Businesses of all sizes across all industry sectors can have a huge impact on the world around us - you don't have to be an oil company or a multinational fast food chain to damage the environment through waste, pollution, and general carelessness. As a business owner, it's your responsibility not only to ensure the profitability of your organisation but also to minimise the environmental impact of your day-to-day operations.

One of the best ways to make sure that your business is as green as possible is to plan and implement an environmental management system (EMS) within your organisation. A good EMS will control your energy consumption, your use of natural resources, and your handling of waste and refuse, all while helping you to keep your business running smoothly.

Here are just a few reasons to implement an environmental management system and get your company ISO 14001 certified:

• Minimise the environmental impact of your organisation
• Save money by driving down your energy usage and reducing waste
• Streamline the way you handle and dispose of waste
• Verify that your business complies with the latest environmental legislation

ISO 14001 certification can even make it easier to access insurance cover. If you'd like to find out how NPT Management Systems can help you to plan your EMS and gain ISO 14001 certification, please contact us today to discuss your requirements with an expert.

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Last month, credit reporting agency Equifax reported a data breach that exposed the personal data of more than 100 million consumers. This would be worrying enough on its, but perhaps the most alarming part of this story is the fact that the attack in question reportedly began back in May, but wasn't observed until late July.

Among the information affected by security breach were people's:

• Names
• Birth dates
• Addresses
• Card details

The fallout from this incident has been catastrophic for Equifax. A number of lawsuits have been filed against the company, and Equifax shares dropped by 13% the after the news broke. The breach is still being closely followed by media outlets internationally, and the former Equifax CEO Richard Smith has even appeared in front of the United States Congress.

All of this demonstrates yet again that information security is an absolutely critical concern for businesses in the 21st century. Even small enterprises should take data security very seriously, ideally implementing a strong information security management system (ISMS) and seeking ISO 27001 certification to ensure that robust security processes are in place.

If you are looking to achieve ISO 27001 certification, please contact NPT Management Systems today for expert advice and assistance with planning and implementing your ISMS.

Flomatik Network Services have been a client of ours for a number of years. We help them with their ISO 9001 certification and ISO 27001 accreditation.

Now we have helped Flomatik to achieve yet another milestone: we assisted in the planning and implementation of their new company-wide environmental management system, and we were very pleased to learn that they had successfully achieved ISO 14001 certification via a UKAS-accredited body.

Flomatik are an established UK-based network services company who work with a number of major network operators, technology vendors and engineering companies to design, build and operate the next generation of networks. Having already implemented a successful quality management system (QMS) and an effective information security management system (ISMS), Flomatik were keen to improve their processes further by instating an ISO 14001-compliant environmental management system (EMS) to reduce their environmental impact and minimise waste throughout the organisation. NPT Management Systems provided advice and assistance throughout this process, ensuring that Flomatik would realise their goal of achieving ISO 14001 accreditation.

Here's what Paul Upshall, Flomatik's Head of Business Operations, had to say about the help we provided:

Flomatik have been using NPT for several years and have enjoyed outstanding levels of service from Neil and associates. With Neil's help, we have established and maintained robust quality management systems that consistently impress both our customers and auditors. Working with NPT, we have introduced 27001 and 14001 in less than two years.

Neil's practical, professional approach is reflected through the organisation, maximising efficiency of delivery and cost savings.

Our journey with NPT will continue as we transition to the latest standards and introduce a fully-integrated QMS.

If you're looking to gain ISO certification, contact NPT Management Systems today for professional advice from experienced ISO consultants.

Even if you've already put a QMS (Quality Management System) in place and achieved ISO accreditation, it's important to undergo regular ISO 9001 audits to ensure that your QMS is still being followed throughout the organisation and that it's still delivering continuous improvement for your business.

Rather than being a chore or an encumbrance, an ISO 9001 audit should provide real value to the business being audited. With the help of the ISO experts here at NPT Management Systems, your audit will benefit you in a number of ways:

• Ensuring that your QMS is effective
• Making your system more efficient and more integrated with your day-to-day operations
• Saving you money and reducing wastage within your organisation
• Highlighting possible risk areas and opportunities for future improvement

If you're used to dreading your ISO 9001 audit, we strongly recommend that you contact NPT Management Systems today to find out how we can help you.

Read more: Value-Added ISO Audits >

We at NPT Management Systems have helped businesses in all sorts of different industries to implement highly compliant quality management systems and achieve ISO 9001 certification. One such industry is the engineering sector - engineering firms from all over the South of England have come to us for assistance with their QMS requirements.

Putting an effective quality management system into place and gaining ISO 9001 accreditation is a step that many engineering companies feel it necessary to take. ISO 9001 certification is a requirement for many contracts, and the benefits of a QMS (e.g. reduced wastage, improved efficiency and customer satisfaction) can be enormous.

If you need help implementing a quality management system within your organisation, please contact NPT Management Systems now to discuss your requirements.

Case Study: GT Tooling

Based in Fareham, near Portsmouth, GT Tooling are a precision mechanical engineering firm who specialise in designing and manufacturing injection mould tools. They contacted NPT Management Systems some time ago because they needed to achieve ISO 9001 certification - here's what Managing Director Greg Simmonds had to say about working with us:

"We initial used NPT Management Systems to help us implement a quality management system and achieve ISO 9001 registration. We now continue to use them to help maintain our QMS. We would recommend NPT to any company looking for a professional quality consultant!"

View more testimonials // Visit GT Tooling website