Environmental and Carbon Reduction Policy

Introduction

The environment in which we work and live has never been subjected to as much change as it is now experiencing.

Population growth, use of finite resources, and greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are taking their toll in many ways not least of all through climate change and pollution.

Unfortunately, as we see in our work, it is often the poorest and most vulnerable communities who are hardest hit by climate change, although in recent times we’ve seen some extreme conditions here at home too.

The world temperatures continue to rise as greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere increase and pollution through waste generation continues.

Next Step Nursing is committed to reducing the environmental impact of our operations and will ensure that all is done to mitigate climate change and the adverse impact this has on our community and the world at large.

We are committed to complying with applicable legislation in all the jurisdictions where it operates and will share achievements with all stakeholders in and outside the company.

Policy Statement

Next Step Nursing Ltd.’s policy statement on carbon emissions is:

There is a strong consensus within the scientific community that climate change is occurring and is caused by human activity.

Next Step Nursing is therefore taking steps to reduce its own carbon emissions. This makes good sense environmentally and economically.

Purpose and aim:

It is our aim to ensure our environmental commitments become an integral part of our day-to-day activities, that we seek ways to continually improve our environmental performance and operate in a responsible manner including reducing waste and making reductions in our carbon emissions from heat, power, and travel.

Next Step Nursing will ensure it operates within all environmental, legal, and other requirements as imposed by EU and UK law and best practices.

Next Step Nursing has attained ISO 9001 certification and within our Quality Management System (QMS) it has been satisfied and will maintain this accolade as a minimum standard for all present and future environmental and carbon reduction initiatives.

Scope

This policy has been produced in line with and should be interpreted in the light of, our company’s values: compassionate, courageous, inclusive, and dynamic.

The scope of this policy is for Next Step Nursing to control its impact on the environment through the following objectives:

Minimise our contribution to pollution by reducing our carbon emissions and waste together with recycling, reusing, and reducing wherever possible.

Assess the adverse effects our operations/partnerships may have on the environment and seek ways to minimise them.

Introduce into our procurement practice supplier selection criteria based on a minimum environmental standard.

Promote environmental awareness to all stakeholders including the induction of new staff and volunteers.

Monitor, report and reduce carbon emissions specifically from heat, power, and travel.

 How To Achieve these objectives

We will achieve the objectives through the following activities:

  • Selecting the most appropriate form of travel considering carbon emissions as well as other business factors; and only travel when necessary.
  • Ensuring that our buildings are operated in such a manner to optimise the use and reduce emissions through control of heat and power.
  • Reducing waste through control of packaging for bought in goods.
  • Recycling all appropriate waste such as paper, card, metals, and plastics
  • Reducing our use of plastics
  • Ensuring that the induction process for new starters contains information about this policy and obligations to adhere to it.
  • Challenging behaviour of colleagues who act in a manner contrary to this policy.
  • Implementing a central reporting mechanism to allow senior management to be informed about environmental issues within the organisation and achievements made in mitigating the overall environmental impact.
  • Expanding the availability and use of new technologies to allow for changes in behaviour particularly around travel, e.g. greater use of video conferencing and expanding the ‘virtualisation’ of IT systems.
  • Including in supplier selection and review criteria minimum environmental standards expected of current and future suppliers for bought-in goods and services.
  • Providing quarterly reports for each business unit showing carbon emissions generated from electricity, gas, and travel.
  • Nominate environmental champions within the company.
  • Use environmental impact assessments (EnvIA) for the UK to identify potential increased risks of detriment to the environment and to report this as part of our ISO 9001 internal audit process.

Responsibilities

All of our employees are responsible for complying with this policy and supporting our efforts to minimise our impact on the environment.

Management and all those in a supervisory role have the responsibility for implementing the policy within their areas of responsibility and should ensure that environmental issues are given adequate consideration in the planning and execution of our operations, services, and programmes.

Laws and regulations

We will ensure we operate within all environmental, legal, and other requirements as imposed by EU and UK law and best practice.

This policy can be shared with external stakeholders including members of the public and commissioners.

Monitoring and compliance

Quality Management Systems certified to ISO9001 standards (Clause 5) are in place to monitor this policy and ensure compliance.

Review and maintenance

This policy will be reviewed on an annual basis and earlier as new legislation/regulations changes occurred.

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