Environmental consultants can help companies implement environmental management systems such as ISO 14001 or EMAS and consequently reduce their carbon footprint and save time and money in the long run.
These experienced individuals or firms are hired for their expertise in environmental matters. However, finding the right environmental consultant can be challenging, especially when all firms are different.
Don’t worry; if you’re finding it hard to find a reliable environmental consulting company or individual, here are some things you should look for when hiring one.
1. Experience
You need to find an environmental consultant that is experienced enough to handle the unique requirements of your business. Explore their website, look for their expertise and the type of clients they’ve worked with in the past. If they’ve worked with individuals and organisations like yours, they’re a good pick for you. Some of them may have a proven university background as well.
2. Resources
Implementation of environmental management system is an important task, and the consultant you decide to work with should have the required resources to complete the project successfully. These resources may include expertise, knowledge, equipment, etc.
3. Certificates
This is a crucial aspect to check when hiring an environmental consultant. The last thing you’d want is to work with an individual or organisation without proper background. The certificates may be related to ISO 14001 auditing, EMAS verifying or simply university degrees.
4. Services
Once you know what you require from an environmental consultant, it is important to check the type of services they provide. Now, there are various consultants out there providing a range of services. These may include independent assessments of your business’s environmental impact, guidance on legislation, identification and assessment of environmental aspects, implementing environmental management systems (EMS) or quality management systems (QMS), providing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), obtaining Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), designing organisational environmental declaration, preparing environmental reports, and more. Hire experts who can provide services tailored to meet the unique requirements of your business.
Once you’ve chosen your desired partner, make sure you both understand the project’s requirements, scheduls and the details of the work that needs to be carried out. If you’re looking for a boutique management consultant firm specialising in environmental and quality management systems, check out EQM Consult.
We provide environmental management system services. As experienced consultants, we help businesses comply with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and other relevant regulations and provide on-site and remote audits of management systems. You can check our website for more information about services or contact us for a consultation.
Ph.D. Beata Paliwoda
Founder and Owner of EQM. Environmental and quality consultant and auditor. Professional career built in Quality Assurance departments in various companies from the automotive, aerospace, railway industries, as well as a management systems consultant. Successfully completed many complex projects related to the implementation of management systems, process improvements and business transformation. Auditor of ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS 9100, project manager of APM, lecturer at the Poznan University of Business and Economics, researcher on the effectiveness of EMS and QMS in organisations.
