August Mack News

The third phase in an environmental management system (EMS) is the actual implementation. In this phase, the following must be considered:

• Structure and Responsibility
  • Document roles, responsibilities and authorities to facilitate effective environmental management
    • Minutes of team meetings, questionnaires, aspect ranking score sheets, etc.
    • Leverage ISO 9000 documents
  • Provide resources essential to the implementation and control of the EMS
  • Appoint a management representative who is responsible for the EMS
• Training, Awareness and Competence
  • Identify the people who affect the environment
  • Identify the training needs
    • Significant environmental aspects of an employee’s work
    • Benefits of improved personal performance
    • Employee’s role in the EMS
    • Importance of following procedures and consequences of not following procedures
  • Leverage regulatory training programs and ISO 9000 training process
  • Consider making a part of the new employee orientation training
• Communication
  • Establish and maintain procedures for
    • Internal communication between various levels and functions
    • Handling communication from external interested parties
  • Consider processes for external communication and record decisions
    • Team meetings and keeping minutes
    • Examples of how external communication was handled
• EMS Documentation
  • Establish and maintain documents (paper or electronic) to describe the elements of the EMS and to point to related documents
    • Consider an EMS manual
    • Integrate with ISO 9000 documents where appropriate
• Document Control
  • Evidence of EMS performance can include:
    • Minutes of team meetings, questionnaires, aspect ranking score sheets, etc.
  • ISO 14001 Standards require:
    • The EMS to establish procedures for documentation
    • Ensures that documents can be located
    • Are periodically reviewed and revised
    • Current versions are available where essential functions are performed
    • Obsolete documents are removed
    • Documents are legible, dated, properly stored
• Operational Control
  • Establish procedures to identify and control operations that are important to the environment
  • Address the significant environmental aspects in line with its policy, objectives and targets
  • Plan these activities under specified conditions by:
    • Establishing written procedures where needed
    • Stipulating operating criteria in procedures; and
    • Establishing procedures and requirements relating to the environmental aspects of purchased goods and services and inform suppliers
  • Operational controls may be needed for some activities in order to meet regulatory or legal requirements, regardless of whether or not objectives and targets were established for them. 
  • Examples of activities that might require operational controls include: 
    • Management/disposal of wastes
    • Approval of new chemicals
    • Storage and handling of raw materials and chemicals
    • Equipment servicing
    • Wastewater treatment
    • Operation of paint line, plating system
    • Management of contractors
• Emergency Preparedness and Response
  • Develop and maintain procedures to identify the potential for and respond to accidents and emergencies, and for preventing and mitigating their effects;
  • Review and revise these procedures, especially after and event; and
  • Test these procedures where practical