UK’s office* show featured on the BBC World Service's Business Daily programme!

• Business Machines
• Copiers
• Electronic Whiteboards and Projectors
• Printers
• Document Management
• Office Stationery

Published: 01/06/2012

Photos

office* – the UK’s leading event dedicated to meeting the business, training and networking needs of Britain’s office professionals, recently featured on the BBC World Service’s Business Daily in a special on ‘Personal Assistants’.  The office* show provided a vibrant backdrop for the 18-minute radio broadcast, which aired on 27 December 2011, and sought to examine the role and importance of the PA in the modern workplace.

 

Recorded live on the second day of office* 2011, Friday 16 September, Business Daily’s host Justin Rowlatt interviews event organiser Diversified Business Communications UK’s managing director Carsten Holm before stepping out on to the show floor to enjoy the sights and sounds of the office* experience for himself.

 

Commenting on the broadcast, Holm says:  “Business Daily is renowned for its coverage of global business issues and trends, so we were delighted that they chose office* to host such an important broadcast.  Last year’s office* saw the launch of the UK’s first National PA Day, which aimed to highlight the increasing significance that office professionals play in helping to keep Britain’s offices working.  Now, with the help of this broadcast and the launch of new Diversified office* events in Washington DC, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne later this year, we are doing everything we can to make sure the broader world knows that PAs are some of the most important – and powerful – people in business today!”

 

Business Daily broadcasts on the BBC World Service’s English radio network, and has a total weekly worldwide reach of 43 million (source: World Service annual audience estimate July 2011).  The ‘Personal Assistants’ Business Daily special, features interviews with office* show visitors and exhibitors, including Fortnum and Mason, Pukka Pads, and murodigital, plus popular seminar speaker Sue France, UK National Chairman for EUMA (European Management Assistants), and is available via the BBC’s iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00mc59l or as a podcast until 25 January 2012 at http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bizdaily#playepisode8.

 

The third edition of office*, which is expected to achieve a 25% growth in attendees for 2012, will take place on 12-13 September at the new venue of London’s Olympia.  Combining a comprehensive training and development conference with a major trade exhibition, last year’s event saw 165 plus exhibitors joined by over 3,675 PAs, EAs, office managers and senior administrators from thousands of different organisations from all across the country.

 

New additions to the office* 2012 line-up include new exhibitors OfficeXpress; Starwood Hotels and Resorts; Plustek, one of the world's leading image solution providers; Yorkshire-based Rudding Park Hotel and Spa; and Baby Bloom.  They join returning exhibitors Magic Whiteboard; House of Fraser; Avery Dennison Office Products; RTG Radio Taxis Group; Global Office Supplies; Mitsubishi Pencil Co UK; Keith Prowse; Hemsley Fraser Group; LTT Vending Group; RWS Translations Ltd; Brother UK; The Westminster Collection; Events Insurance Services; Hays Specialist Recruitment, Reed Learning, and many more.

 

For further information, please visit www.officeshow.co.uk.

 

Media enquiries to:
Emma-Louise Jones, PR Manager
t: 44 (0)1273 645134 e: ejones@divcom.co.uk  @DiversifiedUK

 

office* Exhibitor enquiries to:
Ali Mead, office* Event Manager
t: 44 (0)1273 645124 e: amead@divcom.co.uk  @officeshow

 

office* is a results focused event which aims to brings Office Professionals, PAs, Office Managers and Executive Assistants together with potential new business partners and solutions providers. Developed in consultation with prospective visitors, associations, publishers, manufacturers and training providers, it aims to inspire and educate all those working within this dynamic industry.

 

www.officeshow.co.uk
http://twitter.com/#!/officeshow
http://www.facebook.com/pages/office/116716991701373
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3319575&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

 

Diversified Business Communications (UK) Ltd (Diversified UK) is a fast growing event organising and publishing company based in Brighton. In addition to office*, Diversified UK also organises Natural & Organic Products Europe, lunch!, the Independent Health Store Conference, camexpo and the Service Desk & IT Support Show. It publishes Natural Products – the industry’s leading trade magazine, and the Natural Beauty Yearbook.

 

Diversified UK is part of Diversified Business Communications, a leading international media company with a successful portfolio of sector leading exhibition, conferences, publications and websites.

 

Greener Standards for Office Furniture

by officePROhub.com on 01/05/2012 - 05:24 pm

Tag: Green office products

Getting to the bottom of eco-labelling

 

Furniture manufacturers are now in the process of changing materials and manufacturing process to reflect a greater push towards green as consumers become more environmentally conscious.

Several organisations have been issuing eco-labels for furniture manufacturers. In this issue of FFE, we take a look at what eco-labelling entails and who in the industry issues the certification.

 

THE BASICS
An ‘eco-label’ is a seal or logo indicating that a product has met a set of environmental or social standards. The Global Eco-labelling Network describes ‘eco-labelling’ as a voluntary method of environmental performance certification and labelling that is practiced around the world.

