CSR

There is only two key areas of legislation that specifically impact our industry today.  Health and Safety legislation can be accessed via the HSE website, whereas Environmental legislation is far more difficult to find since it is spread across a wide range of industries and processes, many of which are involved directly or indirectly in the planning and delivery of events, the management of venues and the installation of temporary structures (e.g. construction, offices, food production, timber, printing and so on).

To identify the legislation and other regulatory requirements (see below for definition of what is meant by this) that are applicable to your business you will need to accurately identify the aspects of your activities, products and services that impact on the environment. Risks need to be identified, prioritised and reduced and this is best achieved within a system of continual improvement. It is essential to continually measure and monitor performance and document any incidences of non-compliance so that corrective actions (such as modification of procedures and any necessary training) can be developed and implemented to prevent re-occurrence.

Responsibilities need to be allocated for monitoring any legislation updates including any new legislation and feeding these forward to ALL relevant team members, including suppliers, contractors and casual staff. The law states that responsibility for compliance rests with you! For example, if you ask your waste carrier to transport hazardous waste, and they do not hold a valid Hazardous Waste Licence, it is you who is breaking the law and not the waste carrier. It also illegal to transport waste that is not your own (i.e. any waste produced by event attendees).

Environmental aspects are those aspects of your activities, products and services that affect air, water and land, and include the following:

• Emissions to air of particulates (smoke and dusts), carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, volatile organics, benzene, lead.
• Discharges to water of solvents, heavy metals, pesticides, organic matter, litter, oil, hazardous substances.
• Waste disposal with the generation of volume of contaminated solid and liquid wastes and the disposal of wastes that could be used as material inputs, hazardous wastes and radioactive wastes.

An organisation can have a large number of actual and potential aspects. For example, effluent discharges leaks and spills as environmental aspects resulting from an organisation’s activity can enter nearby rivers and lakes as well as the land through ground water and therefore result in a number of impacts (e.g. diesel spillages at outside events).

Impacts

The term Environmental impact is used in management standards such as BS EN ISO 14001:2004, and legislation such as the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (EIA) 1999. It is used in order to assess the environmental significance of a process or substance.

ISO 14001 defines an `environmental impact` as

“any change to the environment whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organisation’s environmental aspects”

See more of ISO14001 in Sustainable Events.

Legislation comprises Act of Parliament (often called `statutes`) together with various Orders, Regulations and bylaws (called delegated legislation).Legislation is not static, and environmental legislation in particular is developing rapidly as we enter a more environmentally sensitive business world. Due to this we cannot give a prescriptive list of legislation that you may be affected by. However, there are general areas that need to be considered:

• Waste: under Duty of Care legislation, all organisations need to carry out a waste audit to identify their waste streams (e.g. Hazardous waste). Disposal of general waste has to be conducted in a controlled way using an approved waste carrier with evidence of a waste transfer note.

WEEE Directive-Waste producer’s responsibility to dispose of all electrical and electronic waste in an environmentally responsible manner.

• Pollution: you have a duty to ensure that all prescribed processes are subjected to Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control taking due account of best available techniques.
• Under the Climate Change Levy, there is a duty to prevent careless and wasteful use of energy

Note: The Carbon Reduction Commitment (which was recently renamed the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme) is a mandatory carbon emissions trading scheme to cover all organisations using more than 6,000MWh (megawatt hour) per year of electricity (equivalent to an annual electricity bill of about £500,000).

All energy other than transport fuels will be covered, such as:

• Electricity
• Gas
• Fuel
• Oil

• Air – Duty to ensure that no leakage of Ozone depleting substances enters the atmosphere from Air Conditioning Units, Fridges etc.  Replenishment of air conditioning units is performed using ozone friendly chemicals.  All fire extinguishers must be CFC free.  All owned road vehicles must be regularly tested and maintained to conform with emission laws.
• Water – Duty to prevent careless use and disposal of substances that could pollute groundwater and ensure substances do not escape to groundwater.  Trade effluent to sewer must not be discharged without prior written consent from the Water Authority. Duty to ensure that no pollutants are discharged to controlled waters (rivers, streams, ponds etc). All water run-off form yards must obtain discharge consent from local water authority and all drains (surface and soil drains must be marked according to SUDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems) requirements.
• Other Requirements: (voluntary or enforced) – This refers to such things as those requirements stipulated by emergency services, NGO’s, trade bodies and best practice, FSC and fair trade, ISO and BS standards, permits and licences etc.