FREE online courses on Environmental management system -
Terminology
Certain terms and definitions used in EMS need to be
elaborated.
It means surrounding in which any organization or living
system operates. It includes natural physical entities like air, water, land and
its resources, human being, plants (flora) animals (fauna) and their
interrelationship. Environment extends from microlevel i.e. organization or
habitat to macrolevel i.e. global.
It is part of overall management of an organization that is
concerned with maintenance and implementation of environmental policy.
It refers to system for managing an organization's
environmental programmes in a comprehensives systematic, planned and documented
manner. It embraces organisational structure, planning, activities and resources
for developing, implementing and maintaing the policy for protection of
environment. It has to have:
- Written
objectives for EMS.
-
Documented or written procedures involving processes/procedures so that those
officers/employees who are involved in installing the EMS follow the standard
procedures.
-
Assigning responsibilities to ensure that employees know who is to do what.
-
Environmental Audit to know the environmental aspect and impacts of company's
activities.
- Review
of EMS.
- Finally
to have EMS assessed and certified by an independent certifier to demonstrate
that system conforms to relevant standard like ISO 14001.
It means organization's activities, services and products
which interact with the environment e.g. packaging is an aspect and the waste
produced in the process of packaging is an impact.
A change in environment, wholly or partially resulting from
an organization's activities, services or products (Aspect) is referred to as
Environmental Impact. Usually impacts are harmful; sometimes impacts can be
beneficial as for example conservation programmes protect wildlife.
Those responsible for EMS, must be able to identify both
existing as well as potential impacts. For identifying impacts, following
environmental aspects must be known:
(i)
emissions.
(ii)
effluent discharges.
(iii)
consumption or reuse of material.
(iv)
noise.
For example in case of vehicles, aspect include :
a)
use of engine oil.
b)
emissions to air.
The impact for: (a)
is Disposal of used oil.
The impact for: (b) is Disposal or
abatement of volatile organic compounds.
It is a written statement that defines an organization's
mission, attitude and framework of actions towards environment. An Environmental
Policy includes vision and core values of the organization, compliance with
legal and other requirements and commitment to environmental protection through
actions like.
a)
prevention of pollution at source.
b)
reduction of wastes.
c)
design and operational management.
d)
minimum use of energy.
e)
bringing awareness to employees.
There can be more actions.
EIA refers to review of potential impact of a project to be
launched by an organization. It includes:
a)
assessment of existing environmental status.
b)
analysis of various factors of ecosystem like trees, ponds,
wildlife.
c)
analysis of adverse impacts of the project to be started.
d)
impact on people in the neighbourhood.
It is an independent organization which verifies that a
company's EMS conforms to specific standard such as ISO 14001. Such a body is
called certifier. If the system conforms to standard, the company will be
awarded certificate. It is advisable to select a certification body which has
been accredited by government agency or other impartial organization with
credibility.
It is an objective and documented verification of process to
obtain evidence to determine whether EMS of an organization conforms to the
criteria laid down by the organization. It is a detailed evaluation of
organization's performance against set objectives. The key words for EMS audit
are: Documented, Periodic and Objective.
The report of audit has to be conveyed to the management. If
an audit for ISO 14001 certification is carried out, it would provide the proof
of following objectives.
-
evidence of conformity of EMS.
-
evidence of fulfilling legal/regulatory requirements.
- provide
opportunity for further improvements of EMS.
It is an environmental audit scheme launched by the European
Union. It differs from ISO 14001 in following respects:
- It
requires an organization to provide the audit report to the public.
- It
applies to manufacturers.
Organizations can upgrade from ISO 14001 to EMAS through
CEN*. Very few organizations, so far have registered for EMAS.
ISO 9000
For good performance organizations adopt effective and
efficient systems which should result in continued improvement in quality. ISO
9000 is quality management standard. ISO 14000 is based on ISO 9000.
The British standard, BS 7750 was introduced as a
specification for the various stages of developing an environmental management
system, including as guidance on its implementation and assessment. It was the
first environmental standard and influenced the development of ISO 14001. It was
withdrawn when ISO 14001 was recognized as an international standard by European
Committee for standardization (CEN). ISO 14001 is discussed elsewhere. It is
similar to BS 7750 with minor differences. Approval of an organization's EMS by
an Independent agency is now available since last three or four years. The
British companies have been using BS 7750 as the standard for EMS since 1996 to
establish their credibility vis-a-vis environment.
BS 7750
BS 7750 was derived from ISO 9000. It gave a lead to UK in
developing EMS Standard. Later, the International Standard organization (ISO)
took up the responsibility for drawing up a new Environmental Standard series
ISO 14000 so that with the help of Technical Committee, TC 207. This committee
works through sub-committees each on:
-
Environmental Management System.
-
Environmental Auditing.
-
Environmental Labelling.
-
Environmental Evaluation.
- Life
Cycle Assessment.
-
Definitions and Terminology.
Progress in the development of environmental management and
environmental auditing has been very rapid. ISO 14001 – EMS specifications was
published in
Sept., 1996, three years after the establishment of TC 207. Most governments
have enacted legislation for protecting the environment and natural resources.
Environmental auditing is yet not mandatory. Environmental audit is voluntary
but it can go long way towards ensuring compliance of with laws.