Many (but not all) eco labels are not directly connected to the firms that manufacture or sell the eco-labelled products. Just as for the quality assurance labelling systems, it is of imperative importance that the labelling entity is clearly divided from and independent of the manufacturers. All eco-labelling is voluntary, meaning that they are not mandatory by law.

 

TRUSTWORTHY ECO-LABELS
According to Consumer Reports, an independent American publication, the best eco-labels are seals or logos that indicate that an independent organisation has verified a product meets a set of consistent standards for environmental protection and/or social justice.

 

Meaningful & Verifiable: Eco-labels should have a set of environmentally meaningful standards. These standards should be verifiable by the certifier or another independent inspection organisation.

 

Consistent &Clear: An eco-label used on one product should have the same meaning if used on other products. Standards should be written in a consistent manner so that the label is consistent in meaning among different products.

 

Transparency: The organisation behind an eco-label should make information about organisational structure, funding, board of directors, and certification standards available to the public.

 

Independent & Protected From Conflict Of Interest: Organisations establishing standards and deciding who can use a logo should not have any ties to, and should not receive any funding from the sale of certified products or contributions from logo users beyond fees for certification. Employees of companies whose products are certified or applying for certification should not be on the board of directors of the certifier (and no one affiliated with the certifier should be on the board of directors of the organisation being certified). Some certifying organisations have explicit conflict of interest policies prohibiting such affiliations.

 

Opportunities For Public Comment: All certification standards should be developed with input from multiple stakeholders including consumers, industry, environmentalists and social representatives in a way that doesn't compromise the independence of the certifier. For example, industry representatives can play an important advisory role without having direct financial, decision making or management ties to the certifier.

 

TYPES OF VOLUNTARY LABELS
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has identified three broad types of voluntary labels.

Type I: A voluntary, multiple-criteria based, third party programme that awards a license that authorises use of environmental labels on products indicating overall environmental effects of a product within a particular product category based on lifecycle considerations

Type II: Informative environmental self-declaration claims

Type III: Voluntary programmes that provide quantified environmental data of a product, under pre-set categories of parameters set by a qualified third party and based on life cycle assessment, and verified by that or another qualified third party.

 

COMPANIES THAT OFFER CERTIFICATION

BIFMA Level Certification: level is a multi-attribute, sustainability standard and third-party certification programmes for the furniture industry. It has been created to deliver open and transparent means of evaluating and communicating the environmental and social impacts of furniture products in the built environment.

Products are evaluated and rated based on the following:

• Climate Neutral Products
• Life Cycle Analysis
• Effective Use of Materials
• Rapidly Renewable Materials
• Recycled & Biodegradable Materials
• Bio-based Materials/Sustainable Wood
• Buy Back/Take Back Policy
• Water Management
• Human and Ecosystem Health
• Socially Responsible

 

 

GreenGuard Certification ForVOC Levels In Furniture: GreenGuard Indoor Air Quality Certification is given for low VOCemitting interior building materials, furnishings, and finish systems. All GreenGuard Certified Products are tested for chemical emissions.

They offer another certification programmecalled the GreenGuard for Children and SchoolsSM. Thisproduct certification programmeis for low emitting interior building materials, furnishings and finish systems used in educational, office and other sensitive environments.

McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC): The Cradle to Cradle Certified programme is an eco-label that assesses a product’s safety to humans and the environment and design for future life cycles.

The programme provides guidelines to help businesses implement the Cradle to Cradle framework, which focuses on using safe materials that can be disassembled and recycled as technical nutrients or composted as biological nutrients. MBDC’s certification programme takes a comprehensive approach to evaluating the design of a product and the practices employed in manufacturing the product.

The materials and manufacturing practices of each product are assessed in five categories: Material Health, Material Reutilisation, Renewable Energy Use, Water Stewardship, and Social Responsibility.

 

SCS–Certified/BIFMA Standards: SCS Certified Furniture brings a new level of verified environmental performance to furniture certification. Based on both environmental and social criteria set forth in the BIFMA Sustainability Standard (BIFMA SS), a product’s entire supply chain is assessed to insure that the product meets measurable milestones of environmental performance at every step of development. SCS Sustainable Choice Certification includes an evaluation of specific corporate policies and guidelines and an assessment of associated company manufacturing facilities.

Products must meet criteria in four categories: Materials, Energy and Atmosphere, Human and Ecosystem Health, and Social Responsibility.
Certification verifies a manufacturer’s commitment to environmentally and socially responsible products and business practices.

 

SCS Indoor Advantage Gold: The emphasis on individual volatile organic compounds (VOCs) rather than on total VOC concentration is one of the features that distinguish the SCS Indoor Advantage Gold programme.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to 10 times higher) than outdoors.

VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products and examples include: building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, permanent markers, and photographic solutions. The health risks associated with individual VOCs vary, making some more of a concern than others.

Likewise, this emphasis on individual VOCs encourages manufacturers to identify and address the sources of chemical contaminants in their manufacturing process and enables them to establish specifications for the materials and components they purchase.