What Is An Environmental Management System, And What Does The Iso 14001 Manual Cover?

By Author: John
Total Articles: 289
Comment this article

An environmental management system (EMS) is comprised of the policies, processes, plans, practices, and records that define the rules governing how your company interacts with the environment. This system needs to be tailored to your particular company because only your company will have the exact legal requirements and environmental interactions that match your specific business processes. However, the ISO 14001 requirements provide a framework and guidelines for creating the environmental management system so that organizations do not miss important elements needed for an EMS to be successful. ISO 14001 is a global standard for designing and implementing an environmental management system (EMS). The ISO 14001 standard requirements provide a framework and guidelines for creating an environmental management system so that organizations do not miss any important elements needed for an EMS to be successful.

ISO 14001 doesn’t include a requirement to create a manual for the environmental management system (EMS). However, having documents that are practical and straightforwardly convey useful information can help with communicating ...
... and maintaining the EMS across the organization. Creating a simple environmental management system manual that captures a few pieces of important and required information in one place can make that information easy to locate for anyone who needs it. In some cases, this can be a document that is shared with other stakeholders and interested parties as a way of showcasing an effective EMS.

What information might be included in an EMS ISO 14001 manual?

The manual describes the Environmental Management System, along with the authorities, interrelationships, and responsibilities of the employees in charge of putting it in place. The manual also contains recorded information, processes, and references for all actions that comprise the Environmental Management System, ensuring 14001 compliance. Internally, the ISO 14001 manual is used to direct company employees through the various ISO requirements that must be met and retained to control or influence how the firm operates to protect the environment and provide the necessary instructions that contribute to continuous improvement. There are a few pieces of information that require documentation per ISO 14001 that can easily be included in an EMS manual. The following four small but critical items can easily be combined to form a useful EMS manual:

• Scope of the EMS: The EMS scope defines the company's environmental management system's limitations. The objective is to specify and clarify the boundaries of the organization to which the EMS will apply. This is especially important for companies that are part of a larger organization where the EMS is only applicable to one location. Once the scope is determined, all activities within that scope must be identified because they are part of the EMS.

• Environmental policy: The environmental policy is intended to be the company's documented intention to prevent pollution, meet compliance standards for any applicable legal requirements, and continuously improve the EMS. The policy then serves as a focal point for the company's employees to work toward, as it communicates the organization's environmental goal. Some companies also post this information around the building to remind all employees of the company's environmental goals.

• Roles, Responsibilities & Authorities: While many of the roles, responsibilities, and authority for the EMS procedures may be documented for each process, some of the general obligations may be missed. The tasks, responsibilities, and authorities of the environmental management system representative, as outlined in the final section of ISO 14001 Section 4.4.1, are an example of this.

• EMS Elements & their interactions: Each business is unique, with unique processes, procedures, and environmental interactions. As a result, two firms' environmental management systems will not contain the same elements, and even if the elements are comparable, they will interact differently. So, what are the primary components of the particular EMS, and how do they interact? It will decide according to the organization.

Source: https://ems14001consultant.wordpress.com/2022/08/20/what-is-an-environmental-management-system-and-what-does-the-iso-14001-manual-cover/