A company which makes sealants for the construction industry has gained ISO 14001, the internationally recognised standard for environmental management.
The award was presented to Adshead Ratcliffe & Co Ltd by business standards company BSI following a series of independent audits and a review of the company’s manufacturing activities at Belper.
ISO 14001 recognises those organisations which reduce their impact on the environment while maintaining the profitability of the business.
Steve Brown, Adshead Ratcliffe’s technical director, said: “Our business has always taken environmental issues seriously, especially due to our proximity to one of Derbyshire’s few natural wetland areas and also the River Derwent. However it wasn’t until two years ago that we considered the benefits of formalising our management activities and ensuring compliance with such an internationally recognised standard.”
Brown said the process was lengthy but worth the effort as it has yielded “tangible reductions” in waste, helped improve recycling and enabled the company to mitigate environmental risk in some of its activities.
He went on: “ISO 14001 is a major achievement for our business, but this is only the start of the process. The standard gives us a platform from which we can continually assess our activities, not only from a profitability viewpoint but from an awareness of our impact on the environment.”
