Environmental Policy in Practice
As with all ISO benchmarks, we must submit to external auditing every six months in order to maintain the required standard. The application of the standard is shown by outlining the environmental policy objectives in table form and then matching the Company's response to each. This is shown in the table below.
| POLICY... | IN PRACTICE |
|---|---|
| ADOPT LEGISLATIVE COMPLIANCE AS A MINIMUM STANDARD AND WHERE PRACTICABLE, SEEK TO EXCEED IT | Marlborough Lines managers must sign off on legislative, environmental and occupational safety and health compliance every quarter and report any non-compliance to the Company's Directors. |
| REGULARLY REVIEW OUR PRACTICES, OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS RELATIVE TO THE ENVIRONMENT TO ENSURE ONGOING COMPLIANCE AND IMPROVEMENT | All Company staff – through a regular meeting process – continually review environmental considerations. As well as external auditing every six months, we follow a programme of internal audit to document variations and/or improvements made to environmental management processes. Environmental awareness is raised through training programmes – two examples being fire training for the Company's arborist staff and oil spill response training for substation maintenance staff. |
| PROMOTE EMPLOYEE AND CONTRACTOR ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS THROUGH APPROPRIATE TRAINING/EDUCATION PROGRAMMES | Commitment to environmental management is considered in our evaluation of suppliers for preferred contractor status. Company management and the external auditors undertake regular inspection of work sites where external contractors are used. |
| ADOPT A CO-OPERATIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH ALL REGULATORY AGENCIES | The Company maintains a close relationship with the regional arm of territorial local government (Marlborough District Council), with whom we consult about potential hazards and actual occurrences. |
| RESPONSIBLY MANAGE TRANSFORMER OIL AND OIL HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES, TO AVOID, OR SEEK TO MITIGATE THE EFFECT OF ANY POLLUTION | The most significant risk in this area is the accidental or malicious release of transformer oil. The risk is mitigated with spill control materials and (more recently in relation to the larger zone substations) civil construction design that ensures no transformer oil disperses into the surrounding ground. |
| WHERE PRACTICABLE, COMPONENTS AND MATERIALS WILL BE RECYCLED | The Company has moved to ensure everyday materials (paper, cardboard, glass) are recycled at all levels of the business. Overhead line materials with steel components are re-galvanised to enable a second life. Significant quantities of aluminium and copper become available for recycling in the course of maintaining and replacing overhead lines and underground cables. These metals plus scrap steel are tendered to the recycling firms. |
| PROMOTE ENERGY EFFICIENCY TO THE COMMUNITY BY PROVIDING ADVICE | The Company promotes its advisory capacity on energy efficiency matters through customer newsletters, on its website, and through trade promotions in the news media. |
| FACILITATE THE CONNECTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES WITHIN OUR NETWORK | We understand that the Company will receive an application from a renewable generating source (currently being set up in Marlborough) in the new financial year. This will be the first application for distributed generation to be connected to the Marlborough Lines network, and the network has the capacity to provide for it. We regard it as an inevitable part of the future electricity landscape, that small-scale generation will provide for surpluses to be fed back into the low or high voltage networks. |
| ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS ARE PROPERLY TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN THE PLANNING OF NETWORK EXTENSIONS OR RECONSTRUCTION OF EXISTING NETWORKS | The Company previously adopted a policy of converting electricity reticulation in key arterial routes from overhead to underground. This was for maintenance reasons as well as the obvious aesthetic benefit. More recently we have embarked on a project to replace towers installed in 1927 with fewer, taller poles that make significantly less visual impact on the landscape see Case Study – Pole Design. Additionally, the Company is now building suburban zone substations that have the appearance of modern houses (with appropriate landscaping and all services hidden underground). |
| SEEK TO MINIMISE LOSSES THROUGH THE OPERATION OF OUR NETWORK | System losses are a function of the supply voltage. The Company is presently upgrading arterial lines to increase voltage to 22kV (as demand dictates) as transmission at higher voltage reduces line losses. |
| MAKE OUR ADDITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY PUBLICLY AVAILABLE | The Company's environmental policy is detailed on the Company's website. |