Environmental Management Systems
12 important questions on Environmental Management Systems
What do Management Systems do?
What is an Environmental Management System (EMS)?
- Organisational structure
- Planning activities
- Responsibilities
- Practices
- Procedures
- Processes
- Resources
...for developing, implementing, achieving and maintaining the environmental policy
What does ISO stand for?
- Higher grades + faster learning
- Never study anything twice
- 100% sure, 100% understanding
What are reasons to develop an EMS? (Internal motives)
- Comply to environmental legislation
- Avoid potential environmental risks
What are reasons to develop an EMS? (External motives)
- Stimulate companies into self responsibility and systematic environmental care
- Reduce permitting enforcement efforts
Company perspective:
- Management tool for effective and efficient environmental management
- Improve relations with government
What are the key principles of an EMS?
- in a consistent way
- In a complete way
- In a continuous way
What are the ISO14001 steps?
- Environmental Policy Statement
- Planning
- Environmental aspects
- Legal requirements
- Objectives and targets
- Action plan
- Implementation on operation
- Organizational structure and responsibilities
- Training and awareness
- Communication
- Documentation
- Operational control
- Emergency preparedness
- Checking and corrective action
- Monitoring measurement and records
- Management review
What is the structure of a typical Environmental Policy Statement?
- Set goals to:
- Goals to comply with legislation
- Realize continuous improvement
- Establish good lines of communications
- Achieving these goals by:
- Maintaining effective EMS
- Prioritizing environmental improvement
- Training and education of employees
How does the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle translate to EMS?
- Plan: Design a policy or programme
- Env. Policy
- Env. Planning
- Do: Implement plan and operate system
- Implementation
- Operation
- Check: Monitor and evaluate
- Checking
- Correction
- Act: correct failures
- Management review
What are the 3 levels of direction?
- Strategic
- Long term company policy involving top managers
- Tactical
- Policy implementation
- Operational
- Daily business and operators
Top-down approach to this direction
- Top management involved from the start
- Uniform and well-defined approach
- Easier for planning and involving experts
Bottom-up approach to these direction
- Workers involved from the start
- Utilization of workers experience
- Better geared to specific work conditions
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