EMS

Environmental Mangement Systems

What is an Environmental Management System
Our Environmental Management Systems service

What is an EMS?

An Environmental Management System or EMS, involves a structured approach to achieving environmental management objectives. Although the complexity of an EMS may very considerably depending on the needs of the organisation, the aim is always to ensure that the actions needed to manage environmental issues are achieved in a reliable and consistent manner.

The Environment Practice can help clients to develop environmental management systems that are suited to their needs. These may be designed to achieve certification to international standards such as ISO14001 and the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) or to phased certification schemes such as BS8555. Environmental management systems may also be integrated with quality and health and safety management systems where required.

Whether or not certification is the objective, we work closely with our clients to ensure that the systems that are put in place are appropriate and will work effectively in the context of the client’s business and organisational culture.

Services that The Environment Practice provides:

The Environment Practice provides a range of services to assist your organisation to develop an EMS from an initial environmental review to a final audit of the EMS before applying for certification.

Our services include:

• Environmental Reviews
The environmental review is an on-site assessment, completed by our consultants, that examines current environmental management practices and generates recommendations for improvements. Recommendations can range from the steps necessary to achieve certification to ISO14001 down to simple practical measures to eliminate poor practices.

• Regulatory Compliance
A key environmental management objective is to ensure regulatory compliance. The Environment Practice provides the following services:

Establishing and maintaining a Register of Legislation relevant to the organisation
Regulatory compliance assessment
Assistance in preparing applications for IPPC permits, waste management licences and other statutory licences/permits

• Training

System building:

We can provide various levels of support and input to the process of drafting and establishing EMS documentation. We encourage clients to draft their own procedures and other documents as far as possible, whilst we provide guidance and oversight. Where desired we can draft documents on behalf of the client but always with a high degree of consultation to ensure that the result is appropriate to the clients needs.

• Pre-certification checks
We can undertake a dry-run audit prior to the visit by a certification body in order to test the system and help eliminate any problems that may be an obstacle to certification.

• System maintenance
For small organisations with limited internal resources we can provide a retained service to assist in the ongoing maintenance of an EMS after certification has been achieved.

Barrels
Identification of areas to improve environmental performance is a keystone in Environmental Management Systems