EcoNorth is delighted to announce that we have been awarded UKAS accredited certification for ISO 14001 (Environment) through British Assessment Bureau.
ISO 14001 certification is important as it demonstrates EcoNorth’s commitment to minimising our environmental impact and improving our environmental performance, through using resources more efficiently and reducing operational waste, as well as encouraging our suppliers to do so. It also ensures we remain compliant with current and future legislation and our contractual requirements. Accreditation by an independent certification body confirms to our clients and other stakeholders that we have implemented the standard properly.
EcoNorth has had various elements of an environmental management system in place for some time. Sandi Davison, Office Manager, conducted a review of our environment systems, processes and documentation in preparation of the audit process and subsequently made some improvements such as revamping our Aspects and Impacts Register and our Waste Log.
The stage one assessment took place on 29 February 2024 whereby the auditor reviewed our documentation and conducted a gap analysis. Following the auditor’s recommendation, our annual internal audit plan was transformed into a three year programme (2024-26) comprehensively addressing all the ISO clauses.
The stage two assessment was conducted on 20 March 2024. John Thompson, Executive Director of EcoNorth, was interviewed extensively about EcoNorth’s business activities and the performance of our environmental management system but handled it all with great aplomb. Mark Fletcher, Responsible Person for Environment, provided clear insights into our carbon footprint assessment processes and results and our net zero strategy. Sandi Davison was kept busy providing the auditor with all the relevant documentation for review throughout the day, in addition to those already provided in advance, and answering related questions. Niamh Quirk, Ecologist, arranged a site visit to Blyth for a bird monitoring survey to demonstrate to the auditor the effectiveness of our management system in practice; the visit was a resounding triumph. No major or minor non-conformities were raised by the auditor and EcoNorth’s achievement of ISO 14001 certification was confirmed at the end of the day.
Additionally, EcoNorth was also reaudited for ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 on 18/19 March 2024 which were successfully renewed, again without any non-conformities being reported. EcoNorth now has a highly effective and fully integrated management system of which we can be very proud. The team’s commitment to the observation and implementation of the management system has been, and will continue to be, fundamental to its fruitful and ongoing success which is essential in supporting our clients and for the planned operation and growth of our business.
Going forward, our focus will be on clearly demonstrating continual improvements in the performance of our integrated management system in order to successfully maintain our ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 certifications. Most importantly, we will continue to deliver professional and high quality services to our clients in an environmentally sustainable way while promoting our team’s ongoing commitment to a strong safety culture.