Tag: #UKAS

The concept of Sustainability is a complex one, and means different things to different people. At Gallowglass Security we believe that Sustainability is the balance between the environment, the economy and equity.

We recognise implicitly that addressing these underlying principles are essential if we are to leave the world in a better and fairer place than we found it. We believe that we have a responsibility to our people, customers and suppliers; to constantly strive and improve upon our processes so as to best achieve our sustainability objectives.

Environment

For several years we have rigorously adhered to a robust environmental policy. From this we have operated environmental management systems that are based upon minimising consumption.

Our successful approach is reflected by our being certified by a UKAS assessing body as meeting the requirements of ISO 14001:2015 Annual targets are set which were all achieved in 2020 by an impressive margin.

Our key objectives are to:

• Reduce paper consumption. In 2020 we reduced this by 40.19% chiefly through migrating to new technology with our ultimate aim of becoming paperless.
• Reduce energy consumption. The 2020 this was reduced by 17.98% largely through our internal culture of constantly promoting environmental awareness.
• Reduce fuel consumption. Notwithstanding the increased mileage use on account of demand, we were able to reduce fuel consumption by 8.27% in 2020T This is because we constantly upgrade our automotive fleet with state-of-the-art hybrid technology. Once electric vehicles have the capability to deliver the mileage capacity that we require, we will eliminate dependence on carbon fuels.
• Recycling. We aim to recycle all personal computers, paper, plastics and all consumables including coffee pods.

Our corporate social responsibility policy has seen a change of emphasis in light of the near universal awareness of the environmental crisis. With this in mind we are keen to donate to environmental projects that can make a tangible impact on improving the environment. We were delighted to have to made a contribution to the EARTHDAY.org Canopy Project to allow for the planting of 200 trees as part of their remarkable efforts to reverse the tide of deforestation.

Economy

It is accepted that SME’s are the drivers of the economy, and are chiefly responsible for employment opportunity. Sustainability objectives can only be achieved if SMEs play their part in recognising this and incorporating environmental awareness and sustainability practice in their business activity. Gallowglass Security has ambitious expansion plans where we anticipate creating employment opportunities without compromise to our sustainability objectives.

Equity

Our approach to equity can be described as follows.

• Our people. Our foundational principles towards our staff are based upon respect, fairness and altruism. Discrimination of any kind, harassment and bullying will never be tolerated. All of our valued staff have a vital role to play in the quality of our service provision, and are encouraged to take responsibility for their roles. In return we strive to renumerate our staff generously, provide a congenial working environment that is safe, and promote and support flexible family friendly working conditions. Ours is a meritoctratic organisation where those individuals with talent and determination will always succeed regardless of race, gender and background. The effect of this approach has been to create a workforce that is remarkably diverse, and we regard our diversity as our key strength.

• Our customers. We enjoy tremendously long business relationships with our customers, and much of business is repeat and reccomentaion. We believe that this is born of our capability, integrity and transparancey in all our dealings.

• Our suppliers. We operate an ethical purchasing policy. So consequently our trusted supplier base is drawn those that we are satisfied meet the highest ethical standards. For us this translates as those who; treat their employees fairly, provide safe working conditions, and meet or exceed the national minimum wage. We expect to see an anti-bribery policy as well as a policy that supports the elimination of modern slavery and child labour.

We are conscious that there is more that we can and should do. As part of our culture of awareness and self-improvement, all aspects of our business activity will be evaluated so that we can create relevant environmental and sustainability objectives that we can work towards achieving and exceeding.