ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Environmental Management System
An environmental management system or EMS is a system for the
management of environmental programs of an organization in a systematic, comprehensive,
planned and documented way. An EMS contains the structure, resources and
planning for the development, implementation and maintenance policy for the
protection of the environment. The term environmental management system can
also be utilized in reference to the software systems used for environmental
management by an organization (Boiral, 2007).
Advantages
An Environmental
Management System works as a means for improving the environmental performance.
EMS will provide the School
of Global, Urban and Social Science with a systematic means for
the management of its environmental affairs. It is the element of the overall
management structure of the school which addresses short-term and long-term
effects of its services, products, and process on the environment. EMS will
give order and consistency for the school to deal with environmental issues via
the proper allocation of resources, assigning of duties and continuing
evaluation of procedures, practices and processes. Other benefits for the
school implementing an Environmental Management System include: improvement of
environmental performance; improved compliance; prevention of pollution; resource conservation;
enhanced efficiency and reduced cost; improvement of the morale of the
employees; improved image with regulators, public, lenders, and investors; and
enhanced awareness of the environmental responsibilities and issues among
employees (Boiral, 2007).
Disadvantages
Some of the
disadvantages of an Environmental Management System for the school include the
use of the staff or management time. Development of a comprehensive Environmental
Management System is a time consuming activity.
Development of Environmental Management System also requires the use of
outside consultants as within the school there might not be an expert to
develop the system. The use of the system also requires training for the users as
there might not be adequate skills and experience within the organization for
its development, implementation, use and maintenance (Boiral, 2007).
ISO14001
The most common utilised framework for Environmental
Management System is the one that is created by the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) for the ISO 14001 standard. The standard was
developed in September 1996 and is the certified international standard for an Environmental
Management System. ISO 14001 is a global voluntary standard which describes
particular requirements for an Environmental Management System. It is a
certification standard to which the school can get registration or
certification (Boiral, 2007).
The school has the
choice of either having the Environment Management System accredited or not.
There are various costs and benefits of having the system certified. An Environment
Management System which is certified is a more thorough approach and tends to
have greater publicity as well as marketing value. The cost of having such a
system is that it necessitates more resources in implementing and ensuring that
the accreditation is maintained. The accreditation process might also be time
consuming for the school (Boiral, 2007).
Regardless of the cost,
it would be more beneficial for the school to have the Environment Management
System accredited. This is because the school is one of the organizations in
which official accreditation has considerable value. Additionally, a more thorough
approach to environmental management makes it easier to deal with the
implications which are outside the office-based scope. The use of an Environment
Management System which is accredited will add more value to the school, which
is significant for its need for continued value (Boiral, 2007).
Summary of the content for the EMS
For a formal Environment
Management System which is based on the ISO 14001 standard, there are
fundamental components that should be included:
> environmental policy
> identification of important environmental
impacts of activities, products and services
> identification of legal as well as other
requirements
> development of targets, objectives, and
programs
> ensuring roles, responsibilities, resources,
and authorities are documented
> capability, training and awareness actions
> communication and documentation
> document and operational controls
> emergency preparedness and reaction
> monitoring and measurement
> evaluation of observance
> non-conformance, remedial and preventative
action
> internal audit
> management review
Environmental policy
According to Eccleston and March (2010) an environmental policy refer to the statement which is
the communication of the policy within the organization and as well as outside
to the clients and other stakeholders. This is done following the recognition
of the impact the organisation has to the environment. The policy is therefore
a written commitment by the school to environmental sustainability.
The School of
Global, Urban and Social Science at RMIT identifies the impact of its
activities upon the environment.
The school is
committed to minimising the impact of its activities and processes on the
environment as well as to continuously improve its environmental performance. The
school is committed to addressing the environmental concern within its environs
and ensure sustainable environmental concerns through providing awareness.
There are a
number of key points for the school to achieve its strategy, which is:
Minimise any
negative impact its services and operations have upon the environment through
implementation of good environmental practices complying
with national standards as well as international best practices.
Perform
activities promoting recycling
Teach the
importance of environmental conservation
Meet or exceed the environmental laws relating to
the sector
The school
will implement a training program for the students, staff and members of the
community
Environmental actions and awareness will be integrated into the
interdisciplinary curriculum The school will support and encourage students and community initiatives in furthering good environmental practices
Environmental aspects and their associated impacts
Environmental aspects refer to the ‘element of an organization’s activities or products or services that can interact with the environment’ (ISO 14001:2004).
