Online version: PDF - DTIE
Online version: PDF - DTIE
Online version: PDF - DTIE
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SECTION 1:<br />
AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENT<br />
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS<br />
071<br />
“All this talk about jumping on the green bandwagon has died down. Being ‘green’<br />
is no longer fashionable or glamorous, it is a fact of life. Now considered by all<br />
industries to have a direct impact on profitability, it has been absorbed in business<br />
practice. Having left the glamour and excitement, we are now at stage two – the<br />
detail of implementation.”<br />
David Henderson, Former Marketing Manager of Plysu Containers, UK<br />
1.1 What is an Environment Management<br />
System (EMS)?<br />
An environment management system (EMS) helps businesses to evaluate, manage<br />
and reduce their environment impacts by providing a methodology to integrate<br />
environment management into business operations in a systematic manner.<br />
A typical EMS consists of the following actions:<br />
S<br />
E<br />
C<br />
T<br />
I<br />
O<br />
N<br />
1<br />
• Conduct a preliminary environment review to identify all resource<br />
inputs and waste outputs;<br />
• Establish an environment policy;<br />
• Establish environment objectives/targets;<br />
• Implement EMS through an environment management programme;<br />
• Establish EMS procedures in all departments and divisions;<br />
• Establish environment performance monitoring and data collection<br />
procedures;<br />
• Internal environment communication, delegation and training;<br />
• Environment-related communication to visitors;<br />
• Conduct an EMS audit;<br />
• Compare actual performance against objectives/targets;<br />
• Review objectives/targets for continual improvement;<br />
• Report on environment performance to employees, customers,<br />
stakeholders and the wider public.<br />
1.2 The Origins of EMS<br />
EMS was developed on the following bases:<br />
• COMPLIANCE AND DUE DILIGENCE AUDITING<br />
Compliance audits were developed in the 1970’s in response to the<br />
costly fines companies were incurring due to non-compliance with<br />
environment legislation. Due diligence or pre-acquisition audits are<br />
conducted to identify the environment issues of sites and businesses<br />
before they can be considered for investment or takeover.<br />
• TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT<br />
plan<br />
EMS is based on the TQM process:<br />
act<br />
do<br />
check