Together, we will save our planet

Today (April 22^nd, 2021) is World Earth Day. We only get one planet and as of today, we haven’t done a good job at looking after it. World Earth Day was Earth Day started in 1970 and today EARTHDAY.ORG is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement. They work with more than 75,000 partners across over 192 countries to drive positive action for our planet.

Everyone has a responsibility to reduce their environmental footprint and small changes such as walking or cycling to work instead of driving is something that you may be able to do easily depending on your location. We can also make changes to the products we use, using energy-saving lightbulbs, shopping locally to reduce shipping and even eating less meat can all have a positive impact on our environment.

According to the IEA Global Energy Review, the demand for all fossil fuels is set to take the second-biggest jump in history this year as the world looks to bounce back from the Coronavirus pandemic. Coal demand alone is projected to increase by 60% more than all renewables combined, underpinning a rise in emissions of almost 5%, or 1 500 Mt. This expected increase would reverse 80% of the drop in 2020, with emissions ending up just 1.2% (or 400 Mt) below 2019 emissions levels.

Sometimes we can have a negative impact on our environment accidentally. For example, spilling oil into a river or using harmful chemicals that may destroy natural habitat. These are far less common but have just as great, in some cases even greater impact on our environment and the chances of these accidents can be greatly reduced through safety measures and procedures.

So we all need to do our bit to win the fight on emissions which is why SMAS Worksafe offer packages that include Environmental management. We can help your business to spot and reduce the risks of these such issues ever occurring. We will look at the kind of work your business carries out and identify areas that might be harmful to any environment you’re working in so we can help you to come up with the best practices to stop an accident from occurring.

Although these accidents are rare, they cannot just have a negative impact on the environment, but also cost your business lots of money. Most breaches of environmental law are criminal offences and carry penalties of a fine and/or imprisonment. For cases tried in the Magistrates’ Court, the maximum penalty is a fine of up to £50,000 and/or six months’ imprisonment, whilst cases tried in the Crown Court could incur an unlimited fine and/or two years imprisonment.

To learn more about environmental risks, how you mitigate them and the penalties that could fall your way, check out this article on managing environmental risks.

If you’re interested in having your business checked over against Environmental regulations to reduce the risk of an event ever happening, check out our Worksafe Pro package here.