Impact is defined as ‘any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partly resulting from an organization’s environmental aspects’ (ISO 14001:2004).
There are various environmental aspects that the school is responsible for, both directly and indirectly, which have considerable impact on the environment. Identification of these aspects is important in realising their impact on the environment and thus important in developing objectives, programs and targets in addressing the resulting environmental problems.
Potential Aspect: Automobile, bus, truck emissions
Impact: increasing ground level ozone and global warming
Potential Aspect: Waste Generation
Impact: Disposal of Waste to Landfill
Potential Aspect: Electricity Consumption
Impact: global warming
Potential Aspect: Use of Ozone Depleting Substances
Impact: Ozone layer depletion
Potential Aspect: Spillage of Chemicals
Impact: Water pollution
Environmental management plan
An Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is an “an environmental management tool used to
ensure that undue or reasonably avoidable adverse impacts of the construction,
operation and decommissioning of a project are prevented; and that the positive
benefits of the projects are enhanced”. Environmental Management
Plans are thus significant tools for making sure that the management activities
emanating from Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) activities are well
defined all through the process of a project life-cycle (Hill 2000).
The general purpose of the Environmental Management
Plan guideline is dual: informing and guiding the development and
implementation of Environmental Management Plans in such a way that enhance the efficacy of Environmental Management
Plans; as well as to help those in authority in evaluating the quality of Environmental
Management Plans objectively. There are various significant components that are
included in an Environmental Management Plan (Hill 2000).
According to Hill (2000), the objectives of an Environmental Management Plan
include: Ensuring observance of the regulations and guidelines which could be local, provincial, national and/or international;
Ensuring effective allocation of resources on the budget of a project in order for the scale of activities related to Environmental Management Plan is in line with the implication of project impacts;
Verification of the environmental performance view information on the implications as they arise; response to changes in the implementation of the project not arising in the Environmental Impact Assessment; response to events that are unforeseen; and giving feedback for ongoing improvement in environmental performance.
Documents from the Environmental Impact Assessment are used in the development and implementation of the Environmental Management Plan. The documents will include the context for the Environmental Management Plan as well as important information on the suggested project, expected positive as well as negative effects, management actions in mitigating the negative ones, and the statement of commitment to the actions.
Key actions
According to Hill (2000) various actions require to be carried out to ensure that the identified environmental impacts are addressed. Mitigation actions are aimed at elimination, off-setting, and reduction of the environmental impacts. It has such elements as:
Avoidance: Avoiding activities which have negative impacts, avoiding some kinds of resources or areas that are environmentally sensitive.
Prevention: actions with the aim of preventing the incidence of negative environmental impacts and/or preventing the incidence from having negative impact on the environment.
Preservation: Prevention of future activities which might negative impact on the environment.
Minimisation: reducing or limiting the level, extent, scale or period of negative impacts.
Rehabilitation: improving or repairing affected natural resources
Restoration: Restoration of affected resources to a previous state
Compensation: enhancement, creation, or protection of a similar kind of resource at another apposite and tolerable location.
Timelines
Given that this some of these activities might take a long time to achieve, the project is expected to take a period of between 6 months and one year, with continuous modifications where required.
Targets
The project targets the community within the school and university and outside, that is, the surrounding community.
Responsibilities
Members of the two communities will be involved in different stages of addressing environmental impacts initiated by the school. The management will have the responsibility of providing the required authorisation and resources. The members of the school community will initiate the efforts and creation of awareness to the outside community.
Audits
An audit is an analysis of the results gotten from monitoring, as well as the assessment of whether targets and objectives have been met as well as whether variances are there from the stipulated Environmental Management Plan and legal requirements. Audits will also be carried out to assess whether the Environmental Management Plan has been implemented in accordance to the arranged plan and whether the Environmental Management Plan is being well updated. This should show that the required corrections are made as well as the effectiveness of such corrections.
References
Boiral, O (2007). ‘Corporate Greening Through IS0
14001: A Rational Myth?’, Organisation
Science,
vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 127-146.
Eccleston C. and March F., (2010). Global Environmental Policy: Principles,
Concepts And
Practice,
CRC
Press Inc
Hill R.C. (2000). Integrated Environmental
Management Systems in the implementation of
projects. South
African Journal of Science 96: 50-54.
ISO 14001:2004
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