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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
An Environmental Management System (EMS) consists of a comprehensive review of a
company's operations, its effect on the environment and the establishment of
procedures, objectives and a reporting structure, which minimises or eliminates
these impacts. An EMS is equally applicable to individual sites, or to larger
companies which may operate several sites.
The objective of an EMS is to identify areas of actual or potential
environmental risk, formulate strategies to minimise or eliminate the risks and
finally, put into place a management structure which allows the company to
monitor and control its own level of risk. Eventual, the company will become
self sufficient of external assistance for its day to day environmental
requirements, and will only require periodic external reviews of its operations
and the Management System itself.
The EMS detailed in this document is based on the ISO 14001 Environmental
Management Systems. Australian companies can have their Environmental Management
System certified to these standards by several accredited certification bodies.
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
The environmental management system ensures that a company can maintain a
high level of environmental performance and minimise environmental risk over the
long term. The system helps to develop environmental competence and awareness
amongst both management and staff and will decrease the need for external
assistance.
An environmental management system consists of the following components:
- Identify activities, products or services which pose a risk to
the environment.
- Develop a register of legislative requirements, codes of
practice, etc.
- Formulate an environmental policy.
- Develop environmental objectives and targets which the site
should achieve.
- Develop environmental plans and procedures covering all routine
and emergency
..requirements for the identified "risky"
activities.
- Assign responsibilities for each of the managerial and routine
environmental functions
. on the site.
- Conduct appropriate training for site management and employees.
- Develop and introduce a regular internal audit program to monitor
environmental
. performance against stated objectives,
targets and regulatory requirements.
- Develop a methodology to correct non-compliance of any form.
- Establish a procedure to compile and maintain environmental
documentation.
- Produce an environmental manual which includes those methods,
procedures and
.policies detailed above.
DEVELOPMENT OF AN EMS
An EMS involves four stages in its development:
- The organisation needs to commit resources to the development of the
system. This will require the development of an environmental policy (if one
does not exist), and the establishment of a body consisting of senior members
of management and operational staff. This group will initially oversee the
development of the EMS and, when the EMS is operational, will act as a conduit
between the organisation's operational areas and management.
- The operation/s need to be assessed to determine the initial level of
risk, identify deficiencies in operational procedures, determine the need for
training and identify any deficiencies in the site's management structure.
- Risk reduction options are formulated in conjunction with site personnel.
This will include the development of operational procedures, training,
reporting structure, the assigning of responsibilities and setting of site
objectives and targets.
- Finally, a management structure is developed specifically for the site, or
in the case of a company group, for corporate management. The management
structure will include the reporting structure between operational areas and
management, defining management responsibilities (both for groups and
individuals), the setting of corporate objectives and targets, assigning
management responsibilities and determining external audit and review
procedures. This stage may be developed at the same time as stage 3, to ensure
operational and management procedures and structures are compatible.
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V&C Environment Consultants Pty Ltd
