So this week I was lucky enough to be invited to an afternoon workshop with our waste consultants Cloud Sustainability regarding the changes to ISO 14001 which is the International Standard for Environmental Management Systems.
That may have sounded like a lot of jargon there and I apologise! Let me briefly explain what an Environmental Management System (EMS) is so we are all on the same page. EMS refers to an organisations management on environmental programmes which are documented through the organisations structure with planning of resources for developing, implementing and maintaining environmental protection. To then be certified with ISO 14001 the University is audited by an outside auditor who will look at all different parts of the EMS including waste and resource management which is where I fit in to all of this!
So as a #Kent gal I had to negotiate London transport, now I’ve been going to London since being a little girl but there’s something different about having to travel by yourself! Journey up there I would say was quiet successful even if I got totally confused as to which tube I had to get to arrive at Monument, but after watching two tubes go by I managed to get on the right one and hurray I had arrived!
Just before the workshop started at 2pm we all got an email saying the original location were having problems with the doors, in the fact that they wouldn’t open and so our venue has changed, but only right round the corner. Luckily for me I was in a Starbucks following another meeting (more on that next week) which gave me time to use my good old friend Google Maps.
And within a minute of leaving Starbucks I was at our venue, the Cloud Sustainability offices where I have been before!
Our lovely workshop consisted of discussing the key changes in the revised standard of increased accountability of leadership, using the life cycle approach, considering two way impacts, the risks and opportunities, pro-active reporting, strengthened compliance and continual improvement. We also spent a lot of time discussing in our tables the challenges and the opportunities that we would face with the new standard and in particular the increased accountability of leadership.
I think it would be great to get top management more involved and for them to lead on campus. As many people say you follow in other people’s footsteps….
After the event was a drinks and nibbles reception but I must admit I was a bit of a party pooper and came straight home, I mean carrying around two babies inside you is a lot of hard work!!
I would just like to say a huge thank you to Cloud Sustainability for the great event that they put on and even with the change of venue I think that it went very smoothly and worked perfectly! For more information on our Environmental Management please click here.
Remember to #recycle and tweet me with any questions that you may have. 🙂