Environmental Management Systems & Tools

This presentation provides an overview of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and its tools to reduce or regulate impacts in the environment. It covers the 12 elements of EMS, investigation of environmental incidents, and the EMS cycle stages. The presentation emphasizes the importance of accountability, program evaluation and improvement, and documentation in EMS. It also highlights the benefits of EMS, such as minimizing environmental effects, amplifying the use of assets productively, and ensuring execution of environmental plans. The presentation includes references for further reading.

Environmental Management
Systems & Tools
Name
Date

Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
Introduction
• EMS is a system used as a tool in the organization to reduce or regulate
impacts in the environment.
• EMS gives a methodology that is organized in relation to the arrangement
and actualization of environmental safety measures (NEB 2010).
• EMS controls what an organization does to either impact negatively or
positively to the environment.
• EMS begins with the LCA that is the Life Cycle Assessment of any product.
• LCA is used as a tool in EMS to narrate a ‘story’ of a product since its
inception to its wear and tear.
• EMS is all about the establishment of programs related to LCA and
assessment of products’ positive or negative impact along its life cycle.
• EMS is also about the monitoring and measuring of progresses to ensure
that the desired objectives and targets are met (NEB 2010).
• Implementation of EMS follows 5 major steps to be effective.

Elements of EMS
• There are as much as 12 elements of EMS.
• One of them is accountability.
• Effectiveness of an EMS is determined by its
accountability (Morris 2013).
• In case accountability lacks at both ends of the
management spectrum, there is a possibility of
employees falsifying reports.
• Such falsification results from fear of management
retribution (NEB 2010).

Other Key Elements of EMS
Program Evaluation and Improvement
 EMS should be providing an independent audit from time to time
for it to be effective.
 An environmental audit is done to obtains evaluated facts
concerning adherence to the set criteria and then reported.
 Auditing is used as a tool by management to document the
objective of the organization toward protection of the environment.
 The procedures of auditing should be well defined so as to correct
any deficiencies uncovered within the audit.
 If there is no proper follow through, the audit would be meaningless
(Kendrick 2014).
 Such audits should not be used to establish any condition that is
attorney-client privileged as a way of hiding environmental
noncompliance.
 Such instances are not likely to work because only the real audit
report happens to be protected under attorney-client privilege
(Morris 2013).

Investigation of Environmental
Incidents
• It is the third key element.
• It involves thorough investigation of
environmental incidents in a way that is timely
(Kendrick 2014).
• If an EMS is effective, it should trigger thorough
investigations if environmental incidents happen.
• The investigations are designed to solicit root
causes of such incidents
• They also demonstrate completeness and
promptness in responses to such incidents
(Kendrick 2014).

Overview of EMS Tools

Important Points
• Any EMS that one may use need to be enforced
by all levels of management (Open Innovation
2003).
• Every EMS, like any environmental plan, should be
performance-based.
• The start of everything is having an EMS
document that is well written.
• The most important bit is communicating the
same to all employees and enforcing the EMS
throughout the organization (Open Innovation
2003).

Goals and Features of EMS
• An EMS screens environmental executions.
• It also ensures that environmental administration is
incorporated into the every day operations of an
organization (Portny 2013).
• Creation of an EMS must include the evaluation of its
environmental effects.
• Creation must also involve the setting of goals to help
in the arrangement of how to have targets
accomplished.
• Obligations and reporting structure are actualized
viably.
• Organizations are able to find several benefits through
the performance of regular environmental reviews
(Portny 2013).

Goals and Features of EMS
Cont’d
• As part of the EMS, documentation happens to be vital.
• Every activity should be reported alongside the environmental
impacts’ data (O'Conchuir 2011).
• Provision of environmental changes is managed via
documentation.
• Hierarchical responsibility happens to be the most important
part of an EMS.
• Successful creation and execution of EMS require cooperation
from all the staff (O'Conchuir 2011).
• Monitoring and auditing is performed by survey reviews.
• The reviews should be executed on a regular basis in order to
guarantee that the EMS is attaining its goals.
• Emergency and operational procedures include strategies used
in EMS processes (O'Conchuir 2011).

Goals and Features of EMS
Cont’d
• Issues to be ascertained by the EMS are announced in an
environmental plan.
• An environmental plan guarantees environmental
exercises to be reliable to an organization’s destinations
(Portny 2013).
• EM plans outline the methodology and systems that an
organization would have to use to achieve its targets.
• Analysis of environmental impacts require reviewing of
environmental goals.
• Having the staff trained will ensure that it becomes
acquainted obligations relating to the execution of EMS.
• The staff, in such a case, acquire important expertise
towards successful EMS usage (Kendrick 2014).

EMS Benefits
• EMS minimizes environmental effects of a company or
any organization.
• EMS amplifies the use of assets productively.
• EMS is also vital in the reduction of amount of waste
produced by a given company.
• EMS also has the potential of giving the public a fine
image of the organization.
• EMS also helps to gain superior understanding of
business exercises leading to environmental effects.
• EMS also helps in ensuring execution of environmental
plans and expansion benefits via productive
operations.

EMS Cycle Stages
1. Environmental Policy
An organization’s top management gets committed to
continuous improvement and environmental
compliance to layout the foundations of
Environmental Policies (NEB 2010).
2. Planning:
The organization then identifies aspects of the
environment like water and air pollution associated
with negative effects on people’s lives (NEB 2010).
Planning develops programs and targets for
achievement.

EMS Cycle Stages Cont’d
3. Implementation:
All the steps laid down during the planning phase
get implemented in this phase.
Training is identified and completed for all workers
to ensure that they are aware of the
organizational environmental policies (NEB 2010).
4. Evaluation:
Environmental interactions get monitored.
Internal audits are performed and evaluation of
whether targets are met (NEB 2010).

EMS Cycle Stages Cont’d
5. Review:
• Review of environmental policies is done by the
senior management of an organization.
• EMS objectives and performances are gauged and
improvements suggested.
• Reviewing helps the management to solicit EMS
effectiveness .

References
• NEB, 2010, Key Elements of an Effective Environmental Management System.. [online]
wordpress.com. Available at:
https://normanswei.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/key-elements-of-an-effective-environmental
-maangement-system/
[Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
• Conserve Energy Future, 2017, Features and Stages of Environmental Management System
(EMS) - Conserve Energy Future. [online] Conserve Energy Future. Available at:
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/environmental-management-systems.php
[Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].
• Kendrick, T 2014, The Project Management Tool Kit : 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting
the Job Done Right. American Management Association, (3).
• Harold, K 2013, Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning. Hoboken: Wiley
Scheduling and Controlling, (11).
• Morris, P 2013, Reconstructing Project Management: Somerset : Wiley, (1).
• O'Conchuir, D 2011, Overview of the PMBOK Guide :Overview of the PMBOK Guide, (2).
• Open Innovation, 2003, Open Innovation :: Open Innovation Community. [online]
Openinnovation.net. Available at:
http://openinnovation.net/about-2/open-innovation-definition/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2017].
• Portny, S 2013, Project management for dummies [online]. Available at:
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ez.library.latrobe.edu.au/lib/latrobe/detail.action?docID=
1161976
[Accessed 26 Sep. 2017]