Green Ribbon Award

Environmental audits give clear indicators of your committment

This scored, snap-shot assessment provides a ideal way of checking compliance and identifying opportunities for improvement.  Each element is scored against our Green Ribbon standard and we will provide a brief comment to support the rating.

What we cover

  • Your approach to environmental management –your policies, objectives and targets, how you allocate environmental responsibilities and providing training
  • Plans and ways of working – identifying the most important issues, aligning policies, legal requirements and needs of interested parties
  • Managing your environmental impacts – controlling your waste, energy, water and materials, efficiency programmes and successes
  • Monitoring and maintaining – performance measures, regular reporting, new initiatives, compliance monitoring and lessons learned

What you get

A scored assessment of your performance against the Green Ribbon Standard and some brief comments on performance.  This provides assurance that you have compliant good practice in place and guidance for areas where you can act.  If you achieve 85%, you are entitled to use the Green Ribbon logo for a year to demonstrate to staff, contractors, visitors, shareholders, and their community that a high standard of environmental management is being practised every day.

Organisations wanting more detailed feedback, prioritised action plans, or access to training and on-going support, can access services at a discounted rate.

We recommend that you are re-audited at least once a year so that you can track progress and benchmark your performance with others.

 

The audit is undertaken by a trained specialist who will prepare your report on the day. The audit is very much a snap shot rather than a detailed examination of how all arrangements are being managed. It will provide you with information on your current level of compliance, with a limited amount of detailed information on what was found. The auditor will highlight the relevant compliance level in the audit criteria and award a rating for each item which will contribute to your score. They may make comments, but these will be brief and in a note form. Much of the time the auditor spends on site will be looking at documentation and interviewing key people to understand standards at your premises. It is therefore important to prepare for the audit and ensure that the person responsible for day-to-day environment management is available. We cannot give marks for information that cannot be located. A brief walk around of the site will be undertaken. However, any areas where hazards are present, and which are not readily accessible, the auditor may not see on the day.

The Green Ribbon Award is included in all our bundled packages of environmental competent person support. For organisations achieving a high standard, a more detailed review will be required less often.

The audit will last most of the day, and the auditor will take an hour or so at the end to complete the report. They will give a brief overview of findings, as well as your score, before leaving. The audit report will then be verified and emailed to you within 5 working days.