Final touches are being put to the UK’s first sustainability management
standard, due to be published in May by the British Standards
Institution.
The BS8900 standard, intended for businesses but also for governmental
and voluntary sector organizations, will take the form of non-binding
guidance. The BSI emphasizes that its recommendations are not
‘prescriptive’ and will not be linked to any performance criteria or
include any certification elements. The standard, drawn up with advice from the consultancy URS, presents
recommended measures based on four principles: inclusivity, integrity,
stewardship and transparency.
Among other things, it suggests organizations publish a clear statement
of their ‘sustainable development vision’ that is ‘challenging yet
achievable’ – and that their overall strategies on sustainable
development should be updated ‘at least every three to five years’.
In addition, it says sustainable development objectives should form
part of an organization’s performance appraisal system, and that
sustainable development issues should be ‘woven into’ staff training.
Amanda Tucker, manager of BSI’s sustainable development technical
committee, told EP the standard, which has been circulated to
interested parties in draft form, aims to get businesses thinking about
how to manage sustainability. ‘The intention is to try to get
organizations to develop an approach to sustainable development that
will be appropriate to them and the challenges they face as time goes
on. We want them to [use this to] grapple with the issue rather
than take a tick-box approach.’
The standard builds on the BSI’s involvement in the Sigma project, an
initiative instigated by the UK trade and industry department in 1999
to establish guidelines on the management of sustainable development
(EP5, issue 8, p6 & EP5, issue 3, p3).
The technical committee responsible for the standard is also leading
the UK contribution to the development of a social responsibility
standard by the Geneva-based International Standardization
Organization. ‘We would expect to see many of the experiences and
lessons that we’ve learned shared within the ISO working group,’ said
Tucker.
The next meeting of the ISO working group on the social responsibility
standard is due to take place in May, coinciding with the release of
the BS8900 standard. The proposed ISO2600 social responsibility
standard will also be non-binding. Publication is expected in 2008.
