Environmental Management

We went to our clients and asked them they why felt they needed and wanted an environmental management system (EMS). We also asked what benefits they had identified.

Every business we asked stated that they needed a management system so that they were able to manage their day to day operations more effectively. This was not always their main reason for starting but by the time they were half way through, all clients recognised that their businesses really benefited from having built their system.

Why they started was based on what they wanted and this was quite varied. Some of the businesses questioned wanted to demonstrate that they really were environmentally conscious in their business operations and they found that their EMS both did this and took this a significant stage further. Some wanted certification to help them access export markets. Others wanted a tool to build a culture of awareness and responsibility throughout their operation. Some wanted a marketing edge. Some were under pressure from regulators and/or community groups and felt that they want to clearly demonstrate their environmental commitment.

The benefits were real improvements to the bottom line coming from less errors and incidents; “a much more efficient business; a deep rooted benefit is a sense of awareness, commitment, and responsibility at all staff levels; creating a dynamic team with one common objective”; a much greater awareness of environmental risks, minimising the risks from changes in their operations; having contingency planning in place and practiced to cope better with disasters and extreme weather; an ability to demonstrate legal compliance; significant eco-efficiencies and improvement in waste management. There are many others.

Most of the benefits came when they moved beyond just an environmental management plan or a code of practice and built a system with feedback.
Many of the businesses fully integrated all their requirements including their occupational health and safety, quality, traceability and food safety so that they built one simple system that covered all of these.

The secret to having a management system that works for the business is to keep it simple. Keep good records while avoiding unnecessary paper.

We went to our clients and asked them they why felt they needed and wanted an environmental management system (EMS). We also asked what benefits they had identified.

Every business we asked stated that they needed a management system so that they were able to manage their day to day operations more effectively. This was not always their main reason for starting but by the time they were half way through, all clients recognised that their businesses really benefited from having built their system.

Why they started was based on what they wanted and this was quite varied. Some of the businesses questioned wanted to demonstrate that they really were environmentally conscious in their business operations and they found that their EMS both did this and took this a significant stage further. Some wanted certification to help them access export markets. Others wanted a tool to build a culture of awareness and responsibility throughout their operation. Some wanted a marketing edge. Some were under pressure from regulators and/or community groups and felt that they want to clearly demonstrate their environmental commitment. Read the rest of this entry »

Environmental management can form an integral part of the organizational structure of a business entity depending upon the nature of its operations. In some cases these activities can be very extensive thereby necessitating the use of Environmental Management Software (EMS).

The goal of such software is to effectively simplify the entire range of these activities. Amongst the latest developments is the integrated risk management information system software which lends out support for the ISO 14001 Environmental Management. In its essence this risk management software is extremely flexible and provides a comprehensive task based calendar and checklist which can be used for environmental management. Using these features organizations can effectively generate a detailed audit trial of the entire range of environmental activities. Reporting is also one of the key features of this EMS as this can be a very extensive and complex obligation.

The integrated EMS can empower organizations in versatile ways. Depending on how it is employed the system can help substantially improve the management of environment improvement plans and environmental auditing. Similarly it can simplify the management of compliance obligations, incidents and reporting to the Board and Environment Committee. Read the rest of this entry »

We went to our clients and asked them they why felt they needed and wanted an environmental management system (EMS). We also asked what benefits they had identified.

Every business we asked stated that they needed a management system so that they were able to manage their day to day operations more effectively. This was not always their main reason for starting but by the time they were half way through, all clients recognised that their businesses really benefited from having built their system.

Why they started was based on what they wanted and this was quite varied. Some of the businesses questioned wanted to demonstrate that they really were environmentally conscious in their business operations and they found that their EMS both did this and took this a significant stage further. Some wanted certification to help them access export markets. Others wanted a tool to build a culture of awareness and responsibility throughout their operation. Some wanted a marketing edge. Some were under pressure from regulators and/or community groups and felt that they want to clearly demonstrate their environmental commitment. Read the rest of this entry »