Achilles & CSG

09 December 2019 by CSG

My role in developing CSG’s management systems is, I am pleased to say, never dull.

CSG was recently visited by Achilles. Although I would love to say this was the mythological demigod from Homer’s classical works, this Achilles is slightly different. This Achilles hasn’t been played by Brad Pitt and was not instrumental in the Trojan War. This Achilles has, as far as I am aware, never been a supporting character in a Shakespeare play, nor had numerous Navy vessels named after it. It is not even associated with an injury to the foot, thankfully.

I am talking about Achilles, who operates in the world of business risk management, as an independent accreditor, ensuring business in several industries, that their suppliers are operating responsibly. Achillies are on the lookout for “heel” of any organisations, meaning they identify risks and ensure suppliers are working to lower these risks. This includes examining Health, Safety and Wellbeing of the supplier’s staff but also for those involved further down or up in the supply chain. Additionally, Achilles also ensures that suppliers are conscious of their environmental impact and are monitoring and reducing their carbon footprint.

These accreditations are provided to several industries, including automotive, oil & gas, chemicals and utilities. CSG is a supplier to many businesses in these industries and has therefore signed up to two Achilles accreditations. Achilles regularly visit our premises, carrying out management system audits. These are scored – the higher the score, the more robust a system is. The more robust the system is, the more assurance the customer has that the supplier is running a sustainable business with high regard to health, safety and the environment.

CSG’s most recent visit lasted two days and was very successful. Over the past 3-4 years, CSG has steadily improved our scores. November 2019 represents our best year yet. The audit involved assessing our system across Health & Safety (H&S), Environment, Quality and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) across two sites – Head Office (for our systems) and our treatment and transfer facility at CSG Botley (for our operations).

Through hard work, excellent preparation and strong systems and operations, we achieved 100% at Head Office across Environment, Quality and CSR, with 98% awarded for H&S. The scores we have achieved are fantastic, especially since a score of around 90% is considered excellent. This demonstrates that CSG’s management systems are appropriate, robust and, crucially, working to improve all aspects of the business.

Historically, it has been challenging to achieve the top scores at the operational site visit. However, this year CSG scored 100% across H&S, Quality and CSR, with Environment being awarded 92%. To be slightly disappointed with a 92% – a phenomenal score – shows just how far we have developed of our systems.

CSG’s management systems underpin what we do and how we do it. Having achieved top scores is a great confidence boost that what we are operating responsibly and representing best practice within the waste industry. We are fortunate to have strong leadership at the highest level and many passionate people in the right positions to allow CSG to grow organically and we have made sure our systems can keep up with that growth. We have many talented employees trained in H&S, Environmental and legal compliance disciplines, which is reflected in the excellent scores we have obtained during the most recent audit. The real trick – the “bread and butter” of management systems if you like – is ensuring we do not rest on our laurels and use these great scores to constantly strive for further improvements.

My role in developing CSG management systems is, I’m pleased to say, never dull. In a world where nothing ever stands still, the next challenge is just around the corner!