Does An Environmental Management System Make Sense For Your Company?

Many changes are happening within companies in most industries today that point to management's recognition of the benefits of adopting an environmental management system (EMS) over traditional regulatory compliance systems. There are several reasons for this interest. Among them is the big picture one receives from awareness that macro-processes are the foundation for effective regulatory compliance. Other reasons include greater control of waste management costs, improved organization and more effective tools for setting environmental goals and targets to improve overall environmental performance. 

Capitalizing on the difference between compliance to specifications and conformance to a management system can help your company's business image and improve your bottom line. Environmental activities have traditionally focused on subsystems designed primarily to respond to a command and control regulatory environment where laws and regulations are very detailed and specific. This approach yields limited benefits because it only provides a snapshot of a company's current compliance status. What usually happens is that reactive steps are taken to implement specific problem fixes which are based on symptoms rather than root causes. Managers call this subprocess optimization, which returns little on invested resources.

Service industry business finds value in an EMS

Last year, the Quality Inns & Suites of San Diego, a Southern California franchise hotel operation, found that after a snapshot compliance audit conducted by the local regulatory authority, heavy civil and criminal penalties were about to be levied. Their problem arose from hazardous materials permit violations related to a past building remodeling project. A major consideration was the threat of criminal prosecution for Quality Inns' President and General Manager. In desperation, they called in a team of environmental consultants and attorneys to conduct an environmental scan of Quality Inns' environmental management practices. This assessment identified several areas that would improve the organization's entire waste management strategy. The most significant recommendation was that Quality Inns adopt an ISO 14001 environmental management system.

Apart from avoiding serious fines, Quality Inn's General Manager saw the potential for operational cost savings if the organization changed its environmental management practices. The bottom line was that, after some tough negotiations with local permitting authorities, the company's fines were dramatically reduced and the threat of criminal penalty was avoided, mainly because of its management's commitment to compliance with an ISO 14001-based EMS.

The word is out - proactive environmental programs are worth the effort

Quality Inns is typical of all companies in the U.S. and abroad, in a wide range of industries, which currently operate under some regulatory controls that involve inspections, audits, fines, and sometimes expensive changes to their pollution prevention practices. These activities most often end up as overhead expenses. If the burden of correcting mistakes could be reduced through improved understanding of environmental aspects and impacts, doesn't it make sense to install a management system that helps your company to improve itself and increase your profits?

How can you blend an EMS into your business practices?

Developing and implementing an EMS is very similar to establishing a financial management system. ISO 14001 provides a 5-phase process blueprint. Commitment and policy - define the reasons environmental management can help your business and then commit to its success through a written policy. ISO 14001 provides guidelines for establishing an environmental policy.

Environmental Management Planning - identify the significant environmental aspects that are associated with your operational processes and prioritize the environmental impacts of your products, processes, activities and services. Identify legal and other requirements that affect your facility. Establish objectives and targets that are consistent with environmental policy, including commitment to prevention of pollution.

Implementation - implement and operate the system as planned. Identify operational controls and processes necessary to prevent nonconformance.

Monitoring and measurement - establish monitoring and measurement procedures to evaluate compliance with your objectives and targets, including laws and regulations.

Review and improvement - establish routine management reviews of EMS performance, based on internal audits, regulatory changes and business conditions. Implement appropriate modifications to the system that are focused on continuous improvement. 

What BENEFITS accrue from conforming to an EMS standard?

What are the greatest benefits of implementing an ISO 14001 EMS in an organization? Below is a relative ranking of the important characteristics of an EMS as identified by top environmental executives of 11 leading U.S. corporations, 3 registrars and 4 large international consultants, and gathered by Global Environmental Management Systems: 

• Business opportunities (trade)
• Quality management
• Liabilities, insurance premiums and interest rates
• Regulatory compliance
• Efficiency and cost savings
• Environmental performance
• Motivation
• Public and customer awareness
• Improved image from ISO certification 

Almost 6% of those responding saw a close correlation between improving regulatory compliance and acceptance of ISO 14001 as a business management system. This clearly illustrates the codependence between regulatory compliance and EMS conformance. John F. Pastuck, Corporate Environmental Engineer for Formosa Plastics Corporation, USA described his company's experiences with the tangibles and intangibles of EMS implementation: Tangible benefits:

• Evaluation of environmental aspects and impacts produced an exchange of information and reevaluation of operating procedures that improved the way Formosa Plastics people worked.
• Improved organization through coordination of their numerous environmental, health and safety procedures, practices and related records under their existing quality management system for document control
• Use of environmental control points aligned well with the quality control points the company was used to
• The ISO 14001 standards framework helped to establish a uniform system for identifying and tracking environmental goals and targets, and allowed comparison of key performance metrics throughout the organization

Intangible benefits

• Facility-wide sense of purpose and involvement
• Common sense approach to environmental issues resulting from allowing the company to set its own environmental policy with environmental objectives appropriate to its operations
• Helped to establish compliance as a minimum level of performance
• Improved public perception and image 

What should you do now? Competitive companies are finding that they cannot afford to ignore how their operations, activities and products affect the environment. More significantly, they are finding that setting objectives based on environmental aspects will result in the benefits discussed above. To thousands of businesses, the window of opportunity has opened and the time to begin the EMS journey is now. You too, can start by answering 10 questions (see side box) to find out what your company should do to get started. 

A good way to begin is with an environmental scan of your facility to help you define the scope of the problems your company might have, and to identify any serious legal exposures and define risk control measures. If you determine that an ISO 14001 EMS would provide your organization with the needed discipline and framework, consider implementing a customized program such as Alamo Learning Systems' Fast Track to achieve conformance with an EMS standard in the time frame that best suits your operations.

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