Sydney, Sept 21, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - As Northern Rock's customers are standing queuing in the streets, one of the world's leading standards and independent auditing bodies has launched a campaign in the United Kingdom designed to monitor and report on the sustainability of British business.

Speaking before the launch, which was held at The Goring Hotel in London on Tuesday night, Andrew Cahn, Chief Executive, UKTI said: "The UK Sustainable Business Awards is a great way to increase awareness and uptake of best practice amongst businesses worldwide. I am delighted that UK companies are pioneers in this field because sustainability is absolutely crucial to our future global business environment."

The British based SAI Global (SAI) believes that by recognising and rewarding businesses that are acting in a sustainable way others will follow suit. According to Mr George Edwards, Chairman of SAI, irresponsible business practices are damaging the global economy.

"Many of the issues such as those around Northern Rock have left consumers wondering what next from big business. Consumers need assurance that the organizations they deal with and trust are sustainable."

To address this issue SAI have launched the UK Sustainable Business Awards in a bid to promote those organizations that continually exceed the minimum standards of acceptable business practice.

According to Mr Edwards: "Sustainable business is about doing the right thing by all stakeholders in your business processes and we believe that British businesses are among the best in the world and now they have a chance to prove it."

"These Awards are about more than just turning a profit they are about rewarding good customer service, ethical behaviour and effective risk management," said Mr Edwards.

"All consumers need to be mindful of the risks they face when purchasing products and services, particularly those delivered through an international supply chain. With the launch of this program consumers will be able to clearly differentiate between suppliers which have been deemed by the judges to be conducting business in a sustainable way."

Organizations can seek recognition in the following areas:

- Customer service

- Ethical management

- Risk management

- Quality management

- Financial management

- Compliance

- Environmental management

- Occupational health and safety

- Sustainability

- Corporate and social responsibility

- Information security

- Food safety

The Awards are part of the Global Excellence Model family, which includes the European Quality Awards, Malcolm Baldridge Quality Awards in the U.S., Australian Business Excellence Awards and the Singapore Quality Awards. Awards partners in Asia include Macquarie Bank, MLC, Westpac, Dow Jones and Sky News.

The UK Sustainable Business Awards is open to all organizations with operations in Britain and the winners will be announced in June 2008. For further information about the program please visit:

http://www.sustainablebusinessawards.co.uk.

UK Sustainable Business Awards are owned and operated by SAI Global (SAI). SAI operates four offices in the United Kingdom and works to help organizations manage risk, achieve compliance and drive business improvement. It provides access to standards and specifications together with regulatory newsfeeds, compliance solutions, business improvement training and independent verification and certification services.