“Our Enforcement and sanctions policy has now changed and these documents have been replaced. On 4 January 2011 we introduced new Civil Sanction powers.”

So what does this mean for UK businesses?

The overall aim of the Environment Agency is to safeguard the environment, which includes encouraging businesses to make environmental protection an integral part of business practices.

By following this route, they aim to avoid harm to the environment from ever occurring, which is far preferable to seeking ways of putting right damage that has already been done.

Ideally they want to bring this about by persuasion in the form of information and advice on how businesses can help the environment and, at the same time, often realise tangible benefits themselves from changing their operations.

Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, means that persuasion is often not enough and the Environment Agency has to adopt more hard line forms of enforcement, which might include:

• Enforcement Notices, Works Notices or Prohibition Notices, which carry legal penalties for any organisation that fails to comply with their requirements.
• Suspending, revoking or changing the conditions of Environmental Licences
• Where actual harm to the environment has occurred, the Agency may undertake remedial work and then recover the costs from those who are responsible for causing the damage.

When an incident amounts to an actual criminal offence, the Agency has the option of prosecuting the perpetrator through the courts, although this can involve the Environment Agency in legal battles that can be costly in terms of time as well as financially.

From last year, the Environment Agency has a range of additional sanctions that can be pursued through the civil courts rather than the criminal courts. They don’t see this route as being appropriate for the most serious offences but rather as a lighter touch for those organisations that are trying to comply with environmental legislation.

What do the new civil sanctions include?

• Additional Notices that can require a business to bring their operations into Compliance with the law within a defined time limit or Restore damage that has been done – again within a specified time limit.
• A range of monetary penalties imposed by the Agency ranging from fixed amounts associated with minor offences to variable amounts that are based on the nature of the offences where they are considered to be more serious in nature.
• Enforcement undertakings or Stop Notices that can require an organisation to make amends for damage they have done or to stop their operations completely if they are damaging the environment.

As of the 4th January 2011, the Environment Agency replaced their previous “Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Functional Guidelines” with a number of new Enforcement Documents:

• Enforcement and Sanctions Statement, which presents a high-level overview of how the Agency intends to enforce environmental regulations.
• Enforcement and Sanctions Guidance, which deals with how the Agency uses civil and criminal sanctions to enforce environmental legislation. This includes information about how variable monetary penalties will be applied.
• Enforcement and Sanctions Offence Response Options, which is a very detailed document that lists all the offences that are regulated by the Agency and the responses that might be applied.

(Note some of these documents are substantial and may take a while to download)

Environmental compliance need not be a costly affair. In fact, with the right guidance, businesses can usually achieve significant benefits for themselves and their employees.

Why not request a visit from one of our Consultants who can explain what you need to do to become compliant as well as the most cost effective way to do so.

The Original Scheme

In April 2010 we published an article about the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme introduced by the Government to encourage larger users of energy to improve their efficiency.
(see our earlier article).

Very briefly, the idea of the scheme is to sell allowances to around 4,000 of the UK’s largest energy users (i.e. those that use more than 6,000MWh of electricity each year). The energy savings of these organisations would then be monitored and, at the end of each year, entered into a Performance League Table, showing how successful each had been in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

When first conceived, the scheme was not intended to be a revenue earner for the Government. In fact the overall scheme was intended to be cost neutral, with all the money being returned to the participating organisations in proportion to how high they appeared in the League Table.

Consequently, as well as benefitting from reduced energy bills, those who made the greatest savings would also receive a greater share in the recycled cash.

Obviously, both these factors were important considerations when organisations were budgeting for carbon cutting initiatives.

Recent Changes to the Scheme

Since the recent Government Spending Review, however, the picture has changed dramatically – not by anything in George Osborne’s speech to Parliament but in the fine detail of the report, which includes the following statement:

“The CRC Energy Efficiency scheme will be simplified to reduce the burden on businesses, with the first allowance sales for 2011-12 emissions now taking place in 2012 rather than 2011. Revenues from allowance sales totalling £1 billion a year by 2014-15 will be used to support the public finances, including spending on the environment, rather than recycled to participants. Further decisions on allowance sales are a matter for the Budget process.”

This announcement contains three key statements:

1. The first sale of allowances will take place in 2012 instead of 2011. Originally each organisation needed to forecast its energy usage for the following year and purchase allowances up-front. The Government now appears to have adopted a simpler approach whereby organisations can purchase allowances after the event, based on actual energy usage.
2. Revenues from the sale of allowances will no longer be returned to participants but will be retained by the Government. This amounts to a carbon tax on larger energy users in the order of £1 billion pounds a year.
3. This is not necessarily the end of changes since further decisions about allowance sales are anticipated in the Budget process. Obviously we can only speculate as to what these decisions may be but an obvious consideration is the actual unit cost of the allowances.

