ENVIRONMENTAL

MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS
BY MR FREDRICK MAPONGA
 Environmental management – levels of action:
 Individual
 Community
 Corporate
 National
 Regional
 Global
Definitions

 ISO is an independent, non-governmental organization made up of members from

the national standards bodies of 161 countries
 Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland
 Standards -  documents that provide requirements, specifications, guidelines or
characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products,
processes and services are fit for their purpose.
 Environmental management system (EMS) refers to the management of an
organization's environmental programs in a comprehensive, systematic, planned
and documented manner. It includes the organizational structure, planning and
resources for developing, implementing and maintaining policy
for environmental protection.
What are the ISO 14001 standards for?

 ISO 140001 has 2 main objectives:

1. To give a standardized and proven framework that can help
organizations to develop an effective environmental management
strategy;
2. To work as an official recognition and prize for the
organizations’ efforts to improve their environmental strategies.
 Worldwide, in 2017, more than 362 000 organizations benefited
from ISO 14001 certification.
 Nowadays, this recognition has become important in terms of image
and as a response to the requirements of many contractors who look at
this certification a proof of the environmental concerns of a company.
 In this way, ISO 14001 standards are now often an integral part of the 
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy of a large number
of companies.
Components of ISO 14001
The principles of the ISO 14001
 The application of ISO 14001 is not a legal obligation and
like all standards set by ISO, adopting it is voluntary.
 Nevertheless, despite not being mandatory, it imposes a
compliance commitment with the current environmental
regulation and its future developments for those who
follow it.
 The basic principle of ISO norms is the search for continuous
improvement, in successive cycles, according to the four-step
process of the Deming (PDCA) cycle:
 Plan
 Do
 Study/Check
 Act
 The ISO 14001 standard functions around a systematic framework
of 5 typical components that eventually form the basis of every 
Environment Management System (EMS) in the world today.
1. Environmental Policy
2. Environmental Plan
3. Plan Implementation
4. Monitoring and Corrective Actions
5. Management Reviews
Environmental Policy

 Establishment of an appropriate environmental policy that is

documented and communicated to employees and made
available to the public, and which includes a commitment to
continual improvement and pollution prevention, regulatory
compliance and a framework for setting objectives.
 A Policy is Statement of an organization’s intentions and
principals in relation to its overall environmental performance
 Provides a framework for the EMS objectives and targets
Environmental Plan

 A planning phase that covers the identification of the

environmental aspects of the organization’s activities,
identification and access to legal requirements,
establishment and documentation of objectives and targets
consistent with the policy, and establishment of a program
for achieving said targets and objectives (including the
designation of responsible individuals, necessary means
and timeframes).
Planning
14

Identify Determine
Environmental Significant
Aspects and Environmental Establish
Identify
Activities, Impacts Aspects
Objectives,
Products
Targets and
and
Service Determine Legal and Other Programs
s Requirements
Plan Implementation
 Implementation and operation of the EMS including the definition,
documentation, and communication of roles and responsibilities,
provision of appropriate training, assurance of adequate internal and
external communication, written management system
documentation as well as appropriate document control procedures,
documented procedures for operational controls, and documented
and communicated emergency response procedures.
Implementation and Control 16

Organization & Capabilities & Controls

Accountability Communications

Documentation
and Control of
Competence Documents
Resources, Training and
Roles,
Awareness
Responsibility
and Authority Operational Controls

Communication

Emergency
Preparedness and
Response
Monitoring and Corrective Actions

 Checking and corrective action procedures, including

procedures for regular monitoring and measurement of key
characteristics of the operations and activities, procedures
for dealing with situations of non-conformity, specific
record maintenance procedures and procedures for
auditing the performance of the EMS.
Monitoring and Corrective Action 18

Evaluation of
compliance

Monitoring and Nonconformity,

Measuring Corrective and Records
Preventive Action

Periodic Internal EMS Audits

Management Reviews

Periodic management reviews of the overall

EMS to ensure its suitability, adequacy, and
effectiveness in light of changing circumstances.
Management Review 20

To Assess the
• suitability,
Take account of: • adequacy, and
• audit findings • effectiveness of the EMS
• progress records on objectives
changes to facilities
• changes in activities,
products or services In order to determine the need
• changes in technology for change and improvement to:
• concerns of interested parties • the environmental policy
• other relevant information • the objectives and targets
• other elements of the EMS
Implementing the ISO 14001 standards
 Following the steps of the cycle PDCA mentioned above, the implementation of the ISO
14001 standards is carried out in three stages:
 At first, there is the need to audit the current organizational practices regarding
environmental management and their compliance or non-compliance with the regulations
and objectives of the ISO 14001 standards. This will allow organizations to identify and have
a clear picture of their procedures, making it easier to re-think and transform them in order to
achieve the necessary improvements required by the ISO 14001 standards.
 This self-audit can be done internally before-hand, but all the information about the
organization’s environmental procedures and policies will have to be endorsed to the
certification entity and confirmed by its consultants.
 Once the inventory has been completed, a program of measures to be taken and actions to
be developed (prerequisites needed for the certification) need to be established and
implemented according to an appropriate schedule.
 For example, if the audit has identified that the organization is poorly managing its paper
resources, the program of measures will probably focus on the establishment of an
effective management procedure for these resources.
 Finally, a rigorous evaluation of the new practices and their environmental impact will be
carried out regularly (an annual audit within every three years), where updates or changes
on the organizations’ environmental management systems may be requested.
What is an environmental management system?

