| How to Get Started
Congratulations! You have already taken the first move to enhance environmental excellence in your company by entering this section. This indicated your interest in gaining commitment to improving your environmental performance.
How to Get Started?
After understanding the challenges and the key environmental issues of your industry, here are the STEPS for your company to improving your environmental performance:
STEP 1 - Top Management Commitment
Gaining top management commitment is a fundamental step in the implementation of an Environmental Management Systems (EMS), as for any other major project. Top management commitment will be needed to give the project importance within the organization, as well as for approving any necessary resources and changes.
STEP 2 - Baseline Assessment
In order to be able to identify what needs to be done to implement an EMS for your organization, it will first be necessary to establish the current situation. The baseline assessment provides a quick and easy to understand approach for gaining an understanding of the current level of environmental performance and issues facing the organization. Click here for useful tools.
STEP 3 - Developing a Draft Environmental Policy
The environmental policy is a short public declaration that states your intentions and commitment to improving your environmental performance, but above all else it provides the focus for the development and operation of the EMS.
STEP 4 - Developing Environmental Indicators
"What gets measured can be managed". Measurement, analysis, assessment, and review of real data, relating to the environmental performance of your organization, will help you to operate an effective EMS and achieve stated aims. In addition to this, the collection and use of environmental performance data will support environmental reporting and communication within your organization. Use of environmental indicators has shown to be effective in maintaining focus on environmental goals, and driving continual improvement in environmental performance.
STEP 5 - Developing an Initial EMS Implementation Plan
Planning activities, responsibilities, timescales, resource inputs, costs and benefits, relating to the implementation of an EMS will help you in the effective management of the implementation process to agreed timescales. In addition to this it will also provide a structures outline of the project to assist you in gaining commitment from top management and at other levels within your organization.
STEP 6 - EMS Implementation
An extremely crucial part of environmental management is that your employees know what to do (from an environmental point of view).For example, what is required by law? How they can help the organization to improve your environmental performance or save money? Everyone should be aware of the project and its aims, as well as possessing the knowledge and skills to enable everyone to "get it right first time". The more informed and skilled your employees are, the higher the chances of the EMS delivering predicted benefits will be. It will also enable the employees to get more back from the EMS programme.
Certification with ISO 14001 - Environmental Management System
ISO 14001 is the international standard for environmental management systems, developed over 10 years ago and respected and recognized worldwide. ISO 14001 is based on the two concepts of continual improvement and regulatory compliance. The standard provides a clear management framework based on the well-established management principles of: Plan-Do-Check-Act. It requires an organization to assess the operations impact on the environment, understand how those impacts can be managed, and set clear objectives and targets to continually improve on environmental performance. The standard also requires clearly defined processes and procedures to manage personnel and the activities that the organization undertakes.
The ISO 14001 standard requires an organization to clearly understand the environmental legal requirements that apply to it, and also any other corporate and stakeholder obligations. These requirements then need to be managed by the organization, and their compliance must be checked regularly.
The generic standard is applicable to any type of organization in any industry sector and it has been designed to be compatible and harmonized with other international management system standards, including ISO 9001. It is therefore ideal for integration into existing management systems and processes.
Beyond ISO 14001
Since ISO 14001 lays forth a best practice for proactive management of the environmental impact of your organization, you go beyond mere compliance when you have an ISO 14001 certified Environmental Management System. Your focus becomes continual improvement. In order to achieve continual improvement, the followings may able to help:
What's next?
By following the above steps, we believe you will be able to make significant environmental improvement in your company. For detailed information, please go to Tools.
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