ISO 14001

What is ISO14001?
ISO14001 is an internationally recognised environmental management system (EMS) standard. It provides a framework for controlling environmental impacts and promoting continuous improvement in environmental performance.

Three key areas must be managed:
1. Compliance with environmental legislation
2. Prevention of pollution
3. Improvement in environmental performance

How does an EMS work?
An EMS is a cycle that contains four elements, which together result in continuous improvement in environmental performance.

Planning:
Identify environmental impacts and place in order of significance. Identify applicable environmental legislation. Write an environmental policy (a statement of commitment to improving your environmental impacts).

Doing:
Set objectives and targets to work towards policy commitments and improving environmental performance. Implement procedures to control environmental impacts.

Checking:
Monitor environmental impacts, check you are correctly following procedures (internal auditing). Take corrective actions if things are not going as planned.

Reviewing:
Senior management reviews the progress of the EMS to ensure it continues to address the most significant environmental impacts. Amend environmental policy if this has changed (back to planning).

Attaining certification
Severnprint’s EMS has been assessed and approved by BM TRADA Certification, a leading international certification body. This involved an assessment of our EMS documentation to satisfy it met the requirements of ISO14001, and a site assessment to verify that the documentation is being correctly followed and that the requirements of ISO14001 are being met in practice.

BM TRADA will conduct surveillance visits twice a year to ensure that the EMS continues to be maintained satisfactorily and improvements in environmental performance are being demonstrated.

Working Environmentally with Severnprint
Severnprint has steadily worked towards becoming one of the greenest printers in the country. As we’ve grown, we’ve simply taken a series of steps to reduce our impact on the environment. These measures are now part of our standard workflow so that we are now able to offer all the benefits to clients without having to charge them any extra.

Further information…
There are many more elements to Severnprint’s environmental practices – if you would like further information please contact our Environmental Co-ordinator.