These changes can have major implications for investment plans into carbon reduction projects and they also introduce a measure of uncertainty as to what future changes may mean for cost-benefit calculations.

There are other questions raised that organisations need to ponder, for example:

• The initial sale of allowances has been delayed to 2012, effectively making them retrospective but does this mean that sales for future years will also be retrospective or is this delay only in place while the scheme gets off the ground?
• What will happen to the Performance League Tables now that one of their primary functions no longer applies?
• Might there be changes in the criteria for which organisations are to be participants in the scheme?

Advice and Guidance

The Government claims to have simplified the scheme but energy calculations for larger organisations can be complex and there continues to be uncertainly as to how this affects those organisations that are members of larger groups, which is why we continue to offer our Carbon Reduction Commitment Health Check.

If you need any help or advice regarding energy efficiency, then please don’t hesitate to contact Andrew Nicholson who heads up our Environment Business Unit. (see contact details).

Lord Young has published his eagerly anticipated review of Health and Safety in the UK. Perhaps understandably, it has barely been noticed by the media, which has been pre-occupied with other weighty reports such as the reviews of Security, Defence and, of course, Spending.

For UK organisations, the immediate question is how this might affect them.

The report opens with a positive message about the real benefits of Health and Safety for UK workplaces, which now have the lowest number of non-fatal accidents and the second lowest number of fatal accidents in Europe.

Areas of Criticism

Interestingly for anyone who thinks about Health and Safety in terms of legislation, the report contains little of a critical nature. Instead, most of Lord Young’s criticism is reserved for such areas as:

• Influence of European Union legislators
• Poor practice on the part of unqualified Health and Safety consultants
• Application of the full weight of legislation across all sectors regardless of hazard levels.
• Demands on industry by insurance companies
• Bureaucracy around the practical application of legislation
• Misrepresentation of Health and Safety in the media
• Operation of Claims Management companies

Perhaps the strongest criticism of Lord Young’s report is directed at the last of these, which has given rise to the perception of a Compensation Culture and the assumption that for every accident someone must be held responsible and compensation is payable.

The fear of being sued is even discouraging ordinary folk from trying to help people who have been injured in case their efforts don’t work.

Practical Experience

Interestingly one of our own readers, a businessman from Dorset, has expressed some of the frustrations he has experienced as a result of poor practice in the application of health and safety:

“I decided to retire early from the construction industry due to Health and Safety legislation and attitudes.

Although expressed differently, Lord Young’s report includes many frustrations with the practical application of legislation that is well intentioned and in many respects very successful.

What are the implications?

For the most part, Health and Safety legislation is sound and we believe when it is properly applied is of real benefit to employers and employees alike. Whilst there may be some consolidation of the legislation, it is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Perhaps this report will act as a wakeup call to those who have unjustifiably used Health and Safety as an excuse for avoiding something they simply don’t want to do, or who have failed to use common sense in the application of Health and Safety.

Increased regulation may be on the cards for Consultants though that is likely to take time to get up and running. In the meantime, it is incumbent on everyone to examine the reputation, qualifications and experience of anyone they hire to provide Health and Safety advice.

We all need to be more cautious about how Health and Safety is reported in the media. A bit of healthy scepticism wouldn’t go amiss.

Perhaps it’s the Claims Management companies that need to be looking most carefully at the risks that might arise from this report.

Read the full text of Lord Young’s Report

As an urgent reminder, if yours is an obligated organisation under the CRC initiative the deadline of the 30th September for registration is virtually upon us. There are still many companies that have yet to register and failing to do so can attract hefty fines.

We now hear that the coalition government is proposing to help the much larger number of small and medium sized companies to realise energy savings. If it goes ahead then we expect it to be included in the Energy Bill – due to be announced in November.

Basically, the scheme will involve the government in setting up a fund that will be administered through the banks and from which organisations can borrow money to upgrade their plant and equipment for greater efficiency. Loans will then be repaid out of savings from the increased efficiency. Repayments could also be automated through the energy providers so that there is little or no impact on the individual companies themselves.

Overall, it could be a win-win situation for companies wanting to save money, the government wanting to reduce carbon emissions and even for the banks who have an obligation to increase their lending to businesses.

The challenge will be to keep what essentially is a very simple idea free is from bureaucracy that could be off-putting for smaller organisations. Otherwise, up to four million businesses could benefit from the scheme by replacing old heating and cooling systems, air conditioning, lighting, and other poor efficiency equipment.

Smaller organisations often do not have the time or the information needed to properly assess their energy usage or to devise viable strategies to improve their performance in a cost-effective manner. For some years, EDP has been advising organisations of all sizes on how they are able to improve their carbon footprint and improve energy efficiency. We will be closely following this proposal to ensure our clients are able to gain maximum benefit from it.

