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Environmental Management Systems

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a structured framework for managing an
organisation's significant environmental impacts
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With EMS, companies can demonstrate to clients and the public that they care about the
environment and also improve the company’s operations
...

This lead to countries and organisations developing different EMS’s, the most popular being the
International Standard ISO14001 developed by the International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO) and the European Union’s regulation, the Eco-Management and Audit
Scheme (EMAS)
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This report will look
at how the EMS is implemented on a live construction site and in addition, the legal
requirements and industry standards will be reviewed
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It specifies a framework of
control for an Environmental Management System against which an organisation can be certified
by a third party
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However, all these standards fall into two categories namely (1)
Guidance Standards and (2) Specification Standards (Krut, 1998)
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EMAS - is a voluntary initiative designed to improve the environmental performance of
organisations
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iema
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The standard’s inclusion of ISO 14031 allows the development of tasks
focusing on indicators that add value and are driven by company needs e
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turnover,
competitive advantage, views of interested parties, etc

ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is a blueprint for the company’s Environment Management Systems whereas ISO
14004 provides guidance on the development and implementation of environmental
management systems & principles and their co-ordination with other management systems
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They are intended for use as a voluntary, internal management tool
and not certification or registration
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Equally, the environmental policy is a guiding document for a company’s environmental
improvements and adherence to it is fundamental to the integrity and success of the entire EMS
(Roberts,1998)
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All environmental objectives must
have one or more targets and these targets must relate directly to a stated objective (Roberts,
1998)
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Understand which of its’ activities , products and services can cause harm to the
environment
Be in a position to develop objectives and targets for Environmental improvements and
implement controls where necessary
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It is important for the companies to assign task to individuals so that responsibilities are clearly
defined, this will help the system to operate effectively
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Documents and procedures need to be put in place to ensure that everyone knows how the EMS
works and what is required
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Procedures should be established to ensure that activities
are carried out in the appropriate way
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It’s essential for companies to have robust and reliable
data to be able to accurately track progress against its environmental objectives and targets
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Management Review
Periodic Management reviews of the EMS, ensure that the EMS is achieving desired outcomes
and that the environmental policy is being implemented
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Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
Its aim is to recognise and reward those organisations that go beyond minimum legal
compliance and continuously improve their environmental performance
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It is this voluntary
publication of environmental information, whose accuracy and reliability has been independently
checked by an environmental verifier, which gives EMAS and those organisations that use it,
enhanced credibility and recognition
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Environmental regulators are
consulted at the time of registration, to ensure that the organisation meets all the legal
requirements
...


United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)
In the UK, UKAS is the sole national accreditation body recognised by government to assess
against international agreed standards, organisations that provide certification, testing,
inspection and calibration services
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761/2001: March 2001)
Acorn (Type A Inspection Body Accredited to ISO / IEC 17020:1998)

The British Standard BS8555
This standard links Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001) and Environmental
Performance Evaluation (ISO 14031), provides for focused training, auditing and
implementation at each level and supports relationships between suppliers and customers
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g
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Can include non-industrial
activities (experimental basis)

Open to non-industrial
activities

Auditing is not concerned
with environmental
performance

Auditing is concerned only with
environmental performance and
compliance with relevant
environmental legislation

Auditing is not
concerned with
environmental
performance

Frequency of audit is not
specified and can be
negotiated

Maximum audit frequency at three Frequency of audit is
years
not specified

Only environmental policy Environmental policy programme Only environmental
needs to be publicly
and management system must be policy needs to be
available
made publicly available
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Nagoya: UN Centre for Regional Development

Industry Standards
A well implemented EMS brings a lot of benefits to a company as demonstrated to us at during
our site visit to a live construction site in Bolton
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The awareness training includes the following:
The importance of conformance with the company’s environmental policy and procedures,
and with the requirements of the EMS
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Roles and responsibilities in achieving conformity with the requirements of the EMS
The potential consequences of departure from the specified operating procedures
Every site has a Project management plan, Environmental management plan and a Waste
management plan, these document make up the environmental programme which turns
environmental objectives and targets into practical actions that are taken to improve the
company’s environmental performance, the programme identifies individual responsibilities and
the means to achieve set objectives and targets within specified time scales
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The main criteria of choice of EMS are costs and the benefits of implementation
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Although it has been suggested that EMS will just add another layer of
bureaucracy, EMS bring more benefits than costs to an organisation
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Minimising the amount of waste that is produced, reducing energy consumption and making
more efficient use of resources can all lead to financial cost savings, in addition to helping to
protect and enhance the environment
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Documentation and procedures must be established to ensure that all stakeholders know how
the system work and procedures must be in place to make sure that activities are carried out in
an appropriate manner
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All environmental impacts must be assessed through consideration of size, nature,
frequency and clearly define criteria for assessing impacts
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References:
1
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iso14000-iso14001environmental-management
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htm visited 0n 30/032009
2
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iema
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Nertherwood, A
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krut,R and Gleckman, H
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Robert, H
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, (1998),”ISO 14001 EMS implementation Handbook” Butford
technical publishing, Bodenham
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Welford, R
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“Environmental issues and Corporate Environmental Management
“revised Edition in 1998, Earthscan Publication Ltd, London
7
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theacorntrust

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