Waste group achieves safety standards ahead of schedule
15 June 2020 by CSG
A national waste management company has achieved the latest health and safety standards a year ahead of schedule.
The work by CSG’s compliance team reassures its customers and staff that all operations are conducted to the most up-to-date international requirements.
Antony Gerken, permitting and compliance manager for CSG, said: “As a company we have always been committed to delivering best practice across all operations, ensuring both customers and employees can be confident in the quality of our service.”
The group’s management processes already conformed to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 for quality and environment respectively, and to OHSAS 18001 – the British management system standard for Health and Safety.
However, in 2018 a new H&S international standard was introduced – ISO 45001 – which built on the principles of OHSAS 18001 but was more in-depth and required greater management of H&S issues.
“We had until 2021 to achieve this standard or lose our certification,” said Antony. “Not only would this have been unacceptable to our customers, it would not have fitted in with the CSG ethos of always operating to the highest standards, so we set to work to ensure we met the requirement well ahead of schedule.
“These certifications mean that as a business we successfully demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that we are compliant with all required legislation, protecting our workers and the environment.
“During 2019, the group’s processing facilities took in 404,729 tonnes of waste, from hazardous and oil waste, domestic sewage, to packaging that can be processed and recycled.”
The transition to the new standards required a company-wide effort lead by Antony Gerken and CSG’s Health and Safety Committee. Certification to ISO 45001 demonstrates how seriously the business takes the health, safety and wellbeing of all employees.
Antony added: “Our customers can be fully confident that their waste will be handled appropriately, by well-trained staff who are working in a safe environment, which also helps them to demonstrate their compliance across supply chain partners.”
CSG was founded as a one-man sewage collection business in rural Hampshire more than 80 years ago and now employs a national workforce of nearly 575 people.
The CSG group owns brands such as industrial cleaning experts Willacy Oil Services, print waste management specialists J & G Environmental and Oil Monster. The company operates more than 27 facilities across the UK, with a team of drivers, operatives and specialist consultants working together on the goal of diverting waste from landfill, recovering and recycling as much as possible.