In the second blog looking at environmental policies, Abbey Petkar, Managing Director of Magenta Security Services, explores how improvements in environmental credentials can be achieved.
Instigating and driving green policies and procedures is not something that can be achieved over night. To begin company-wide understanding, commitment and support a top down approach to the objective is of paramount importance. Staff must be involved at all levels of the organisation and given the opportunity to ask questions and provide thoughts and feedback to the managing director or board of directors.
Regular training sessions with staff members ensures that they are aware of and can contribute to the ongoing development of green policies. Such awareness also filters through to clients so that they too understand Magenta’s environmental progress and see our desire to improve and help the security industry as a whole.
Sharing knowledge is key too. To help other companies within the security industry improve their environmental credentials, Magenta has shown them what can be achieved by offering free advice and consultation services so they can benefit in the same way. Looking to the future, the experience gained through the introduction of electric vehicles to our fleet will be shared with the industry to see what benefits they can offer and whether it is a viable option.
But how do we know our commitment to the environment is being truly successful? Our recent success in winning new business contracts can be attributed to our track record of top quality security guarding services balanced by our environmentally friendly standards, CSR strategy and other accreditations. For example, in 2007 we were awarded the contract to provide security services to the Royal Parks – a contract awarded by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which praised our environmental initiatives and led to the contract being renewed in 2009 and again in 2011. And, alongside winning other environmental awards, this year we’ve been nominated for the fourth year in a row for the Environmental Initiative of the Year at Security Excellence Awards – a category we won in 2009.
Critics of green policies often make the claim that going green is bad for business in the commercial sense because green solutions cost more money. But this view is very short sighted. More efficient use of paper, electricity and fuel should all lead to lower expenditure but needs to be weighed up against the elements that will be more expensive for reasons that include resource availability, increased research and development costs. Careful balancing however should still see an overall saving particularly if there is a top down strategic approach to CSR rather than a haphazard approach.
Sustainability though, is not just a ‘green message’. Better business practice comes first and foremost. Measuring a company’s performance and managing its impact undoubtedly drives benefits to the business because doing what you do in the knowledge that your actions generate a positive response is a winning strategy: economically, socially and environmentally. Significant savings and results can be achieved through smarter working practices and adopting such policies therefore secures market advantages.
Going ‘green’ should no longer be considered a necessary evil foisted upon business by the environmentalists. Instead it should move to centre stage of any business strategy.
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