ENVIRONMENT. CIVIL ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION MUST ALWAYS GIVE DUE CONSIDERATION TO ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.
Environmental impact covers everything from where projects are located and the choice of materials, to the tools used in construction or choice of power supply, to practical responsibilities such as minimising waste and preventing construction-related pollution or ecological harm. Furthermore, at JN Bentley we recognise that everything we do has a potential impact. Working in the water industry amplifies the potential impact as we must also consider the downstream effects (whether literal or figurative) of our activities because the decisions taken could impact on the wider ecology and the wider public. 2016 began with the completion of our Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) assessment and in doing so demonstrating our good practices as well as receiving some useful suggestions. In terms of our internal environmental goals, 2016 saw us challenge ourselves to review our
environmental awareness training to address the ever-evolving circumstances in which we operate, as well as promote environmental stewardship to a greater proportion of the workforce, something demonstrated by improved reporting of incidents with the potential to cause environmental harm. The revised training has already been delivered to 50 employees, and 2016 was a record year in terms of the prevention of environmental incidents, with over 3,400 documented interventions made on our sites and in our offices before any quantifiable incident could result. Most reassuring is the statistic that as well as record reporting levels, we have seen a wider breadth of individuals from a variety of roles reporting more environmentallyunsafe conditions than ever before. This demonstrates how our responsibilities with respect to the environment are reaching an ever-broader audience.
CONSIDERATE CONSTRUCTORS SCHEME. We have a number of projects registered with the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS), an independent organisation that aims to improve the image of the construction industry. At Morpeth, where we constructed new flood defences, the visiting CCS assessor described our environmental protection measures as “exceptional�, scoring us 9 out of 10 in this category.
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3,483 2016 WAS A RECORD YEAR FOR THE PREVENTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL INCIDENTS WITH OVER 3,400 DOCUMENTED INTERVENTIONS MADE ON OUR SITES AND IN OUR OFFICES BEFORE ANY QUANTIFIABLE INCIDENT COULD RESULT.