Environmental Management Systems
An Environmental Management System is a structured and documented approach to your environmental responsibilities which, when it complies with a standard such as ISO14001, is also likely to comply with any environmental requirements specified by your clients and other stakeholders.
An Initial Review
An Initial Review will entail:
- A visit to your premises
- A tour of the site to see at first hand what goes on
- Conversations with key personnel in the business
- A review of any existing documentation
A simple Action Plan will be drawn up at the end of this visit which will identify some of the next key steps required to reduce your impacts.
Developing an EMS
Development of an environmental management system will involve:
- Senior management commitment to an environmental policy
- Maintaining a list of the company's legal and stakeholder requirements
- Evaluating the company's environmental issues
- Developing an environmental policy, complete with objectives and targets and a plan to achieve them
- Implementing the plan by developing the necessary capabilities and support within the business
- Measuring and evaluating outcomes
- Continuous review and improvement of the plan
Environmental Auditing and Reporting
Environmental auditing is a means monitoring that your journey to environmental responsibility is on track. It can be used to help maintain your environmental management system or simply to assess your performance against your action plan.
What will it entail?
An environmental audit will typically include:
- Review of management system documentation
- Review of objectives, targets and associated data
- A tour of some sites to see operations at first hand
- Conversations with a random sample of personnel within the organisation
- Preparation of an audit report
Environmental reporting is carried out to inform your stakeholders about your environmental performance, demonstrating your successful journey to becoming an environmentally responsible organisation.
The end result?
A concise and objective report of your progress towards environmental responsibility.