EMS
Environmental Management Systems
The Need for Environmental Management
The very visible and tangible environmental impact of some industries in the last few decades and the increasing pool of sophisticated knowledge, both amongst professionals and the public, has led to increased pressure on organizations to become more 'environmentally friendly'.
Whilst up until a few years ago it might have been possible to ignore these forces, there is now a broad range of powerful pressures which make this a rapidly diminishing option for any organization. Organizations must therefore adapt to these pressures whilst ensuring that their growth and profitability are sustained.
Managing Environmental Performance
The management team has the responsibility for building environmental protection into their organization. To be effectively applied to a whole organization and to ensure consistency of action, the introduction of an Environmental Management System (EMS) is one of the best approaches. Just as quality systems were developed during the 1980's to aid the maintenance of manufacturing efficiency and competitiveness, EMS guidelines and standards have now been devised to enable organizations to become less wasteful, more profitable and less detrimental to the environment with which they interact.
Environmental management systems are not the complete answer to all the environmental problems faced by organizations but they can produce significant environmental improvements. For example, this can be achieved through the reduction of waste for disposal to air, land or water and hence can bring major benefits to manufacturing efficiency, competitiveness and overall profit. Good environmental awareness, planned strategies and a structure for implementation of environmental management make pollution prevention worthwhile, not only for the environment and for society, but also for the organization concerned.
It is important to note that an EMS is only a system for management and does not offer technical solutions to environmental problems.
An EMS is unique to a particular organization; it is set up by an organization according to its own structure and business practices and will address the environmental issues that are relevant to its operations.
EMS Standards
There are several different standards to which an organization's EMS can be certified, the two most important being:
The European Union's Eco - Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
The international standard, ISO 14001, which is produced by the International Organization for Standardization.
EMAS and ISO 14001 are not the only EMS standards that exist, there are other industry wide standards; for example, Responsible Care is an environmental management program that is unique to the chemical industry.
EMS Implementation
The implementation of a comprehensive EMS can be complex and time consuming. In order to be effective, an EMS must permeate the whole organization and in so doing will influence, and need to be integrated with, other areas such as quality management, training and health and safety. Health and safety can be viewed as being integrated with environmental issues as they are often closely linked. For example, the environmental concerns about nuclear power are driven by fears about the impact of radioactivity on health and the possibility of disasters such as Chernobyl. Concerns about urban air quality are driven by anxiety about the links with health problems, and in particular the rise in the occurrence of asthma.
Several industries have produced guidance on joint health, safety and environmental management systems, an example of this is the Responsible Care program run by the Chemical Industry. It is possible that in the future there will be 'umbrella' management system standards incorporating health, safety, environment and quality management. This would be a logical step as, in practice, organizations do not tend to have separate management systems for each of these areas, but incorporate them all into an overall management system.
SITE OF THE MONTH: