BS 8901

Our climate is changing with potentially substantial implications for governments and industries. The events industry is no exception. Anyone involved in organising and managing events needs to understand these trends, the implications on their businesses and then implement strategies to enable their business to respond in a more sustainable way.

BS 8901 is the new British Standard which has been developed specifically for the events industry with a purpose of helping the industry to operate in a more sustainable manner. The standard defines the requirements for a sustainable event management system to ensure an enduring and balanced approach to economic activity, environmental responsibility and social progress.

It requires organisations to identify and understand the effects that their activities have on the environment, on society and on the economy both within the organisation and the wider economy; and put measure in place to minimise the negative effects.

It is important that all aspects of an event are sustainable. Event organisers need to consider the social, economic and environmental impacts of organising their event. Every choice, from the venue and travel arrangements, through to the content of the delegate packs should be designed to be as ecologically responsible as possible.

The standard applies to all types of events, from the local craft show to the London 2012 Olympics and is therefore applicable to:

Event owners - anyone who commissions and has overall responsibility for an event

Event organisers – anyone with overall responsibility for managing the delivery of an event

Suppliers to the event – any organisation providing products, services or facilities such as venue owners, stand builders, lighting engineers, sound engineers, carpet layers, caterers, couriers and printers.

It applies to those organisations who want to:

• Respond to the growing demands of stakeholders to address the sustainability impacts of events,
• Reduce carbon emissions and waste and improve resource efficiency of the entire event supply chain
• Continually improve sustainable performance within available budgets
• Improve social impacts such as community involvement and fair employment
• Secure local investment and long term viability
• Improve communications and enhance relations with stakeholders and suppliers adding value to both parties
• Make a claim regarding the sustainability of an event
• Demonstrate to customers that they are acting responsibly with regard to sustainability issues
• Gain a competitive advantage over other providers
• Attract new business

BS 8901 shares many of the common management principles of other management system standards such as ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and BS OHSAS 18001 (Health and Safety Management) including the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach.

The standard breaks down the implementation of a sustainable event management system into three phases:

Phase 1 – Planning
This section requires you to define a policy and commitment to sustainable development. It requires you to identify where you are now on a matrix of sustainability principles and practices such as inclusivity, integrity, stewardship and transparency (which are defined in the standard) with a view to establishing a baseline from which to improve.  It involves the identification of key stakeholders, the sustainability issues and the setting of key performance indicators as a measure of improved event sustainability.

Phase 2 – Implementation
This section is about the implementation and operation of the policies and plans at the event and involves the writing of key operating procedures, the allocation of resources and the competence and training of staff.  The section defines requirements for supply chain management in order to extend the principles of sustainable event management throughout the supply chain wherever possible.  It also defines requirements for a communication plan to promote sustainability management with the key stakeholders.  And finally, it requires the keeping of documents and records as a means of achieving and demonstrating compliance with the standard.

Phase 3 – Check and Review
This section is about assessing how well you are performing in relation to complying with the requirements of the standard but more importantly how you are performing in relation to the objectives you have set for event sustainability.  So there are requirements in this section to monitor and measure performance and take action to continually improve event and system performance.

Training

BSI is running a 2 day Understanding and Implementing BS 8901 training course to cover:

• The concept of a management system for the sustainable event industry
• The requirements of BS 8901
• Understanding how to apply the requirements of BS 8901 to your own organisation
• How to formulate an implementation plan
• How to prepare your organisation for a certification assessment
• Managing continual improvement up to and beyond certification

Full details of the course including course dates and booking will be available on line shortly.  In the mean time, to register your interest and to receive further information, please enter your details on our enquiry form.

Certification to BS 8901

BS 8901 has been written such that it can be audited and certified against.  Whether you are an event organiser or a supplier of an activity, product or service to the event industry, your system for managing your activities can be independently assessed by an experienced and competent body such as BSI Management Systems.  The objective of the assessment is to establish whether your system complies with the requirements of the standard and more importantly whether your system is effective in delivering your sustainable event policies and objectives.
After demonstrating compliance to the standard you can claim that you are BS 8901 compliant though only the event owner and/or event organiser can claim that an event has been managed in compliance with BS 8901.

Certification to BS 8901 will help organisations to:

• Provide assurance to stakeholders that the event is managed in a sustainable manner
• Improve reputation and brand image providing competitive advantage
• Meet customer demands for sustainable events
• Provide credibility to the claim of a sustainable event
• Attract environmentally and socially conscious attendees

Why choose BSI?

• BSI is a world leader in Standards, Assessment, Certification and Verification.
• We have a worldwide network of assessors with management systems assessment experience at your disposal.
• Our ability to undertake complex, multi-national, multisite, process-based assessment work is second to none.
• BSI has been involved in the writing and piloting of this British Standard with the events industry.
• BSI has the capability, specific strengths and knowledge to assess the sustainability of your events.
• By choosing BSI, you will be able to use and benefit from BSI’s logo, which holds UK Superbrand status.

Next steps

For further information or a "quick quote" please call us on (+44) (0)845 080 9000. Alternatively enter your details into our enquiry form and one of our advisors will contact you.