 An environmental management system, often called an EMS, is comprised of the

policies, processes, plans, practices and records that define the rules governing how
your company interacts with the environment.
 This system needs to be tailored to your particular company, because only your
company will have the exact legal requirements and environmental interactions that
match your specific business processes.
 However, the ISO 14001 requirements provide a framework and guidelines for creating
your environmental management system so that you do not miss important elements
needed for an EMS to be successful.
What does ISO 14001 actually look like?
 The ISO 14001 structure is split into ten sections. The first three are introductory, with the last seven
containing the requirements for the environmental management system. Here is what the seven main
sections are about:
 Section 4: Context of the organization – This section talks about requirements for understanding your
organization in order to implement an EMS. It includes the requirements for identifying internal and
external issues, identifying interested parties and their expectations, defining the scope of the EMS and
identifying the processes required for the EMS.
 Section 5: Leadership – The leadership requirements cover the need for top management to be
instrumental in the implementation of the EMS. Top management needs to demonstrate commitment to the
EMS by ensuring environmental commitment, defining and communicating the environmental policy and
assigning roles and responsibilities throughout the organization.
 Section 6: Planning – Top management must also plan for the ongoing function of the EMS. Risks and
opportunities of the EMS in the organization need to be assessed, and environmental objectives for
improvement need to be identified and plans made to accomplish these objectives. Additionally, it is
necessary for the organization to assess all the ways in which the organizational processes interact and affect
the environment as well as the legal and other commitments that are required fo the organization.
 Section 7: Support – The support section deals with management of all resources for the EMS,
and also includes requirements around competence, awareness, communication and controlling
documented information (the documents and records required for your processes).
 Section 8: Operation – The operation requirements deal with all aspects of the environmental
controls needed by the organizational processes, as well as the need to identify potential emergency
situations and plan responses so that you are prepared to respond should an emergency occur.
 Section 9: Performance evaluation – This section includes the requirements needed to make sure
that you can monitor whether your EMS is functioning well. It includes monitoring and measuring
your processes, assessing environmental compliance, internal audits, and ongoing management
review of the EMS.
 Section 10: Improvement – This last section includes the requirements needed to make your EMS
better over time. This includes the need to assess process nonconformity and taking corrective
actions for processes.
 These sections are based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act
cycle, which uses these elements to implement
change within the processes of the organization in
order to drive and maintain improvements within
the processes.
Why should you implement ISO 14001
in your organization?
 The benefits of ISO 14001 cannot be overstated; companies large and small have used this standard to great
effect, as mentioned above. Here are just a few of these benefits:
 Improve your image and credibility – By assuring customers that you have a commitment to demonstrable
management of your environmental impacts, you can enhance your image and market share through
maintaining a good public image and improved community relations.
 Improve cost control – One improvement that all companies are looking for is reduction of costs. The EMS
can help with this by conserving energy and input materials, while reducing incidents for which a company
can incur liability costs and improved environmental controls can help to obtain insurance at reduced costs to
the company.
 Use evidence-based decision making – By ensuring that you are using accurate data to make your decisions
on what to improve, you can greatly increase the chances that your improvements will be successful the first
time rather than having several unsuccessful attempts. By using this data to track your progress you can
correct these improvement initiatives before they have gone “off the rails,” which can save costs and time.
 Create a culture of continual improvement – With continual improvement, you can
work toward better processes and reduced environmental impacts in a systematic way
in order to improve your public image and potentially reduce your costs, as identified
above. When a culture of improvement is created, people are always looking for ways
to make their processes better, which makes maintaining the EMS easier.
 Engage your people – Given a choice between working for a company that shows care
and concern for the environment around it and one that does not, most people would
prefer the first company. By engaging your employees in a group effort to reduce your
environmental footprint you can increase employee focus and retention.
 Mandatory steps to finish implementation and get your company certified
 After finishing all your documentation and implementing it, your organization also needs to
perform these steps to ensure a successful certification:
 Internal audit – The internal audit is in place for you to check your EMS processes. The goal
is to ensure that records are in place to confirm compliance of the processes and to find
problems and weaknesses that would otherwise stay hidden.
 Management review – A formal review by your management to evaluate the relevant facts
about the management system processes in order to make appropriate decisions and assign
resources.
 Corrective actions – Following the internal audit and management review, you need to
correct the root cause of any identified problems and document how they were resolved.
 The company certification process is divided into two stages:
 Stage One (documentation review) – The auditors from your chosen
certification body will check to ensure your documentation meets the
requirements of ISO 14001.
 Stage Two (main audit) – Here, the certification body auditors will
check whether your actual activities are compliant with both ISO
14001 and your own documentation by reviewing documents, records,
and company practices.
Keep in mind… 32

 The EMS and related measurement tools are just that,

tools. Alone, they will not guarantee success. The
organization must use the tools, not just have them.
 An effective EMS is “alive”; constantly measuring
performance, making adjustments, and looking for
opportunities for continual improvement
 An EMS cycle gets repeated to ensure it is meeting the
policy goals, working properly and updated as necessary