Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

An 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.

An EMS monitors environmental performance, similar to the way a financial

management system monitors expenditure and income and enables regular checks of a
company's financial performance. An EMS integrates environmental management
into a company's daily operations, long term planning and other quality management
systems.

Components of an EMS

To develop an EMS, an organisation has to assess its environmental impacts, set

targets to reduce these impacts, and plan how to achieve the targets.

The most important component of an EMS is organisational commitment. For an

effective EMS to be developed and implemented, you need commitment from the
very top of the organisation, as well as all staff. Following are more examples of
components that should be considered when developing an EMS.

Environmental Policy: this is a statement of what an organisation intends to achieve

from an EMS. It ensures all environmental activities are consistent with the
organisation's objectives.

Environmental Impact Identification: identification and documentation of the

actual and potential environmental impacts of an organisation's operations need to be
undertaken. This can be achieved through undertaking an environmental audit.

Objectives and Targets: an environmental audit forms the basis of determining an

organisation's environmental objectives and targets. An organisation can find benefits
in adopting more stringent longer term objectives to encourage it to improve its
performance. To continually improve, targets should be regularly reviewed.

Consultation: staff and community consultation should be undertaken before, during

and after establishment of an EMS. This is necessary to ensure that all staff are
involved in, and committed to the EMS. It can also help to improve public perception
of the company, one of the benefits of implementing an EMS.
Operational and Emergency Procedures: all procedures should be reviewed to
ensure they are compatible with the organisation's environmental objectives and
targets. Any changes should be included with the documentation.

Environmental Management Plan: this details the methods and procedures which
an organisation will use to meet its objectives and targets.

Documentation: all objectives, targets, policies, responsibilities and procedures

should be documented along with information on environmental performance.
Documentation is useful for verifying environmental performance to staff, regulators
and the community.

Responsibilities and Reporting Structure: responsibilities need to be allocated to

staff and management to ensure the EMS is implemented effectively.

Training: staff should undergo environmental awareness training to familiarise them

with their responsibilities for implementing the EMS and with the overall
environmental policy and objectives of the organisation. This provides staff with the
necessary skill and motivation for the effective implementation of the EMS.

Review Audits and Monitoring Compliance: review audits should be undertaken

regularly to ensure the EMS is achieving its objectives and to refine operational
procedures to meet this goal. In order to ensure regulatory and other requirements are
being met, it is often necessary to undertake regular environmental monitoring.

Continual Improvement: an important component is continual improvement. An

EMS comes into its best use when used to review progress towards the targets and
objectives set by a company to protect the environment. The procedures set in place to
meet these objectives should be constantly examined to see if they can be improved or
if more effective systems can be introduced.

Benefits of an EMS

An EMS can assist a company 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; and
• 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. An EMS is not prescriptive,
rather, 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.

Although the implementation of an EMS is essentially a voluntary initiative, it can

also become an effective tool for governments to protect the environment as it can
assist regulation. For example, regulatory systems can encourage organisations to use
EMS to meet standards, by providing incentives for strong environmental
performance.

Likewise, 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.

International Environmental Standards - ISO 14000

The ISO 14000 series, currently being developed by the International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO), is a collection of voluntary standards that assists organisations
to achieve environmental and financial gains through the implementation of effective
environmental management. The standards provide both a model for streamlining
environmental management, and guidelines to ensure environmental issues are
considered within decision making practices.

ISO 14001 is the standard for Environment Management Systems. Many large
businesses, particularly overseas, have obtained certification under the standard.

Benefits of International Certification

The benefits of having ISO 14001 certification are mainly realised by large
organisations, as Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have a smaller turnover and
thus a correspondingly small return on the costs of certification.

Although a fully certified ISO EMS may not be suitable for smaller organisations, it
does provide guidelines that assist organisations to consider all the relevant issues,
and thus gain the most benefit from their EMS, even without certification. SMEs can
therefore use ISO 14001 as a model for designing their own EMS.

However, larger organisations may find certification more valuable when considering
the potential trade and market advantages of an internationally recognised and
certified EMS. This was a significant factor for companies seeking certification under
the ISO 9000 quality assurance standards, and is likely to be a factor in decisions
regarding ISO 14001 certification.

