The Senior Management Team has approved the EMS project with a view to obtaining formal ISO 14001 accreditation in mid 2011. A draft roadmap for achieving this has been developed and project planning is underway. The international standard sets out the requirements for an EMS so that evaluation criteria can be specified and measured.

 According to Gary Cafe, Energy Systems Engineer, part of this process included a recent workshop for staff and invited speakers from industry and the not–for–profit sector. “Minimising how our business impacts the environment was the workshop focus,” he said. “We wanted to inspire some innovation in optimising work practices and network design so we can supply services to our customers in the most sustainable way possible.”

 Senior management support for the EMS is encouraging; evidenced by the senior management team suggesting the workshop and a proposed Environmental Management Committee including an Executive Board member.

Giving the green light

One of the many issued discussed at the workshop was the cost and energy usage when de-icing satellite dishes. Dishes open to the weather must be heated to remove snow and ice while others are covered by a radome. The workshop initiated the investigation into snow protection so that we can measure and quantify savings, the customer benefits, and environmental impact of the alternative methods.

 Disposal of uninterruptable power supply (UPS) system batteries was another issue addressed. Traditionally, rack-based UPSs require batteries to be replaced every two years. Broadcast Australia has been investigating the latest technologies for a site–based UPS that utilises batteries with a 10–year life expectancy. “This would have the benefit of ensuring a more reliable service supply to customers,” Gary said. “Furthermore, by reducing waste by 80 per cent, customers can be confident that we are minimising our environmental impact.”

 Employee engagement

According to Suzanne Mildren, Environmental Compliance Coordinator, an EMS will improve environmental management of projects and sites by providing mechanisms for monitoring and measuring environmental performance. “A fully implemented EMS will build goodwill with employees and customers alike and over time will become a business necessity,” Suzanne said.

 “The workshop enabled us to build a strategy for addressing environmental issues,” Gary said. “We have designed a framework to ensure that great ideas coming from our innovative staff are given a voice and a clear process to follow so the best ideas are implemented and become business as usual.”

 The guest speakers presented information about support programmes and tools that exist to help companies ensure maximum customer and employee engagement with environmental management initiatives.

 The difficulty of implementing an EMS across our business is the geographical diversity of its sites and projects.  “However, many of our sites face similar environmental issues every day,” Suzanne said. “Efficiencies and improvements realised at one site are often easily transferred to multiple sites. I am confident that full ISO accreditation by next June can be achieved.”