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Is an EMS the Way to Go for Your Company? Madeline Snow Toxic Use Reduction Planner Continuing Education Conference 4/14/05. The EMS Framework. plan. Continual improvement. do. act. check. An EMS Has Three Key Commitments. Compliance with relevant laws and regulations
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Is an EMS the Way to Go for Your Company? Madeline Snow Toxic Use Reduction Planner Continuing Education Conference 4/14/05
The EMS Framework plan Continual improvement do act check
An EMS Has Three Key Commitments • Compliance with relevant laws and regulations • Prevention of pollution • Continual improvement ENV. POLICY C O M P L Y P P R O E L V L E U N T T I O N I M P R O V E
What is an EMS? • An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a system of processes to support an organization in integrating environmental concerns into its daily practices • Compliance • Prevention of pollution • Continual improvement
An overall system of management processes and tools to help an organization address its environmental issues and environmental goals
A way to figure out: • Who has what impact on the environment • How to prevent/address that impact • Stay out of trouble, save money, feel and look good over a long period of time
What is an EMS? • Defined, integrated, and systematic ways to: • Identify • Prioritize • Manage, • Mitigate • Document
Lessons Learned • Much of what you need for an EMS may already be in place • An EMS is more of a change management issue than a technical fix
Keys to Success Management support Effective ‘champion’ Involved and engaged staff KISS Effective teams
Resources www.turi.org/content/content/view/full/530 www.uml.edu/ems, www.uml.edu/epaems/ems www.epa.gov/ems www.mass.gov/dep/bspt/ems/emshome.htm www.peercenter.net EMS: An Implementation Guide for Small and Medium-Sized Organizations, NSF International, January 2001 www.epa.gov/owm/iso14001/ems2001final.pdf OR order through http://yosemite.epa.gov/water/owrccatalog.nsf/HomePage?OpenForm&CartID=11716-125101 EPA #: 832B01001
Environmental Aspects and Impacts • Fundamental purpose of your EMS is to control and reduce the environmental impacts of activities, products, and services within your fenceline. • First, you need to know what the impacts are and how significant they are.
How does your facility interact with the environment? - Environmental aspects and impacts as a tool to find out
Environmental Aspect • An element of an organization’s activities, products, or services that can interact with the environment.
Key: Identify the environmental aspects that your organization - Can control, and - Over which it can have an influence
Environmental Impact • Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s activities, products or services.
Cause ----------------- Effect • Aspect ---------------- Impact
How? • Identify main activities, products, and services within your ‘fenceline’ - Brainstorming, process flow diagrams • List environmental aspects - Are they under your control and influence? - Identify the associated impacts
Activity Aspect Impact