Is our attitude to the environment in danger of becoming vuvuzela background noise – a constant drone that we filter out?  Reducing the environmental impact of business and industry has been on the agenda for decades.  Ten years ago, it was still quite easy to ignore and it has taken the big stick of legislation to make businesses respond.

The need to demonstrate sound environmental practices is being pushed further and further down the supply chain by larger organisations and by the public sector. As we have clients in both those categories, making sure we have an environmental management policy place is crucial.

But we are small company in the services sector, so do we have an environmental impact?

Maybe not the kind of impact that a chemicals giant or a metal bashing business would have, but we use energy, computer and office consumables and we travel to work – so yes, we do.  And we would like to see if we can save on the bottom line – and be more competitive by qualifying for extra brownie points when bidding for new business.

Does this mean we need full ISO14000 accreditation?

Well no, at least not at this stage.  ISO14000 is the international quality standard for environmental practice.  Accreditation requires external assessment on an ongoing basis and is expensive. For the time being, this is a  bridge too far.  We have opted for putting an environmental policy in place that is monitored, reviewed and updated internally.

So what does our policy say?

In outline, we “copied with pride” by looking at other people’s environmental policies and following the guidance on the Business Link website and the Envirowise website

But of course the policy has to be ours to live up to.  We assessed the areas in which the company has an impact and where we thought we could improve, for example by looking at what we buy as office consumables and what we do with office waste. The result is a straightforward policy statement with the undertaking to monitor for continuous improvement.

As far as the impact of our  travel to work goes, we are fortunate that most of us can and do cycle to work.  However, for many companies this is not the case.  Carrying our a travel to work survey and reviewing ways of  reducing commuting and business miles can really make a difference.  For example, using video conferencing can save huge amounts of time and travel costs for a business. Encouraging car sharing and  putting in cycle racks and shower facilities can help individuals to save on fuel and reduce congestion.  Check out the Bike2Work Scheme.  This can be a good incentive for employers and employees to encourage cycling to work.

And why is it important?

Skeptics might view setting up an environmental policy as merely  a “box ticking” exercise carried out to support the bidding process. That would be an injustice. It led us to think constructively about our business consumerism and any waste products. It has also raised awareness amongst staff, both at work and on a domestic level. Most importantly, it will help us to stay competitive and win lucrative business.

Thanks to V-2 for use of their image

Of course one thing leads to another – so once we had our Health and Safety policy in place, we tackled what we thought would be a bigger hurdle:  How to demonstrate to the world that this company is a quality operation in terms of our services,  our management  and our ethos – without going for ISO9000.

What pushed us into doing it?

Sheer ambition!  We wanted to be able to bid for more work, some in the public sector.  Such contracts, as well as those related to the 2012 Olympics, are perceived as difficult to win and we do not disagree.

However, without being fit, we could not even reach the starting block – let alone the winners podium.

Where to start?

What we really wanted was an example or template to follow that we could use as a check list and make into our own policy.  With a bit of digging, and we found the Chartered Quality Institute’s Small Business Standard

This gave us the basis for our own Quality Management Statement and the systems that we needed to put in place to live up to it.

So what exactly is a QM system?

It is a bird’s eye view of all aspects of our business management, underpinned by corresponding good practice measures.  The broad headings, cover everything from the responsibilities of management, financial processes and HR policies to customer service standards and quality measures for service delivery.  In short, we had to think systematically about all the things we do and how we do them. Our Quality Management Statement sets out the standards and practices by which the company operates and can be measured.

More pain or more gain?

Gain! Now we have done the thinking and writing, there is a clear structure in place on which to build and improve;  All staff have a clear idea of the company’s working practices, ethos as employers and aspirations; Life is easier for new starters with an induction process;   And it means we are already on the starting block when evidence of quality systems is a pre-requisite for bidding for a contract.

But there’s always more!

As we established our QM systems,  the need for other policies emerged.  Next in line were environmental and equal opportunities policies. Both crop up as elements of our QM systems and will always be requested when bidding for public or 2012 Olympic tenders.  But by now, we were on a roll and able to put them in place quite quickly.