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Waste management accreditations

Any business or individual who provides a service to us must comply with our Environmental Purchasing Policy.

• read more about green purchasing and our Environmental Purchasing Policy

If you are a contractor and you want to provide a service at any of our waste management sites, you must also meet the relevant legal requirements that apply to the council.

Many of these are part of Environmental Management Systems (EMS), such as the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001.

To date, we've achieved the following environmental and occupational health and safety accreditations:

• ISO 14001 - environmental management
• ISO 18001- occupational health and safety
• ISO 9001 - quality standard (for the Waste Transfer Station at Dargan Road)

And, to help make sure our suppliers are managing health and safety effectively, we now include these criteria in all tenders and quotations for services supplied to our waste management sites.

Requirements for contractors

We work with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to make sure all our contractors meet their legal duties, understand health, safety and environmental requirements and comply with best practice standards.

As a contractor, as well as complying with our Environmental Purchasing Policy and meeting our accreditation criteria, you must agree to:

• carry out regular risk assessments (PDF - 81KB)
• set up documented procedures for safe working
• meet our safety procedures
• comply with site rules, given as part of an induction for contractors working on a site
• work proactively with our staff by reporting and discussing any problems you encounter.

Our staff are also available to answer any queries you may have, for example, at our annual information day for contractors.

We held our annual Contractors Briefing Day on 22 June 2010 at Malone House, Belfast.

The briefing was attended by both our external and internal service providers, and the presentations centred on our commitment to ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and ISO OHSAS 18001 (Health and Safety).

Our representatives delivered presentations which you can download:

• Barney Bannon, Health, Safety and Fire Advisor - health and safety presentation (PDF - 34KB)
• Alistair Curran, Sustainability Manager - sustainability presentation (PDF - 2MB)
• Shane Kelland, Economic Development Officer - economic development presentation (PDF - 475KB)
• Raymond Martin from the Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM) - CIWM presentation (PDF - 2.9MB)

Risk assessments

Our health and safety inspectors carry out regular risk assessments of all our waste management sites.

They are also regularly audited by SGS Ltd, a respected certification body, as well as our own internal auditors.

Non-compliance

As a contractor working on our waste management sites, if you fail to meet our health and safety requirements, we'll issue you with a non-conformity notice.

This gives you the chance to amend your processes but, if you continue to fall short of our requirements, your contract could be terminated early.

More information

For more information, contact:

Waste Management
Telephone: 0800 0328 100
Email: wastemanagement@belfastcity.gov.uk