The Big Picture About

Environmental Management
Systems

Lawrence D. Fredendall
Department of Management
Clemson University
 What is a System?

 Set of interacting elements that form a whole

 “regularly interacting or interdependent groups
of items forming a unified whole towards the
achievement of a goal” (APICS Dictionary, Cox and Blackstone eds., 1998)
 Environmental Management Systems
(EMS)

 What is an EMS?
– Part of overall management structure
 Purpose of EMS
– Address immediate & long-term environmental impacts
 Why have an EMS?
– Provide order and consistency in methods
EPA View of EMS Purpose
(United States Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov/ems/info/index.htm 6/25/2002.)

 System wide approach to environmental

management
– Incorporates environmental considerations into daily
organization decisions
– Provides a framework to continually improve
environmental performance
 Why EMS?
Level of improvement Path Toward Excellence
(Cascio, Figure 3.1, The ISO 14000 Handbook, Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press, 1996)

Systems Approach

End-of-Pipe Approach
Limited to Compliance

Time
 Defacto EMS

 Environmental control processes exist, but

– No integrated understanding of the processes
– No understanding of total costs
– Incomplete picture of potential liability
– Accountability and responsibility unclear
– Decisions are not integrated
Why an EMS at a College /
University?

 Engage the entire campus

 Environment is overlapping concern for
– Teaching
– Research
– Service
 Integration of processes with the EMS
Why an EMS at a College /
University?

RESEARCH SERVICE

EMS
Implementation TEACHING
Structured EMS
(United States Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov/ems/info/index.htm on June 25, 2002.)

 Integrate EMS into Day-to-Day Decisions:

1.   Practical, usable, and useful
2.   Cost effective
3. Supportive of other systems;
4.   Encourage continuous improvement
5.   Include 5 major components:
a. Policy setting
b. Planning
c. Implementation and operation
d. Checking and corrective action
e. Management review
ISO 14001
 Structured, internationally recognized standard
 ISO 14001
– “enables an organization to establish, and assess the
effectiveness of, procedures to set an environmental
policy and objectives, achieve conformance with them,
and demonstrate such conformance to others. The
overall aim … is to support environmental protection
and prevention of pollution in balance with
socioeconomic needs.” ANSI/ISO 14001-1996, vi
ISO 14001
(Cascio, The ISO 14000 Handbook, Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press, 1996)

 Initiative to go beyond compliance

– Not command and control model
– Positive motivation
– Reach is much further than regulatory requirements
 Seeks culture shift
– Challenge
 Diffusion of environmental responsibility from environmental to all
employees
 Continual improvement of the EMS
ISO 14001 EMS Model ANSI/ISO 14001-1996, vi i

Continual Improvement

Management review Environmental policy

Planning
Checking and
Implementation
corrective action
and operation
EMS Implementation Phases
(Stapleton, Philip J., Margaret A. Glover, and S. Petie Davis, 2 nd edition, Environmental Management Systems: An Implementation Guide for
Small and Medium-Sized Organizations, NSF 2001, www.nsf-isr.org, 6/25/02, p. 12.)

PHASE DESCRIPTION
Define Goals Clearly state why an EMS is being developed.
To comply with regulations? To improve
environmental performance? To prevent
pollution? To reduce potential liability?
Top To gain top management support,
Management management must understand the benefits of
Support an EMS and agree with the goals. Support is
. necessary to obtain resources.
Structure EMS project must have a leader, with
authority and skills.
Implementation Representatives from key areas to ensure
Team ownership.
EMS Implementation Phases
(Stapleton, Philip J., Margaret A. Glover, and S. Petie Davis, 2 nd edition, Environmental Management Systems: An Implementation Guide for
Small and Medium-Sized Organizations, NSF 2001, www.nsf-isr.org, 6/25/02, p. 12.)

PHASE DESCRIPTION
Preliminary What is current compliance effort? What
Review portions of EMS are in place? What are key
environmental aspects and how effectively are
they being addressed.
Budget and Use preliminary review to develop budget and
Schedule schedule. Identify key activities to be
performed and resources needed for these.
. Include milestones and periodic reviews.
.
Resource Ensure top management authorizes allocation
Approval of all key resources
Progress Involve everyone in sharing progress through
communication.
Barriers to Implementing Formal
EMS

 Denial of need
 We are different / unique
 Too difficult to do
 Not enough time
 Policy Resistance
Policy Resistance
(Sterman: Business Dynamics Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World, McGraw-Hill, 2001)

