evertaut fisp case study
Post on 03-Jun-2018
224 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
8/13/2019 Evertaut Fisp Case Study
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evertaut-fisp-case-study 1/8
Furniture Industry
Sustainability
Programme
Case Study
Evertaut LtdBlackburn
8/13/2019 Evertaut Fisp Case Study
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evertaut-fisp-case-study 2/8
Environmental PolicyUnlike many companies of this size Evertaut
does have a documented environmental policy,
which is publicly available on request. Senior
management has signed the policy and resources
are in place to progress the policy commitments.
However, the policy is not externally veried and
although based on ISO 14001 the company does
not have certication to this standard. The policy is
reviewed on a regular basis.
Going forward the company will need to add to
the policy a reference to ensure legal compliance
and a sentence conrming that environmental
improvements are being introduced and met.
Some work will also be needed to ensure that
all staff are familiar with the policy and working
together to meet its requirements. Full commitment
from all staff is crucial.
Legal ComplianceBoth environmental and health and safety
legislation is monitored by consultants who
undertake various assessments and also
conduct annual audits for environment
compliance. The sub contracted consultants
ensure that all legal requirements are met.
The company is also updated on environmental
issues by Groundwork. Evidence of compliance is
available through the records issued by the
consultant. Registers of applicable legislation are
available for health and safety and a responsible
person has been nominated for compliance and
dissemination of any legal up-dates.
To progress towards Full membership of FISP the
documentation of an environmental legislation
register would be a pre-requisite and extremely
benecial to the company.
To aid the objective of benchmarking performance
within the sector, Evertaut is willing and able to
supply information regarding reportable accidents,
prosecutions (if any), improvement notices (if any)
and the number of lost days/sickness per employee.
These gures will be crucial in establishing theindustry’s current position and highlighting trends.
From this, strategies may be developed to introduce
performance improvements and improve the
competitiveness of UK furniture manufacturers.
Sector Sustainability ChallengeFIRA International Ltd has been instrumental in the establishment of a sustainability strategy for the
furniture sector. The result is the Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme (FISP), which was
launched in February 2006. The DTI and DEFRA have encouraged this process through the Sector
Sustainability Challenge – a funding programme to which FIRA successfully submitted a proposal to
document two case studies. These are intended to provide practical advice to other companies that
wish to follow the path to FISP membership and sustainable operation.
Core Commitments: All companies wishing to become Full members of the
Programme must comply with the two ‘core commitments’:
EvertautEvertaut is a small manufacturing company (12 employees) based in Blackburn that offers
bespoke seating solutions to the theatre, ofce, and education sectors. The company will be
joining FISP as an Associate member and will be working towards Full membership
over the next 12 months.
Evertaut HQ in Blackburn
8/13/2019 Evertaut Fisp Case Study
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evertaut-fisp-case-study 3/8
1. Environmental
Management Systems
The company does not have a certied environmental
management system (EMS) to ISO 14001 2004.
It does however have a quality system to ISO 9001 and
may be looking to expand this to cover a certied EMS.
This process may be a long-term goal. As such the company
would benet from considering BS 8555 Guide to the phased
implementation of an environmental management system.This standard allows for phased implementation, gaining third party
approval at the different phases until a full EMS has been achieved.
Some environmental management is already undertaken and this is
evident through initiatives such as changing the adhesives used from
solvent based to water based. Further initiatives such as this should be
encouraged and results recorded as proof of ‘continual improvement’.
2. Waste Management
The volumes of waste generated are monitored through skip use and
disposal. The company lls only one skip per week and nds it
difcult to reduce this volume. Insufcient quantities of waste are
produced to allow segregation to be realistic, as the volumes are too small
to attract recyclers. Data on waste generation will be available to the FISP
benchmarking exercise. The ‘Duty of Care’ requirements under the
Environmental Protection Act Part 2 for waste disposal are met.
The company has not registered as a hazardous waste producer as no
hazardous waste has been produced since the Hazardous Waste Regulations
were introduced in 2005.
Some ofce waste recycling initiatives (toners and print cartridges) are
undertaken. In addition pallets are recycled.
Although the volume of waste produced is relatively small any initiative to reduce
costs associated with landlling must be considered. Potential options could
include recycling materials such as cardboard with other companies on the same
industrial estate, or requesting that their waste contractor direct skips to a transfer
station rather than a landll site.
Environmental Commitments: Companies
wishing to attain Full membership status of FISP
must comply with at least 5 of the following 9
commitments. All of the commitments were
considered here for the benet of the case study.
8/13/2019 Evertaut Fisp Case Study
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evertaut-fisp-case-study 4/8
4. Packaging Management
The volumes of packaging used are monitored even though the
company is well below the current thresholds that demand compliancewith the Packaging Waste Regulations (approx. 1 tonne per year).
The company has done much to improve packaging optimisation including
the use of alternative materials where appropriate. Reuseable plastic bags
have been introduced to replace much of the cardboard that was routinely
disposed of after each delivery.
Pallets are recycled, and cardboard reused wherever possible.
The company should investigate ways of using returnable packaging
such as blankets. This may be difcult if deliveries are carried out by a
sub-contractor but not impossible.
Incoming packaging is always a problem and due to the relatively small
quantities received, persuading suppliers to alter their methods of delivery
may be difcult. However, this shouldn’t be discounted and discussions
should be instigated.
Fuel consumption is monitored and recorded. Deliveries however, are made using
a sub-contracted haulier and no data is currently collected. The number of miles perdelivered product is not calculated at present as this will require information from the
haulier, which as yet is not available. The haulier does however optimise loads and use
the most economical routes.
All staff live locally and car sharing happens without too much encouragement.
