ISO 14001 : 2004 at Stevenage Circuits Limited

Stevenage Circuits commenced trading in 1971 and has occupied the current site since 1986. The company currently employs approximately 110 staff and specialises in high technology multilayer, flexible and flexi-rigid printed wiring boards for defence, aviation and medical industries. The company have been registered to ISO 9001 for many years.

Significant environmental aspects included the discharge of trade effluent and the storage and disposal of many types of hazardous waste.

The requirement to implement an environmental management system (EMS) and achieve certification to ISO 14001 : 2004 was a contract undertaken in conjunction with Parachem Consulting Chemists (www.parachem.co.uk).

I managed the complete project, taking a total of 20 days of my time and significant milestones in the consultancy project are as follows:

October 2009  Initial Environmental Review conducted
November 2009  Register of Environmental Aspects & Impacts (48 in total excluding waste) and identification of waste streams (118 in total)
December 2009  Register of Legislation compiled
January 2010  Environmental Management System (EMS) Manual and associated procedures produced and published
January 2010   EMS document review by BSI (on-site)
February 2010   EMS internal audit conducted
March 2010   Management Review
April 2010  On-site assessment by BSI resulted in a recommendation for registration to ISO 14001 being made with one minor nonconformity observed.