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Contact EDP HS&E Consultants for all your health, safety and environment needs. We can check your current arrangements and advise you about any changes or improvements you need to make.

To discuss your requirements, without any obligation on your part, please gives us a call on 01744 766000 or complete the Enquiry Form on our website.

Operating throughout the UK, EMEA and South East Asia, EDP has been a Microsoft Ltd vendor for over 17 years on a number of projects and continues to handle all of Microsoft Ltd’s health, safety and environmental management requirements in the UK.

Certification to ISO 14001 ensures that Microsoft Ltd has an environmental management system in place which is maintained to a high standard in order to conform to the improvement goals documented in the company’s UK Statement of Intent on Environmental Sustainability. The Standard demonstrates compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations and allows Microsoft Ltd to demonstrate to key business stakeholders that the company is taking a pro-active approach to the management and reduction of its environmental impacts.

For further information please submit your enquiry here or visit our website at www.edp-uk.com

EDP’s role in the project was to identify and evaluate the environmental impact of all Microsoft Ltd’s buildings and to assess compliance with all applicable legal and other requirements. EDP then developed and implemented a route map to ISO 14001 certification which included:

•Improving the level of environmental awareness amongst Real Estate and Facilities;
•Developing system documentation in order to meet the procedural requirements of ISO 14001;
•Developing systems to track the environmental performance of Microsoft Ltd’s buildings;
•Providing training for employees with key environmental responsibilities within the Environmental Management System

Simon Fry, Facilities Manager (UK), Microsoft said “We chose to partner with EDP because of their professionalism, reliability and responsive attitude. EDP gave us reassurance at every stage of implementing our environmental management system. Now we have been awarded the ISO 14001 standard, we remain compliant with all legislation and all our employees are adequately aware of environmental activities undertaken within our organisation.”

Andrew Nicholson, Head of EDP’s Environmental Business Unit said “We established a strategic direction for Microsoft Ltd’s environmental requirements and can now drive this plan and tactical implementation, in a seamless and co-ordinated manner. The ISO 14001 standard was gained through working closely with Microsoft UK’s Real Estates and Facilities division and it’s nominated vendors by fully utilising our wider team of environmental consultants.”

For further information please submit your enquiry here or visit our website at www.edp-uk.com

This is part of the UK Government’s commitment to achieve its reduction targets for greenhouse gases.

EDP Health, Safety and Environment Consultants have produce a guide to CRC entitled: The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme – A Brief Guide which is now available to download.

Click to download the CRC Guide from EDP

For Health, Safety and Environmental solutions for larger organisations, please visit the EDP Health Safety & Environment Consultants website for more information from EDP Health and Safety Consultants about outsourcing Health and Safety , health and safety training courses: www.edp-uk.com

All organisations whose electricity use was measured through at least one half hourly meter (HHM) during calendar year 2008 will be required by law to submit data to the Environment Agency before the end of September deadline.

Companies falling under CRC who fail to submit data on time face a maximum fine of £5,000 plus an additional £500 for each subsequent working day that an organisation fails to register up to a maximum of 80 days.

Many companies appear to be ignorant of the imminent requirement to make an information disclosure or indeed how to accurately calculate their electricity consumption for calendar year 2008. Equally, many companies who are part of a larger group of companies are uncertain as to how CRC will affect their operations and who should be submitting the relevant information to the regulator on their behalf.

EDP has therefore designed its Carbon Reduction Commitment Health Check to provide peace of mind and a clear action plan for compliance for any business potentially affected by the legislation.

EDP’s CRC Health Check includes:

• A report outlining what needs to be done within your organisation to comply with CRC via a tailored ‘compliance pack guide’
• Advice as to what the ‘next steps’ should be and the ongoing management and financial obligations for the organisation
• Submission of the relevant information for a basic or full information disclosure to the regulator on your behalf, thereby ensuring that you comply with the relevant reporting requirements.

If you have concerns about your potential obligations under CRC, please contact Andrew Nicholson, EDP’s Head of Environment Business Unit on: andrew.nicholson@edp-uk.com

Or call on :

01744 766000
07970 301582

Please download our Brief Guide to CRC here

For Health, Safety and Environmental solutions for larger organisations, please visit the EDP Health Safety & Environment Consultants website for more information from EDP Health and Safety Consultants about outsourcing Health and Safety , health and safety training courses: www.edp-uk.com

Click here for more information about Environmental Services offered by EDP Health, Safety & Environment Consultants.