3. Energy Management
Energy consumption is currently monitored in the factory and bills
are analysed. Figures for energy consumption in carbon tonnes
equivalent are available to FISP via the Enworks online toolkit with
which the company is registered.
Attempts to reduce energy use are evident by the purchase of a new
compressor, which has led to a big reduction in energy costs.
All staff are encouraged to turn off lights and equipment when not in use,
but stickers and posters should be used in order to reinforce this.
5. Transport Management
8/13/2019 Evertaut Fisp Case Study
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evertaut-fisp-case-study 5/8
6. Procurement
The company has a procurement policy within its
quality system and this includes environmental and
social issues. All timber and wood based product suppliers
are asked to provide policy statements. Most suppliers are
EU based, although the company is aware of some products
coming indirectly from the Far East.
With the exception of timber, the company does not ask
suppliers to complete questionnaires, although this is something
that will be implemented for the future. This will allow them to rate
suppliers according to their environmental and sustainable
credentials
At the moment recyclable products are purchased wherever
practicable. Timber based materials will obviously be recyclable but
other components are difcult to assess at procurement stage.
Third party guidance on sutainable procurement would be helpful.
At present little is done with assessing the ethics of the overseas supply
chain, especially those materials that arrive indirectly. Pressure should be
placed on suppliers to provide more information in this respect.
The company does not have a certiable chain of custody system as yetalthough it does request certied timber and products from its suppliers.
The company does however comply with the Government’s
timber procurement policy, and is aware of the CITES Regulations
(Convention on International Trade in endangered Species) although copies of
the relevant appendices are not held. Evertaut currently utilises European Beech
and Birch, timbers that are not affected by such regulations.
The company should consider ensuring that suppliers verify the origins of their tim-
ber supply and where appropriate provide certicates of chain of custody.
A longer term goal may be for the company to achieve its own chain of custody
certication so that certied products may be passed on to their own customers.
Figures on volumes of
certied materials
purchased will be
available to the
Programme.
7. Sustainable Timber Purchasing
Evertaut ‘s upholstery department
8/13/2019 Evertaut Fisp Case Study
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evertaut-fisp-case-study 6/8
The company has identied its main emissions to air as VOCs
from use of solvents (1 tonne per year used, therefore below
thresholds for authorisation). These emissions are monitored for
health and safety reasons and for local authority requirements. A
solids to solvents ratio is available from the supplier. The only other
potential air pollutants are dust and noise. These are well controlled.
8. Air Emissions
9. End of Life
The company does not operate a take back system, although
they will refurbish returned goods where requested.
Any furniture returned to the factory for reasons such as damage
is reworked or remanufactured wherever practicable. However,
less than 1% of product is returned.
Design processes do consider end of life and ensure that the products are
manufactured for easy disassembly, recyclability and longevity.
The company has an informal system in place to record and manage
nuisance complaints from neighbours and takes noise readings within the factory.
The company will be able to supply the number of complaints received in a
twelve-month period and report on whether or not any prosecutions for statutory
nuisance have been initiated. In both cases the answer is currently zero.
A more formal system needs to be introduced to enable complaints to be recorded
and actioned.
The company is involved with the local employment forum and has good
housekeeping and landscaping which benet the surrounding area.
At the moment there is no contact with local schools or other community
organisations.
1. Nuisance Management
Social and Economic Commitments: Companies must
comply with at least two of the six commitments in this
section. Again all were considered for the benet of this case
study
2. Community Relations
8/13/2019 Evertaut Fisp Case Study
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evertaut-fisp-case-study 7/8
All staff receive training relevant to their job function and
records are kept, which means the average number of days
of training per employee could be calculated.
The company uses both external training bodies such
as the local chamber of commerce and internal personnel.The need for training on sustainable issues has been identied.
The company currently employs 12 staff. This has fallen slightly
in the last twelve months. The company will actively employ local
contractors as long as they meet the skills required to undertake
the task. A distance of no more than 5 miles is recommended by the
company for contractors to travel. The working environment within
the business is good and staff turnover is described as stable.
The majority of workers are long term employees.
The company makes the occasional donation to local charities.
Cost savings from environmental initiatives are not recorded. A more formal
EMS will ensure that this happens. Records of savings as a percentage
of turnover would be advantageous.
3. Education and Training
4. Employment
5. Charity Work
6. Competitiveness
Evertaut’s manufacturing and storage area
8/13/2019 Evertaut Fisp Case Study
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evertaut-fisp-case-study 8/8
The company would benet immensely from joining FISP as an Associate
member and would likely achieve Full membership status within 9 to 12 months
if recommendations were adopted.
Some work is required on the environmental policy and documenting a health, safety
and environmental register of applicable legislation would ensure that the FISP corecommitments are met.
Extra work on waste and energy recording and ensuring that the procurement policy is
updated to meet the requirements of the Programme could be done relatively quickly.
More documented evidence would be required to ensure that certied timber is
purchased and consideration should be given to implementing the company’s own
chain of custody system.
With assistance from FIRA and the information in the FISP workbook (received by all
member companies) Evertaut should attain the core commitments and at least ve of
the nine environmental commitments with a modest amount of effort.
The company complies with most of the commitments on the social and economic
section with little additional work required. Some further training on sustainability
could be introduced.
For more information on how to become a member of the Furniture
Industry Sustainability Programme contact Alun Watkins at Fira on
01438 777700 or visit www.askra.co.uk
“ Although we are already working on environmental projects, FISP will help us to identify
further opportunities for improvement and allow us to benchmark our performance against
similar companies in the industry.”
Nigel Smalley, Director, Evertaut
Evertaut Ltd
Sovereign House
Lions Drive
Shadsworth Business Park
Blackburn
BB1 2QS
Telephone 01254 297880
Conclusions
top related