In this short video, I've outlined seven reasons why your company should implement an Environmental Management System (EMS).
What is an EMS?
An Environmental Management System provides your company with a framework through which its environmental aspects and impacts are monitored, improved and controlled, thus demonstrating a commitment to reducing your environmental footprint.
Seven Reasons For Implementing an EMS:
1. Achieve certification for improved competitive advantage
By achieving certification, you can have a greater competitive advantage by using this certificate to bid for work. You can also gain access to frameworks and approved suppliers lists.
2. Improve the understanding of your business processes
By going through an extensive investigation of the environmental impacts, you can gain a greater understanding of your business processes and fully understand them in order to drive environmental improvements.
3. Management of risk
To understand your environmental aspect (hazards to the environment), you have to look at what those areas are and the impacts they may have. You want to improve or control the impact that they have on the environment from those aspects.
4. Legal requirements
You need to understand the law associated to the environmental requirements specifically for your business. Develop your compliance methods and demonstrate how you are going to meet them. By doing this, you should be able to minimise your costs from fines or penalties as a result of any environmental breaches imposed on you.
5. Reduce costs
Identifying areas that impact the environment will help you drive more efficient methods of operating within your business to reduce costs. This may be through:
The use of less energy
The use of less fuel
Reductions in waste
Improvements in reusing and recycling material
6. Improve responsibilities
Having an EMS is not about a documented management system sitting in a folder, it’s about having an effective system that's well communicated throughout your business and providing key responsibilities to your staff.
It’s also about driving these responsibilities through your supply chain and ultimately adopting a culture of environmental awareness and improvement.
7. Reduce your environmental footprint
By implementing an effective EMS, you will decrease your company's environmental footprint by the reduction in use of natural resources and the reduction in pollution from your business.
Replace high impact materials with materials which have a lesser effect on the environment, and raise awareness and gain credit for the work that you do to achieve this. This will help your organisation be seen as good corporate citizens.
If you want to know more about Environmental Management Systems, then I suggest you look at this webinar - ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Training Session.
Thank you.