Accreditation (EA) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC).

If you are responsible for ensuring your business is certified make sure the certification body you select is accredited by UKAS. UKAS Accreditation provides assurance in the market as UKAS accredited certification bodies operate to recognised standards. The accreditation process provides consumers with the confidence that the quality of the service they procure is of a consistently high standard.

Choosing a UKAS Accredited Certification and/or Inspection Body adds a number of benefits to your business which include:

de-risk your procurement by taking the guesswork out of choosing a certification body and by giving you the confidence that you will get the service that best fulfils your requirements;
win new business particularly since the use of accredited services is increasingly a stipulation of specifiers, most notably in the public sector;
facilitate access to international markets since UKAS accredited certificates are recognised throughout the world;
help you to identify best practice since your certification body is required to have appropriate knowledge of your business sector;
control costs with the help of knowledge transfer since accredited certification bodies can be a good source of impartial advice;
offer market differentiation and leadership by showing to others credible evidence of good practice;
demonstrate due diligence in the event of legal action;
reduce paperwork and increase efficiency by reducing the necessity to re-audit your business

IMS International LLP are accredited by UKAS (Certification Body number 078) for ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, AS9100 Rev B, AS9120 and ISO 9001:2008 TickIT.

Reliance Technical Service Ltd are accredited by UKAS (Inspection Body number 0430) for ISO 17020 inspections. Reliance are also a Notified Body (NB 2141) for the Safety of Toys for Europe.

Dongguan Testing Laboratory are accredted by CNAS (Testing Laboratory Number 3783) for the testing of toys to EN71 for the Safety of Toys.

For further information on the IMS group and the services we provide, visit our main website www.imsworld.org

Netregs Changes to Environmental Regulations

ISO 14001, Legislation, Tools of the Trade No Responses »

Dec 072010

The Government is bringing together all the information you need to run a business in one place for each of the countries within the UK.

Many of you are regular visitors to Netregs for obtaining information with regards to environmental legislation. Although Netregs will continue to operate and advise on environmental legislation they will no longer publish guidance on complying with the regulations.

For obtaining guidance you will need to visit the below websites:

These changes will be taking place over the forthcoming months

Evaluation of Compliance as part of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001

ISO 14001, Legislation, OHSAS 18001 No Responses »

Oct 052010

Clause 4.5.2 within ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 is often a weakness within an organisations system and in most cases the process is not fully understood. The European Co-operation for Accreditation produced a guidance document (EA-07/4) on this subject which can be downloaded here (EA-7-04) but some of the detail is shown below.

While certification of an Environmental Management System against the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 or OHSAS 18001:2007 is not a guarantee of legal compliance, (neither is any other means of control, including government or other type of control and/or legal compliance inspections), it is a proven and efficient tool to achieve and maintain such legal compliance.

Accredited ISO 14001:2004 or OHSAS 18001:2007 certification should demonstrate that an independent third-party (Certification Body) has evaluated and confirmed that the organisation has a demonstrably effective EMS or H&S to ensure the fulfilment of its policy commitments including legal compliance.

Certification Body auditors are required to audit conformity of an EMS or H&S to the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 or OHSAS 18001:2007. They are not required to make a direct evaluation of legal compliance since this is the requirement for the organisation nor is the auditor required to conduct a compliance audit, which would be the role of the environmental regulator or an auditor/inspector contracted specifically for this purpose.

It is the organisation’s responsibility, and a function of the EMS or H&S, to ensure that the organisation periodically evaluates compliance with each and every applicable legal requirement & it is aware of its compliance status. An EMS or H&S certified as meeting the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 or OHSAS 18001:2007 is expected to be able to identify the organisation’s compliance status.

The IMS auditor should be able to determine whether the organisation has established the necessary procedures and evaluated their legal compliance in sufficient depth to demonstrate legal compliance.

An IMS Auditor will evaluate the effectiveness of the organisations evaluation through:

sampling the organisation’s determination of compliance with examples of specific legal compliance
looking for evidence of compliance such as reviewing the waste transfer documentation
reviewing the organisations evaluation process to ensure that the process has covered all legal requirements
verify the capability of the evaluation, this may be through the competencies of the personnel performing the evaluations

The responsibility for legal compliance stays with the organisation, therefore the evaluation process you perform is significant to the effectiveness of your EMS or H&S Systems.

The evaluation process is similar to an internal audit process but the organisation should pay specific attention to the legislative requirements and if they are being effectively met.

As an example; waste transfer notes are currently required to be retained for 2 years for non hazardous waste and 3 years for hazardous, you also need to ensure that the organisation taking the waste is licensed and take the waste to a licensed facility for that type of waste. To evaluate compliance to this an auditor could select a number of waste transfer notes for the different types of waste streams within the organisation, ensure that the records are available, the person taking/collecting the waste has a valid waste carriers license and there is a copy of the waste management license/environmental permit for the disposal site which is valid for the type of waste received. The evaluation notes/evidence should be able to clearly demonstrate that documents and records have been reviewed and are satisfactory for ensuring legal compliance.

There is not necessarily a right or wrong way of evaluating your legal compliance but the auditor should have confidence in the system that you have implemented.

Free Construction Waste Management Workshops

ISO 14001, Legislation, News No Responses »

Sep 052010

The following information is taken from the Netregs website: Remade South East are offering free workshops for anyone in the construction business who needs help to improve how they deal with waste on site. Below are the course dates as per the netregs website, click on the registration hyperlink to book onto a course:

Event name	Date	Location	Registration details
Croydon Business Advice Open Day	Wednesday 29 September 2010	Fairfield Halls	HMRC
Remade South East construction workshop: Managing waste resources on construction sites	Thursday 16 September	Seattle Hotel, Brighton	Remade South East
Remade South East construction workshop: Site waste management plans – understanding your legal requirements	Thursday 21 October	Bricks and Bread Sustainable Living Centre, Aldershot	Remade South East
Remade South East construction workshop: Choosing sustainable products for construction projects	Tuesday 30 November	Trinity College, Oxford	Remade South East
EcoShow Live Northern Ireland	Friday 8 – Sunday 10 October	Kings Hall, Belfast	EcoShow Live
Manchester Business Advice Open Day	Tuesday 9 November 2010	Man City Football Club	HMRC

Older Entries

Site Waste Management Plans (NI)

Who will the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 affect?

What is a site waste management plan?

Who will be responsible for the SWMP?

What happens next?

What is BREEAM?

ISO 50001:2011-Energy Management Systems

IRCA Registered ISO 14001:2004 Lead Auditor Course 25th-29th July

EU and Indonesia sign deal on illegal timber

ISO 14001:2004 IRCA Registered Lead Auditor Course

Benefits of UKAS Accredited Certification/Inspection Bodies

Netregs Changes to Environmental Regulations

Evaluation of Compliance as part of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001

Free Construction Waste Management Workshops

IMS International Contact Details

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Who will the Site Waste Management Plans Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 affect?

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