Environmental management system

It refers to system for managing an

organization's environmental programmes in a
formal, comprehensive, systematic, planned
and documented manner.it embraces
organizational structure, planning, and
resources for developing , implementing and
maintaining the policy for protection of envt.
Thus it has to have :


1) Commitment of top management
2) Written objectives for EMS
3) Benefit of EMS
4) Relevant legal requirement etc
Terminology
Certain terms and definition used in environment
management system need to be elaborated

Environment
Environmental aspect
Environmental impact
Environmental impact assignment (EIA)
Certification body
1. Environment


It means surrounding in which any
organization or living system operates.it
includes natural physical entities like air,
water, land its resources, human beings,
plants, animals, and their interrelationships.

2.Environmental aspect


It means organizations activities, services and
products which interact with the environment
. For example, packaging process of a
manufacturing unit is an environmental
aspect.
3.Environmental impact
A change in environment, wholly or partially
resulting from an organizations activities,
services or products is referred to as
environmental impact. Environmental aspect
must be known:
emission
effluent discharges
consumption or reuse of material
noise
4.Environmental impact assesment
EIA refers to review of potential impact of a project
to be launched by an organization . It includes:
I. Assignment of existing environmental status.
II. Anaysis of various factors of ecosystem like
trees, ponds, wildlife.
III. Analysis of adverse impacts of the project that
is to be started
IV. Impact on people in the neighbourhood
Certification of body


It is an independent organization which
verifies that a companys EMS conforms to
specific standard such as ISO 14001. such a
body is called certifier.
Installing EMS
As mentioned above, formal operations of EMS in
a company require enhancing certain conditions
in terms of organizational structure, besides
other conditions
The foremost is commitment of top management
The reason is that EMS is something new and top
management would like to go in to details of
how it is going to affect the business before they
commit
Why EMS
The most common motives for adopting a formal EMS
are the following:

It is the statutory requirements and the firm
want to avoid prosecution
In developed countries, Improved environmental
performance is becoming a popular theme for
enhancing the image of the company
The demand of various stakeholders especially the
key clients puts pressure for installing a formal EMS

CERTIFICATION OF EMS
The EMS has to be certified by external party.
The recognized standards for the purpose are:

ISO 14001 (International Standard Organisation)
EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit System)
BS 7750 (British Standard)
Benefits of EMS
Improved environmental performance
Pollution prevention
Resource conservation
New customers/markets
Increased efficiency/reduced costs
Enhanced employee morale
Employee awareness of environmental issues
and responsibilities

Main Stages Of An EMS
1. Commitment and Policy
Top management commits to environmental
improvement and establishes a company
environmental policy. The policy is the foundation of
the EMS.
2. Planning
A company first identifies environmental aspects of its
operations. Environmental aspects are those items,
such as air pollutants or hazardous waste, that can
have negative impacts on people and/or the
environment.

3. Implementation
A company follows through with the action plan
using the necessary resources (human, financial,
etc.). An important component is employee
training and awareness for all employees and
setting up internal and external communication
lines.
4. Evaluation: A company monitors its operations to
evaluate whether targets are being met. If not,
the company takes corrective action.
5. Review:
Top management reviews the results of the
evaluation to see if the EMS is working.
Management determines whether the original
environmental policy is consistent with
company values. The plan is then revised to
optimize the effectiveness of the EMS. The
review stage creates a loop of continuous
improvement for a company