Meet the Team: 60 Seconds with Stephen Burt

What is your role?

I’m Stephen Burt, NQA’s Carbon & Sustainability Services Director. I’ve been in my current role for around 4 months or so, but before that I was the Field Director, a Field Operations Manager, and an Auditor for several standards including Quality (ISO 9001), Environmental (ISO 14001), Energy (ISO 50001) and Health & Safety ISO 45001).

These days, as well as looking after NQA’s Carbon and Sustainability services, I mainly deliver verification and certification audits for various carbon standards such as Carbon Neutrality (PAS 2060), Carbon Management in Infrastructure (PAS 2080) and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (ISO 14064-1) and wider sustainability standards such as Sustainable Events (ISO 20121). I still love to keep my hand in with other standards though!

Most memorable moment at work

Through working with clients, I had the opportunity to see the UK’s new aircraft carriers being built, from the first to the last stages. I saw each of the pieces being built in different yards throughout the UK, I then saw them being transported to Scotland for the final assembly.

Eventually I was on the deck of the completed ships, and finally I watched their maiden voyage as they left Scotland to head to their home port in Portsmouth. It took years, but seeing the whole thing from start to finish is something I’ll always remember. 

Your favourite thing about working for NQA

I actually have two favourite things about working with NQA: 

1. Working with people. My role means I am constantly working with clients, spending large parts of my days sitting face-to-face with people of a variety of nationalities, personalities, expertise and knowledge. Being an auditee isn’t always the most fun experience, but it can made to be as enjoyable an experience as possible by keeping it personable and constructive, and by adding value to the process. I work hard on that and I find the relationships I build with our clients to be rewarding and long lasting. 

2. Experiencing new companies and places. I find many of the things our clients do to be fascinating. Sometimes I find myself in weird and wonderful places in the course of my work – inside submarines, on runways, walking through landfills, climbing up to the top of huge tanks, or on fast boats going out to sea to fish farms. Every day on site is different and I love finding out how different companies organise their work.    

Top tip for people looking at certification

NQA’s auditors have a wealth of experience, and, I like to think, are amongst the most personable auditors out there.

Building a good relationship with your auditor helps to make the certification process a little more fun / bearable, and also makes sure you get some added value from the process through shared experience.

It’s always a good idea to get to know your auditor, you might be seeing them year after year for the rest of your working life!

How might you be able to help our readers?

My main area of expertise lies in the carbon and sustainability fields. I’ve built up over many years a wealth of knowledge in all things carbon, energy, environmental and wider sustainable development topics.

After AI and Information Security, carbon is amongst the top business priorities currently. This can be a confusing field, there’s so much information out there that it can be difficult to find the answers you’re looking for. I always welcome the opportunity to chat carbon and sustainability with any client or consultant who needs a little guidance.