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EEF Environment Consultant appointed as UK expert on the guidance for ISO14001

British businesses and manufacturers are set to benefit from the expertise of EEF, the manufacturers' organisation in Environment issues, with the appointment of one of its environmental consultants, Greg Roberts, as the UK Expert sitting on a group reviewing a key International Standard, ISO 14004.

ISO14004 provides guidance to organisations that are implementing or, trying, to improve their Environmental Management Systems including ISO14001. Greg's appointment puts EEF in a unique position to advise business on how they can get ahead of their competitors and take advantage of the opportunities the revised standard will bring.

ISO14001 is an international standard that provides a framework for improving the environmental performance of an organisation. Nearly a quarter of a million organisations worldwide are certified to ISO14001, including many UK manufacturers who use it to manage legal compliance, drive down costs and meet customer requirements. The standard will have an increasing role to play as environmental risks e.g. climate change and resource scarcity are turning into real business risks with the possibility of putting companies out of business. The revised standard will allow companies to manage their businesses and take account of these risks which are currently being missed by organisations.

Greg's expertise will place him with other experts from Columbia, Canada, Spain, Japan and Australia as the guidance provided by ISO14004 has to be universal. This is to ensure it can be used in all sectors in all countries, so specific templates and approaches have to be avoided.

"Although the new standard will not be available until early 2015 we already know that significant change is likely and companies should take the opportunity to prepare sooner rather than later," comments Greg. "This will make the transition to the new standard easier and there is likely to be a commercial advantage in being a leader rather than a follower."

EEF has a growing membership of almost 6,000 companies of all sizes, employing some 900,000 people from every sector of engineering, manufacturing, engineering construction and technology-based industries.

E: [email protected]
W: www.eef.org.uk

11th January 2013