Environmental Management Systems

The short history of the International Standards Organization environmental standard (ISO 14000) is that it originated in Europe where industries were having a hard time competing with one another economically because some had to live with strict environmental laws and others got away with pollution. Another pressure: people in country A who lived down river from a polluting industry in country B weren't exactly happy with their neighbors who got away with, well, pollution. Other factors entered into the picture but they're a history lesson for another time.

After a time, some industry people decided that if they didn't do something voluntarily, then politicians would pass really tough laws that would make life really hard. You know how it is — things are often easier if you do them voluntarily than if you do them because somebody makes you, particularly if that somebody is a bunch of politicians.

Anyway, one of the brightest ideas for self-control was the international standard called ISO 14000 (eye-so 14,000). Actually ISO 14000 is a set of standards that include other 14000 numbers, like 14001 — Environmental Management System (EMS). The reason companies need an EMS is that no matter how many engineering and other technological fixes they install to control pollution, no matter how many directives and rules they write, and no matter how well they train employees to pay attention to environmental matters, something still goes wrong. So if something still goes wrong and you've done everything else, what's left is to manage better. Well, duh!

To manage better means more than just writing rules for people to follow, meeting standards set by government, training people, giving awards for good performance, or writing some good-sounding but self-serving PR. It means activating an effective EMS that functions, self-checks and self-improves.

We're talking about a management system that functions within and is part of a company's business plan; equal in value, importance and stature to the operations (money-making) part of the business. These questions below give you an idea of what a company should be doing if it is serious about using an EMS.

1. Is top management committed to our EMS, do they understand it and are they involved?
2. Which of our process, products or services do or could create environmental problems?
3. Which could cause positive or negative impacts on the environment?
4. How will we implement a plan to ensure that whatever can go wrong doesn't?
5. Who is accountable and responsible for doing something to preclude the potential causal factor? When and how will they do it?
6. How will we train everybody to create true environmental awareness?
7. How will we integrate the EMS into our company's business plan (so
   The copyright of the article Environmental Management Systems in Environment is owned by Kenneth Friedman. Permission to republish Environmental Management Systems in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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