Environmental accolade marks trio of success for Birley Manufacturing

Sheffield-based Birley Manufacturing is marking an industry milestone by becoming one of the first companies in its sector to achieve a hat trick of British Standard Institution certifications.

The company, which specialises in the design and manufacture of bespoke and roll out equipment for the retail, industrial, rail and leisure sectors, has been awarded a BSI certificate confirming compliance to the ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Standard following a series of rigorous assessments.

ISO 14001 is an internationally recognised standard which aims to help organisations minimise their impact on the environment. It specifies a number of requirements including establishing an environmental policy, planning environmental objectives and setting measurable targets.

This latest recognition adds to the stable of achievements the company has already gained including certificates for the quality standard ISO 9001:2000 and the Health and Safety management system standard, BS OHSAS 18001. Commented Steve English, managing director, Birley Manufacturing: "As a company, Birley takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously so it's a real testament to the environmental team's commitment that we have been awarded this certification." "More and more organisations are seeing ISO 14001 as providing a structured approach to the management of environmental performance and legal compliance within their organisations," says Andrew Morris, Business Development Director for BSI Management Systems UK. "ISO 14001 focuses the organisation on being proactive in identifying environmental aspects and impacts and driving down risks. In doing so, an organisation can benefit from improved operational effectiveness leading to reduced costs and improved profits."

Birley is continuing to minimise its environmental impact and aims to reduce its energy usage by 5% in the next 12 months.