The business challenge
As a well-known provider of quality services to clients in the affordable housing, education, student accommodation, care homes, healthcare, leisure and commercial facilities sectors, Leadbitter is committed to working in an environmentally responsible manner and providing sustainable facilities that have the least possible impact on the environment.
Leadbitter turned to Sypol for environmental support to demonstrate excellent client tendering credentials and meet the expectations of all stakeholders in its commitment towards sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.
Why Sypol?
Leadbitter chose to partner with Sypol because of their expertise across all the three disciplines of health, safety and the environment.
Through Sypol’s experience supporting other construction and civil engineering companies with ISO14001 certification, a clear plan of support was provided to assist Leadbitter through the complete journey towards ISO 14001 implementation.
Kim Shepherd, Group Technical Services Manager, Leadbitter Group said: “Sypol has helped us to drive forward business performance for the benefit of our clients and the environment in which we work.”
The journey
Sypol’s first challenge was to conduct an initial status environmental review to determine company requirements, obligations and opportunities for improvement. The review set the scene for a strategic plan of action for environmental management system (EMS) implementation. To initiate change, it was agreed that all staff should receive training in environmental sustainability awareness.
The next stage of the journey involved producing a tailor made environmental management system compliant with the requirements of the ISO14001 standard. This included all relevant policies, procedures, documents, forms and templates. Once the environmental management system had been produced, it was necessary to introduce the new practices in a logical and phased manner. This involved providing Leadbitter with support following the phased implementation guidance contained within British Standard BS8555 and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) Acorn Scheme. Following a review of the BS8555 phases, Sypol was then able to launch the EMS system through a series of workshops and conduct an internal audit prior to Leadbitter’s external ISO14001 audit with their chosen certification body, which they successfully passed.
With these processes in place Leadbitter has the necessary environmental management credentials in place to demonstrate their commitment to the environment and continue to implement improvements that will result in significant cost savings—such as its industry-leading site waste management plans.
Richard Wiltshire, Senior Consultant at Sypol, has supported Leadbitter through each stage of their environmental management system implementation: “Leadbitter has made significant progress and embraced their environmental commitments. Leadbitter clearly sees that being an environmentally aware construction company can bring a multitude of financial, legal and moral benefits.”
A continued partnership
The ongoing partnership between Sypol and Leadbitter includes support with health and safety policies and protocols, occupational health reviews and programmes and environmental management support. The working partnership will allow progress to be integrated across the disciplines of health, safety and environmental management.
Richard Wiltshire explains more: “The journey towards continuous improvement will allow HSEQ management systems to evolve into evermore effective and integrated arrangements”.
Traditionally, many organisations have separated health and safety, quality and the environment into different categories. However it is becoming clear that organisations are likely to benefit more over time through integrated arrangements.