 Policy resistance is
“the tendency for interventions to be delayed, diluted, or
defeated by the response of the system to the intervention
itself (Meadows, 1982)” (p. 5)
 Unintended consequences
“You cannot meddle with one part of a complex system from
the outside without the almost certain risk of setting off
disastrous events that you hadn’t counted on in other remote
parts. If you want to fix something you are first obliged to
understand … the whole system … Intervening is a way of
causing trouble.” (Thomas, 1974, p. 90) (p. 8)
Improvement Paradox
(Repenning and Sterman, Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems that Never Happened, California Management Review, 43 (4),
Summer 2001, 64-88)

 Easy to learn new techniques

– Quality techniques
 Difficult to implement innovations into
organization
– Complex systems cannot be bought, they must
be developed
– Interaction of program with physical, economic,
social and psychological structures
Improvement Lag
(Repenning and Sterman, California Management Review, 43 (4), Summer 2001, 64-88)

 Improvement requires time

 Lag is a function of technical and
organizational complexity
 Simple processes have 2 to 3 month delay
 Complex processes have multi-year delays
 Capability improvements decay
The Structure of Improvement
(Repenning and Sterman, California Management Review, 43 (4), Summer 2001, 64-88)

 Performance depends on 2 factors:

– Time spent working
– Capability of process to perform work
 Performance improvement happens when
– Additional work is done, or
– Process is improved
No one Ever Gets Credit for Preventing Problems
(Repenning and Sterman, California Management Review, 43 (4), Summer 2001, 64-88)

Investment in Capability Capability Capability Erosion

Delay + R1
Reinvestment
+
Time Spent on - + Actual
Improvement B3 Time Spent Performance
+ - Shortcuts Working B1 -
+ Work Harder Performance Gap
+
Pressure to +
B2 Do Work
Desired
Work Smarter Performance
+
Pressure to Improve
Capability
Leaders’ Role

 Provide Resources
 Show how change
– matches who we are and
– what we do
 SACS & ISO 14001 Process
SACS ISO 14001
 Basic Structure •Steering Committee •Assigned by MGT
•Must Do •Should

 Implementation •Documentation •Documentation

•Self Study •Internal Audit

 Internal Review

 External Review •SACS •Auditor

 ISO 14001 Overview
ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996

4 EMS requirements 4.4 Implementation and Operation

4.1 General 4.4.1 Responsibilities
4.2 Environmental policy 4.4.2 Training
4.4.3 Communication
4.3Planning 4.4.4 Environmental Management
4.3.1 Environmental Aspects System Documentation
4.3.2 Legal Requirements 4.4.5 Document Control
4.3.3 Objectives and Targets 4.4.6 Operational Control
4.3.4 Establishing Programs 4.4.7 Emergency Preparedness and
Response
4.5 Checking and Corrective Action
4.5.1 Monitoring and control
4.6 Management Review
4.5.2 Non-Conformance and corrective
and preventive action
4.5.3 Records
4.5.4 EMS Audits
Environmental Management System Requirements
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.2 Environmental policy

Top management shall define the organization’s environmental policy and
ensure that it
a) is appropriate to the nature, scale and environmental impacts of its
activities, products or services;
b) includes a commitment to continual improvement and prevention of
pollution;
c) includes a commitment to comply with relevant environmental
legislation and regulations, and with other requirements to which the
organization subscribes;
d) provides the framework for setting and reviewing environmental
objectives and targets;
e) is documented, implemented and maintained and communicated to all
employees;
f) is available to the public
ISO 14001 EMS Model ANSI/ISO 14001-1996, vi i

Continual Improvement

Management review Environmental policy

Planning
Checking and
Implementation
corrective action
and operation
EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.3 Planning
4.3.1 Environmental aspects
The organization shall establish and maintain (a) procedure(s) to identify the
environmental aspects of its activities, products or services that it can control
and over which it can be expected to have an influence, in order to determine
those which have or can have significant impacts on the environment. The
organization shall ensure that the aspects related to these significant impacts
are considered in setting its environmental objectives.

The organization shall keep this information up-to-date.

4.3.2 Legal and other requirements

The organization shall establish and maintain a procedure to identify and
have access to legal, and other requirements to which the organization
subscribes, that are applicable to the environmental aspects of its activities,
products or services.
EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.3.3 Objectives and Targets

The organization shall establish and maintain documented
environmental objectives and targets, at each relevant function and
level within the organization.

When establishing and reviewing its objectives, an organization shall

consider the legal and other requirements, its significant
environmental aspects, its technological options and its financial,
operational and business requirements, and the views of interested
parties.

