MAKE YOUR EVENT SUSTAINABLE - Requirements for a Sustainability Management System for Events
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 sustainability event management system to ensure an enduring and balanced approach to economic activity, environmental responsibility and social progress relating to events.
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.
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 key requirements of BS 8901 include:
- Sustainability Policy
- Issue identification and evaluation
- Stakeholder identification and engagement
- Objectives, targets and plans
- Performance against principles of sustainable development
- Operational controls
- Competence and training
- Supply chain management
- Communication
- Monitoring and measurement
- Corrective and preventive action
- Management System audits
- Management Review
Is BS 8901 applicable to my organisation?
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. BS 8901 is therefore relevant to the following:
· event organisers or individuals involved in overall co-ordination of the event
· event venues including hotels, convention centres and sports venues
· suppliers and contractors of key activities relating to the events industry
· industry associations and councils
Next steps
Using BS 8901 to help improve the sustainability of your events will give you the following benefits:
- A clear direction understood by all relevant parties through the development and sharing of a Sustainability Policy
- Confidence that no issues have been left out through a systematic means of identifying issues and evaluation of them
- Fewer complaints through better engagement with key stakeholders meaning that key issues are identified and taken into consideration
- Reduced risk of reputation damage through better management of suppliers
- Reduced operating costs, waste management costs and carbon emissions and improved resource efficiency of the entire event supply chain through better engagement with suppliers
- Improved process efficiencies through process mapping
- Improved efficiency and productivity through disseminating best practice to all staff
- Improved investment decision making based on robust information
- Greater ability to spot, correct and prevent trends
- Lower recruitment and training costs from lower staff turnover as a result of increased morale as staff recognise they are working for an organisation that takes its responsibilities seriously
- Increased customer satisfaction meaning higher repeat business and lower sales and marketing costs associated with finding new customers
Next steps
We offer a 2 day Understanding and Implementing BS 8901 training course for those delegates who are new to the standard and management systems. You can choose whether you would like to attend one of our scheduled open courses or have it delivered on your premises as an in-company solution. See details of the course content and dates
Next steps
Any organisation can claim that they comply with the requirements of a standard. However, self declaring compliance will not satisfy all your stakeholders.
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 - one of the first certification bodies to offer assessment and certification services to the Sustainability Management System for Events standard, BS 8901.
The Assessment Process
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.
The initial assessment is conducted on site, in two stages:
Stage 1 of the assessment will concentrate on a review of the documented processes and procedures and assessing the system for compliance to the requirements of the standard.
Stage 2 of the assessment will focus on assessing the implementation of your sustainability management system and will include an on site assessment of an event where applicable. Assuming no major issues are raised, the assessor will make a recommendation for certification and a certificate of registration will be issued following an internal independent review and approval process.
The relationship does not stop there. We will carry out a programme of continuing assessment visits – typically two visits a year – to ensure that you continue to implement your sustainability management system and that it continues to be effective and meet the requirements of the standard.
We also offer an optional Pre-Certification Audit - typically lasting one day - the objective of which is to ascertain the progress you are making in defining and implementing your sustainability management system and to ensure that the basic requirements of the sustainability management system are in place and that there are no glaring omissions before the initial assessment takes place.
The Benefits of Certification to BS 8901
Certification to BS 8901 will help organisations to:
- Provide assurance to stakeholders that the event is managed in a sustainable manner
- Differentiate you from your competitors and assist in winning new business
- Improve reputation and brand image also providing competitive advantage
- Meet customer demands for sustainable events
- Provide credibility and robustness to the claim of a sustainable event
- Attract environmentally and socially conscious attendees
- Assure continued compliance and avoidance of lapses into bad practices
- Ensure continual improvement in sustainability performance
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, certified organizations will be able to use and benefit from BSI’s logo, which holds UK Superbrand status
Next steps
