Environment Management System (EMS) is a tool
for managing the impacts of an organisation's
activities on the environment. It provides a
structured approach to planning and
implementing environment protection measures.
EMS monitors environmental performance of an
organisation. It integrates environmental
management into a company's daily operations,
long term planning and other quality
management systems.
ISO 14001 is a standard for
Environment Management System which
is an internationally accepted standard that
sets out how one can go about putting in place
an effective Environmental Management System.
The standard is designed to address the
balance between maintaining profitability and
reducing environmental impact. ISO 14001
consists of general requirements,
environmental policy, planning implementation
and operation, checking and corrective action,
management review. This means one can identify
aspects of the business that impact on the
environment and understand those environmental
laws that are relevant to the situation. The
next step is to produce objectives for
improvement and a management programme to
achieve them, with regular reviews for
continual improvement.
Environmental impact is becoming an
increasingly important issue across the globe,
with pressure to minimize that impact coming
from a number of sources like local and
national governments, regulators, trade
associations, customers, employees and
shareholders. Social pressures are also
building up from the growing array of
interested parties, such as consumer,
environmental and non governmental
organizations (NGOs), academia and neighbours.
ISO 14001 is relevant to every organization
including,
·
Single site to large multi-national companies
·
High risk companies to low risk service
organizations
·
Manufacturing, process and the service
industries including local governments
·
All industry sectors including public and
private sectors
·
Original equipment manufacturers and their
suppliers
This standard is applicable to any
organization that wishes to:
·
Implement, maintain and improve an
environmental management system
·
Assure itself of its conformance with its own
stated environmental policy
·
Demonstrate conformance
·
Ensure compliance with environmental laws and
regulations
·
Seek certification of its environmental
management system
·
Make self-determination of conformance
An EMS can assist an organisation in the
following ways:
·
Minimise environmental liabilities
·
Maximize the efficient use of resources
·
Reduce waste
·
Demonstrate a good corporate image
·
Build awareness of environmental concern among
employees
·
Gain a better understanding of the
environmental impacts of business activities
·
Increase profit, improving environmental
performance, through more efficient operations
An EMS can be a powerful tool for
organisations to both improve their
environmental performance, and enhance their
business efficiency. It requires organisations
to take an active role in examining their
practices, and then determining how their
impacts should best be managed. This approach
encourages creative and relevant solutions
from the organisation itself. The
organisations can use EMS to ensure that their
performance is within regulatory requirements,
and to keep ahead of more stringent
regulations which might be introduced in the
future.