The objectives and targets shall be consistent with the environmental

policy, including the commitment to prevention of pollution.
EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.3.4 Environmental management programme(s)

The organization shall establish and maintain (a) programme(s) for

achieving its objectives and targets. It shall include:
a) Designation of responsibility for achieving objectives and targets
at each relevant function and level of the organization;
b) The means and timeframe by which they are to be achieved

If a project relates to new developments and new or modified

activities, products or services, programme(s) shall be amended
where relevant to ensure that environmental management applies to
such projects.
ISO 14001 EMS Model ANSI/ISO 14001-1996, vi i

Continual Improvement

Management review Environmental policy

Planning
Checking and
Implementation
corrective action
and operation
EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4. 4 Implementation and operation

4.4.1 Structure and Responsibility
Roles, responsibility and authorities shall be defined, documented and
communicated in order to facilitate effective environmental management.

Management shall provide resources essential to the implementation and control of

the environmental management system. Resources include human resources
and specialized skills, technology and financial resources.

The organization’s top management shall appoint (a) specific management

representative(s) who, irrespective of other responsibilities, shall have defined
roles, responsibilities and authority for
a) Ensuring that environmental management system requirements are
established, implemented and maintained in accordance with this standard;
b) Reporting on the performance of the environmental management system to top
management for review and as a basis for improvement of the environmental
management system.
EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.4.2 Training, awareness and competence

The organization shall identify training needs. It shall require that all personnel
whose work may create a significant impact upon the environment, have
received appropriate training.
It shall establish and maintain procedures to make its employees or members at
each relevant function and level aware of
a) The importance of conformance with the environmental policy and procedures
and with the requirements of the environmental management system;
b) The significant environmental impacts, actual or potential, of their work
activities and the environmental benefits of improved personal performance;
c) Their roles and responsibilities in achieving conformance with the
environmental policy and procedures and with the requirements of the
environmental management system including emergency preparedness and
response requirements;
d) The potential consequences of departure from specified operating procedures.

Personnel performing the tasks which can cause significant environmental impacts
shall be competent on the basis for appropriate education, training and/or
experience.
EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.4.3 Communication

With regard to its environmental aspects and environmental

management system, the organization shall establish and maintain
procedures for

a) internal communication between the various levels and functions

of the organization;

b) receiving, documenting and responding to relevant

communication from external interested parties.

The organization shall consider processes for external

communication on its significant environmental aspects and record
its decision.
4.0 EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.4.4 Environmental management system

documentation
The organization shall establish and maintain information, in paper
or electronic form, to
a) Describe the core elements of the management system and their
interaction;
b) Provide direction to related documentation.
4.0 EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.4.5 Document Control

The organization shall establish and maintain procedures for controlling all
documents required
……….
……….
4.4.6 Operational Control
The organization shall identify those operations and activities that are associated
with the identified significant environmental aspects in line with its policy,
objectives and targets. The organization shall plan these activities, including
maintenance, in order to ensure that they are carried out under specified conditions
by
……….
……….
4.4.7 Emergency preparedness and response
ISO 14001 EMS Model ANSI/ISO 14001-1996, vi i

Continual Improvement

Management review Environmental policy

Planning
Checking and
Implementation
corrective action
and operation
4.0 EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.5 Checking and corrective action

4.5.1 Monitoring and measurement
4.5.2 Non-conformance and corrective and preventive action
4.5.3 Records
4.5.4 Environmental management system audit
The organization shall establish and maintain (a) programme(s) and procedures for
periodic environmental management system audits to be carried out, in order to
a)Determine whether or not the environmental management system
1) conforms to planned arrangements for environmental management
including the requirements of this standard;
2) has been properly implemented and maintained;
b)Provide information on the results of audits to management.

The audit programme, including any schedule, shall be based on the environmental
importance of the activity concerned and the results of previous audits. In order to
be comprehensive, the audit procedures shall cover the audit scope, frequency and
methodologies, as well as the responsibilities and requirements for conducting
audits and reporting results.
ISO 14001 EMS Model ANSI/ISO 14001-1996, vi i

Continual Improvement

Management review Environmental policy

Planning
Checking and
Implementation
corrective action
and operation
4.0 EMS Requirements (continued)
(ANSI/ISO 14001 - 1996)

4.6 Management review

The organization’s top management shall, at intervals it determines, review
the environmental management system, to ensure its continuing suitability,
adequacy and effectiveness. The management review process shall ensure that
the necessary information is collected to allow management to carry out this
evaluation. This review shall be documented.

The management review shall address the possible need for changes to policy,
objectives and other elements of the environmental management system, in the
light of environmental management system audit results, changing
circumstances and the commitment to continual improvement.
Web Resources

 http://www.epa.gov
 http://www.epa.gov/ems/info/addition.htm