EMS in Australia

The Standards Australia web site provides further information about Standards in
Australia. The ISO 14000 series has been adopted in Australia and New Zealand as
the AS/NZS ISO 14000 series. Copies can be purchased either from the web site or by
phoning the Customer Service Centre (ph 1300 65 46 46).

The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has also developed
a model EMS for Australian Government Agencies.

Links and Resources

• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry EMS Site
• Biodiversity Resources Guide

EMS Case Studies

• ACTEW
• Cranwell Collision Repair
• Geelong Wool Combing
• Schiavello Commercial Interiors
• Southcorp
• University of Queensland

Links
• Quality Network - Introduction to Environment Management Systems
• International Institute for Sustainable Development - A comparison between
ISO14000, BS7750 and EMAS
• Standards Australia ISO14000
The environment is a topical issue and businesses must recognise and manage the impacts they make.

In order to reduce your environmental impact, an Environmental Management System (EMS) provides
your company with a framework through which its environmental performance can be monitored,
improved and controlled.

Envirowise offers advice and information on how to get started by recording data for your company.

Benefits

An effective EMS will:

• Define environmental responsibilities for all staff.

• Identify opportunities to reduce waste, including raw materials, utility use and waste
disposal costs.
• Increase profits.
• Reduce the risk of fines for non-compliance with environmental legislation.
• Ensure all operations have procedures to minimise their environmental impacts.
• Record environmental performance against set targets.
• Provide a clear audit trail.
• Attract shareholders and investors.

WHAT DOES AN EMS INVOLVE?

An effective EMS includes:

• An assessment of your company's activities, products, processes and services that

might affect the environment.
• Development of an environmental policy.
• An environmental improvement programme.
• A training and awareness programme.
• Written procedures to control activities with a significant environmental impact.
• Periodic auditing of the system to ensure effective operation.
 • A formal review of the EMS by senior management.

The benefits of an effective environmental management system can be

realised in :-

BENEFITS:

Cost Savings

Customer Requirements

Corporate Image

Legislation

Investment

Insurance

Marketing Opportunities

Cost Savings
Successful environmental management will evaluate all opportunities for cost
savings, the most common benefits derive from a review of resource/ energy
utilisation and its efficiency, forcing full consideration of alternative energy
sources and their cost effectiveness. The other primary element will be
minimisation of waste and result and cost of disposal.

Customer Requirements
Many companies have addressed the management system for customer
requirements related to quality and ISO9000. The range and diversity of
customer needs and expectations is constantly growing with many customers
increasing preference for use of suppliers and sub-contractors who can
demonstrate that they are good environmental citizens. No customer would
want to risk a tarnished reputation (or non-compliance to legislation) from the
poor environmental performance of their suppliers and sub-contractors. The
safest option for the customer is to use suppliers and sub-contractors who can
demonstrate their positive environmental performance.
Corporate Image
The ability to demonstrate a responsible environmental attitude can
dramatically improve the image of the corporation fostering better relations
with the company’s stake holders. Even more importantly, adverse publicity
about the organisations environmental performance is always highly
damaging.

Legislation
The scope and severity of environmental legislation is ever increasing. A
management system that ensures recognition of the requirements and
compliance with them will ensure that fines are avoided and staff are not
imprisoned in addition to avoidance of the publicity that inevitably follows an
environmental prosecution.

Investment
The investors are increasingly moving to green portfolio’s, and it is interesting
that the financial performance of these portfolio’s has been good in
comparison to more traditional investment. In seeking additional investment
for the organisation it is sensible to ensure the widest scope and this is only
aided by a demonstrably sound environmental performance.

Insurance
Insurance companies are fully aware of the risk to their policies from poor
environmental performance of the insured. Companies with a sound and
effective environmental management system are able to demonstrate that
they pose less risk to the insurance company and creates a negotiating tool
for lower premiums. Some insurance companies now require an
environmental audit of the company prior to agreeing cover.

Marketing Opportunities
All companies seeking growth obviously want their product and services
attractive to a widest possible market. Poor environmental performance will
encourage many potential customers to decide not to buy from the company,
good environmental performance will ensure continuation of the widest
possible market.