During mid 2001, one of our major clients set the requirement for its consultants to be working toward ISO 14001 certification. Traditionally, certified companies came from sectors such as manufacturing, where the environmental impacts were more straightforward and supply chain demands drove accreditation. In our case, it became clear that our clients were aiming to minimise their environmental risk by ensuring that their consultants were certified.1
The first pressure to become certified came from clients for whom we were providing on-site services, such as ground investigations. Such works have clear environmental impacts and were often occurring on sensitive sites—two factors that could result in negative publicity for the client. Ironically, it was because of our strong environmental expertise that we needed external accreditation to prove the quality of our environmental protection measures and overall performance. Soon, however, we began to develop an approach to address the full range of our activities.
Our environmental management system ( EMS ) comprises three areas:
- Internal Activities. The environmental impacts associated with the management and operation of our offices.
- On-Site Activities. A risk assessment and procedures in relation to our on-site activities, arguably the most high risk of our activities in terms of compliance with environmental legislation and best practice.
- Client Solutions. Our methodology for including environmental and sustainability considerations within the design solutions we provide for our clients. This is certainly the most difficult element to incorporate within a management system approach, as it depends upon the client drivers.
PB UK Offices Environmental Management System Timeline |
Challenges of Internal Communication
One of the big issues at the launch of the EMS was how to communicate to a diverse and dispersed workforce. It must be remembered that our staff are very busy people who can often be overloaded with information. When the system was first launched, PB WorldNet was a relatively new concept for UK staff. Business units had previously set up their own intranet sites that contained useful information; however, commonly used documentation and guidance was still held within shared folders rather than an intranet facility. Yet, with the clear challenge ahead of launching and communicating this new management system, PB WorldNet appeared to be the ideal location for the EMS documentation and guidance.
The EMS documentation was designed to be easily accessible via the intranet. It was made as concise as possible to make the various documents easy to read on screen and to discourage people from printing them. Our purpose was to prevent colleagues from using out-of-date procedures, and it had the added benefit of minimising paper use! Each office was provided with a hard copy of the system documentation, just in case the intranet should be unavailable.
Launching the System. Our first challenge was to inform staff about the system, making sure they had access to the intranet and could find the documentation. Therefore, the EMS was launched via an e-mail from our managing director, and a leaflet was issued to all staff that reiterated our policy commitments, described the structure of the system, and included a competition to win £100 to encourage participation. Although participation could not be considered high, it did highlight issues associated with intranet access, which were then resolved.
We also launched a dedicated EMS e-mail address (ukems@pbworld.com)—a single, memorable address through which staff could channel queries and express opinions. The launch was followed up by a series of lunchtime presentations at each office throughout the country that allowed staff to ask questions face-to-face and express queries or concerns about the system.
Response to Concerns. As with anything new, many concerns were expressed. They related to:
- The additional time burden associated with the procedure that could not be passed on to clients
- Costs associated with managing the system
- Doubts about the benefits.
These concerns were countered by describing the number of clients now including ISO 14001 within their prequalification considerations, and also noting that the system had been developed based upon best practice, which would be expected by many of our clients anyway, rather than a novel approach. The aim of the system was not to add a significant administrative burden to the management of any project, but to ensure that we comply with environmental legislation, follow widely recognised best practice, and drive continual improvement overall.
Clearly, some clients will be more receptive than others, and this is understandable. The EMS does not turn us into a campaigning nongovernmental organisation (NGO), it simply makes us more responsive to our clients needs from an environmental point of view.
Training, Awareness and Competence
Intranet-based Training. An important part of ISO 14001 is to establish training, awareness and competence to make sure staff are fully aware of the system and the elements applicable to them. We turned again to the intranet for a solution because, otherwise:
- Training such a diffuse work force face to face would be an extremely costly exercise
- The nature of our work made it difficult to ensure individuals were in the office when training took place.
We provided intranet-based training packages that we can easily keep up to date as the system evolves. Staff members register completion of each package via e-mail to the dedicated e-mail address.
We have to accept that there are problems with this approach. Unlike face-to-face training, we are less likely to notice if there have been misunderstandings or concerns in relation to the training. On the other hand, the relatively anonymous e-mail address has allowed staff to express their concerns as they register completion.
Monitoring and Reporting Performance. Clearly, to drive continual improvement in environmental performance, the system cannot be static. It must evolve, and performance must be monitored and reported back to those involved. E-mail has been used for this purpose also, via an EMS Bulletin issued approximately every six-weeks. Again, we had to be careful with this media as our colleagues are constantly bombarded by e-mails and have to make value judgments about what to read. To this end, we decided on a simple e-mail format rather than an attachment or intranet link. We made the bulletin as simple and concise as possible, with the content taking up no more than one side of A4-size paper. We included facts and figures on environmental performance, as well as narrative. This has been particularly popular with the engineers!
Our Methods Are Working
Undoubtedly there are problems with communicating management system issues that may be perceived as a “dry” subject and as a “burden.” Our internal audits show, however, that our system is continually being applied more effectively within our business. The internal communication has no doubt been strengthened by the messages from our clients, expressing the importance they place on effective environmental management. Since the launch of the system, PB has participated in two external assessments of our management approach by key clients. The first was the Verify process managed by UK Utility Companies, and the second was the Highways Agencies, Contractor Assessment Tool (CAT) process.
During April and May 2004 we underwent independent assessment against ISO 14001, and were recommended for certification. This is a clear achievement for our system to date and, in order to maintain that standard, we need to ensure continual improvement.
In some ways the EMS has been a victim of its own simplicity. Although there are some key activities that need to be carried out within the system, for many colleagues it is a question of being aware of our policies and best practice, and applying them as appropriate. EMS also involves the simple things that many staff have been doing every day—recycling paper, switching off equipment when not in use for example—and these are not always perceived as illustrating compliance with a management system!
Integrating EMS with Business Management System We needed to find innovative ways of communicating the need for continual improvement. One way to make the system even more straightforward to apply is our project to integrate our existing Quality and Safety Systems and EMS into one user interface. This will provide staff with an intranet-based tool to access all aspects of our business management system through one portal. All communication routes will be integrated, including the bulletin, which already addresses all three aspects. This should facilitate the consistent and effective application of the integrated approach within all offices and for all projects.
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