Monday 5th June 2017 was World Environment Day. Organised by the UN, World Environment Day is an annual day for "encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment"; it was first held in 1974, and it has only become more relevant and more important as the environment has changed and environmental threats have been brought into sharper focus.
Since the news is currently saturated with election news and other big stories, you may well have missed that it was World Environment Day earlier this week. However, there's no wrong time to think green, so in the spirit of World Environment Day 2017, here are 3 quick tips for making your business that little bit greener:
1. Look everywhere for opportunities to save energy.
When it comes to reducing energy usage, every little helps. Look for places where electricity is being wasted on your premises, even in small amounts: are you leaving lights on when it isn't necessary? Are people forgetting to turn their computer monitors off at the end of the day? Are you turning the heating on when it isn't needed, or leaving it on even once everyone's warmed up? This attitude - looking everywhere for possible improvements - can be applied to all kinds of other wastage, too. Are you using too much printer paper? Failing to recycle office waste properly? Handing out printed payslips when you could be using an electronic system?
2. Switch to eco-friendly products.
Many common workplace items can be replaced with more environmentally sound alternatives if you're so inclined. Look for recycled printer paper, energy-efficient light bulbs, and computers (and/or whatever other machines you rely on) with good energy ratings. Again, look all over your premises and ask yourself which of the things you see could be swapped for something greener.
3. Implement an ISO 14001-compliant environmental management system.
ISO 14001 is the globally-recognised standard for environmental management systems, and if you plan and implement an EMS that complies with ISO 14001 requirements, you will be ensuring that your organisation is minimising waste and limiting environmental impact.
If you need help implementing an environmental management system and achieving ISO 14001 certification, please call NPT Management Systems on 02380 659 867 or email enquiries@nptmanagementsystems.co.uk to discuss your company's requirements.
In September 2015, ISO published ISO 14001:2015, a revised version of their standard for environmental management systems. The updated standard (which has supplanted the previous revision, ISO 14001:2004) is designed to better align with other standards such as ISO 9001; it also places more focus on the people at the top of the organisation, and on considering the entire environmental life cycle of products and services.
If your business is certified to the old ISO 14001:2004 standard, you will need to transition to ISO 14001:2015 within 3 years of the new standard's publication. This means that you have until September 2018 to transition, but it may be a good idea to make the change sooner rather than later - upgrading to the new, more streamlined standard should benefit the overall running of your business, and you don't want to risk losing your accreditation when the old standard expires.
Fortunately, the transition to ISO 14001:2015 is easy with the help of NPT Management Systems. Our expert ISO consultants will help you to identify and implement any necessary changes in your environmental management system; we can also assist with getting re-certified by a UKAS-accredited body.
If you need help transitioning to ISO 14001:2015, please contact NPT Management Systems today.
You have probably read numerous stories about the WannaCry cyberattack (also known as WannaCrypt) that shook the world's IT systems recently. Hundreds of thousands of computers were infected across 150 different countries; if you live in the UK, there's a chance you were affected by the chaos that ensued when a number of NHS systems were hit by ransomware.
The WannaCry attack - which is still ongoing at time of writing - has thrust the issue of online security into the spotlight once again, and many business owners are now wondering what they can do to safeguard their own IT systems from future cyberattacks. Here are a few tips:
- Look carefully at emails before clicking a link or opening an attachment. Hackers often impersonate trusted companies (PayPal, Apple, Amazon, etc.) and sometimes even your own colleagues/clients. Before clicking on a link in an email (or opening an attachment), read it carefully - are there any spelling/grammar mistakes that you wouldn't expect the sender to make? Any suspicious statements or incorrect information? Also, look at the sender's actual email address - it's common to see emails from 'Apple' or 'Google' that are really from unaffiliated email addresses (e.g. customerservice@company.xyz) or 'spoof' addresses that are subtly misspelled (e.g. admin@appple.com).
- Hover your mouse over links before clicking them. If there's a hyperlink in a potentially suspicious email, don't click it to find out what it is. Instead, hover your mouse cursor over the link - this should reveal the true destination of the hyperlink. Again, look out for subtle misspellings and unfamiliar domain names, and don't assume that the clickable text is representative of the link's actual destination - just because the link said 'www.amazon.co.uk' doesn't mean it wasn't sneakily linking to something else!
- Implement an information security management system. It can be difficult to ensure good cyber security practices throughout the entirety of a large organisation, and it may therefore be worth implementing an information security management system within your company and seeking ISO 27001 certification. We at NPT Management Systems can assist with this task - contact us now to discuss your requirements.
Last year, we at NPT Management Systems decided to sponsor Junior Sailing at the local Hamble River Sailing Club. As a show of support for this great local youth group, we very proudly provided the club with a number of high-visibility jackets for the instructors and other helpers to wear while in action.
As you can see, our branded hi-vis jackets (as modelled in the image above by our Principal Consultant Neil Peattie) are still in use almost a year later. The above photograph was taken a couple of weeks ago, when the club's youth section sailed up the River Hamble to nearby Bursledon Beach.
It was great to catch up with the HRSC, and we were very happy to learn that the jackets are still benefiting the club!
Why do we sponsor the Hamble River Sailing Club?
As we've mentioned many times before on this blog, we at NPT Management Systems have close ties to the marine sector here in the South of England. Many of our ISO certification clients come from the marine industry, and we have proven again and again that we are the best company for these jobs.
Furthermore, we love supporting the local community, and we felt that this would be a great way to do so. Neil is the parent of children who sail on the River Hamble, and so this particular cause is very close to his heart!
Visit www.hrsc.org.uk to learn more about the Hamble River Sailing Club.
So you want to gain ISO 9001 certification for your business...but you're not sure of how to achieve this?
Don't worry! Here at NPT, we've helped countless organisations to achieve ISO certification on the first attempt, and we're more than happy to advise company owners who - when it comes to ISO 9001 - don't know where to start.
Here's a rough guide to the ISO 9001 certification process that you and your organisation will need to go through in order to gain that all-important accreditation.
Stage 1 - Planning
In order to achieve ISO 9001 certification, you will need to implement a quality management system (QMS) that meets ISO requirements and is geared towards maximising the quality of your output and the satisfaction of your customers/clients. The first thing to do is plan how you will do this; you may have to start from scratch with a brand new quality management system, or if you already have a QMS in place, you may simply have to plan some changes and improvements to bring it into line with the ISO 9001 standard.
Stage 2 - Implementation
Once you have a robust plan in place, the next stage is to implement your quality management system throughout the whole of your organisation. In order to achieve ISO 9001 certification, you will need to ensure that every member of every department is operating within the system you have laid out!
Stage 3 - Certification
Finally, you will need to seek certification via a UKAS-accredited body. They will evaluate your QMS and how it is being implemented, then award certification if everything conforms.
Do you need help with this process? We at NPT can help you to plan and implement an ISO-compliant quality management system; we can also help you to select a certification body for the final stage of the process. Contact us to discuss your requirements.
