Advance Security Achieves ISO Status

Nationwide security provider, Advance Security’s corporate social responsibility policy has paid off, with the company achieving ISO14001 accreditation in recognition of its environmental performance.

ISO 14001 is an internationally accepted business accreditation, from the International Standards Organisation (ISO), designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact. Advance Security is believed to be one of the first manned guarding organisations in the UK to achieve ISO 14001 status.

Over the past 18 months Advance Security has implemented a variety of measures to reduce its impact upon the environment, as part of its wider corporate social responsibility programme. Richard Bailey, sales and marketing director of Advance Security, explains the reasoning behind the programme, “At Advance Security we believe that corporate social responsibility should be seen as an opportunity, not a hindrance, and this is also the ethos behind the ISO 14001 accreditation.  If we are to work towards greater recognition as a professional service, paying lip service to an issue that the rest of the corporate community is taking seriously is just not acceptable. With environmental policy beginning to impact at all stages of business, we believed it was an issue that needed attention, and therefore we developed a comprehensive programme that sees us reducing our environmental impact in all areas of our operation. To this extent we are very pleased that our efforts have been recognised with our new ISO14001 status.”

Measures that Advance Security has put in place include:

• A reduction in travelling costs for meetings, with conference calls now common practice in place of face-to-face meetings;
• A detailed environmental assessment programme for staff, with a dedicated internal webpage advising on actions that can be taken at home and work to minimise their personal environmental impact;
• The recycling of all paper, mobile phones, PDAs and printer cartridges;
• The use of diesel vehicles only and the reduction of vehicle travel wherever possible;
• The introduction of ‘Green Vouchers’ for employees providing the most effective suggestions for company-wide improvement.
  

Richard Bailey continues, “Having achieved recognition for ISO 14001 we are not resting on our laurels, as a company we are continuing to improve our management systems, in order to further enhance the service we provide to all our customers”