Visit the EDP Health Safety & Environment Consultants website for more information about outsourcing Health and Safety , Health and Safety Consultants, health and safety training courses: www.edp-uk.com

Applying the basic approach to risk assessment, we need to:

1. Identify any hazard
2. Identify the risk of harm to safety or health of individuals
3. Identify who might be affected
4. Put in place appropriate measures to manage the risk

Hazard

In the case of the hazard, we already know it is particles of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

Risks

At one level there is a risk associated with air travel, though this is probably being adequately managed by NATS, the Air Traffic Control Organisation.

At a more prosaic level, we all need to consider the potential health implications of inhaling the dust.  The Health Protection Agency (HPA) currently advises that this is not a significant risk – at least not for normally healthy individuals.

The reasons for this assessment are that the ash is currently suspended too high in the atmosphere to be inhaled and, although it could be brought to earth by rainfall, this also poses low risk because the particles are not easily inhaled under wet conditions.

Who Affected

There is a possible health risk, however, should any dust that has fallen to the ground be subsequently disturbed by windy conditions.  The people at risk under these conditions include anyone with an existing respiratory condition such as asthma, chronic bronchitis or emphysema.

Controls

For such people, the advice is to ensure they carry their inhalers or other medication with them, particularly when outdoors.  If they suspect they are being affected by the dust – e.g. runny nose, sore throat or strong smells of sulphur or rotten eggs – then they should return indoors.

Employers who believe any of their workers may be affected would be wise to issue this advice and ensure there are no obstructions that would prevent workers from complying.

The good news is that any adverse effects are likely to be short term unless, of course, the vagaries nature decide differently!!

Visit the EDP Health Safety & Environment Consultants website for more information about outsourcing Health and Safety , Health and Safety Consultants, health and safety training courses: www.edp-uk.com

The scheme won’t affect all organisations – at least not in its present form – but If you are a large user of energy, then you may well be included.

Who is Affected?

The range of industries that the government expect to be involved with the scheme is quite broad, encompassing the likes of:

• Public sector organisations
• Hotels and restaurants
• Food manufacturing
• Engineering
• Printing
• Retail
• . . . and more

What are the Objectives of the Scheme?

The UK Government has designed the scheme as one of its means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by at least 80% from their 1990 levels by 2050.

Large organisations, whether in the private or public sectors that had a half hourly meter during 2008 have to register for the scheme. That includes around 20,000 organisations in the UK.

The period when organisations must register began at the start of April 2010 and finishes at the end of September. There are sanctions for any organisation that fails to register on time or that provides inaccurate information, so now is the time to act.

Of the 20,000 who register, about 5,000 will be “Participants”. These are the organisations who consumed at least 6,000 mega-watt-hours of electricity during 2008. The remainder, who used less energy will be known as “Information Declarers”.

Participants will be required to monitor their energy consumption and purchase allowances from the Government at the start of each reporting year for the amount of Carbon Dioxide they emit through energy consumption.

Information Declarers will not be required to purchase allowances from the Government but they will have to report information about their energy usage.

Is this just Additional Cost on Employers?

At first sight the scheme might appear to be an additional expense on businesses and other organisations. However, this all depends on how each one performs.

The overall scheme is not intended to be a Government revenue earner. In fact it is intended to be revenue neutral.

Income from selling allowances will be redistributed to Participants on the basis of their position in the Performance League Table. Consequently, those organisations that are more successful in reducing their energy usage (and therefore carbon dioxide emissions) can expect to receive a correspondingly greater proportion of the returned fees. They will also save on their energy bills and reduce the amount of allowances they need to purchase in subsequent years. In fact, for those who do well, the scheme could result in considerable financial benefit.

It’s all designed to be competitive and those who perform best will benefit at the expense of those who perform less well.

An additional incentive is that the Government will publish the Performance League Table. For Participants, this could have a significant impact on their reputations amongst the public and those with whom they do business.

Future Changes

While the scheme is being phased in, allowances will be sold at a fixed price, with no limit on the number that can be purchased.

However, things will be even more interesting when the scheme becomes fully operational. After the initial three years, a maximum limit will be imposed on the total number of allowances offered for sale by the government. Participants will then be required to bid for allowances in a form of auction, so the cost will no longer be fixed.

The result of these changes will be even greater incentives to become energy efficient, meaning greater rewards for the most efficient and increased costs for the less efficient.

What do You Need to Do?

If you are one of the organisations affected by this scheme, then you have a six month window in which you must register with the scheme (by 30th September 2010), or face penalties, including fines.

In addition, energy efficiency is going to become ever more important in moving you from net cost to net income. Consequently, it would be a wise move to look seriously at your energy usage and how you can reduce it. The highest rewards are likely to go to those who do so sooner rather than later.

You can read much more about the scheme on the government’s website at
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/pollution/98263.aspx

Visit the EDP Health Safety & Environment Consultants website for more information about outsourcing Health and Safety , Health and Safety Consultants, health and safety training courses: www.edp-uk.com