The very visible and tangible environmental impact of some industries in the last few decades and the increasing pool of sophisticated knowledge, both amongst professionals and the public, has led to increased pressure on organisations to become more 'environmentally friendly'.

Whilst up until a few years ago it might have been possible to ignore these forces, there is now a broad range of powerful pressures which make this a rapidly diminishing option for any organisation. Organisations must therefore adapt to these pressures whilst ensuring that their growth and profitability are sustained.

The management team has the responsibility for building environmental protection into their organisation. To be effectively applied to a whole organisation and to ensure consistency of action, the introduction of an Environmental Management System (EMS) is one of the best approaches. Just as quality systems were developed during the 1980's to aid the maintenance of manufacturing efficiency and competitiveness, EMS guidelines and standards have now been devised to enable organisations to become less wasteful, more profitable and less detrimental to the environment with which they interact.

Environmental management systems are not the complete answer to all the environmental problems faced by organisations but they can produce significant environmental improvements. For example, this can be achieved through the reduction of waste for disposal to air, land or water and hence can bring major benefits to manufacturing efficiency, competitiveness and overall profit. Good environmental awareness, planned strategies and a structure for implementation of environmental management make pollution prevention worthwhile, not only for the environment and for society, but also for the organisation concerned.

It is important to note that an EMS is only a system for management and does not offer technical solutions to environmental problems.

An EMS is unique to a particular organisation; it is set up by an organisation according to its own structure and business practices and will address the environmental issues that are relevant to its operations.

There are several different standards to which an organisation's EMS can be certified, the two most important being:

EMAS and ISO 14001 are not the only EMS standards that exist, there are other industry wide standards; for example, Responsible Care is an environmental management programme that is unique to the chemical industry. It originated in Canada and was introduced to the UK in 1989 by the Chemical Industries Association.

The implementation of a comprehensive EMS can be complex and time consuming. In order to be effective, an EMS must permeate the whole organisation and in so doing will influence, and need to be integrated with, other areas such as quality management, training and health and safety. Health and safety can be viewed as being integrated with environmental issues as they are often closely linked. For example, the environmental concerns about nuclear power are driven by fears about the impact of radioactivity on health and the possibility of disasters such as Chernobyl. Concerns about urban air quality are driven by anxiety about the links with health problems, and in particular the rise in the occurrence of asthma.

Several industries have produced guidance on joint health, safety and environmental management systems, an example of this is the Responsible Care programme run by the Chemical Industry. It is possible that in the future there will be 'umbrella' management system standards incorporating health, safety, environment and quality management. This would be a logical step as, in practice, organisations do not tend to have separate management systems for each of these areas, but incorporate them all into an overall management system.

There are already some formal links between health and safety regulations and environmental management. Under the Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations 1999 (COMAH), there is an obligation on operators of 'major hazard sites' to carry out risk assessments, to prepare and maintain an emergency plan and provide public information, which must include environmental considerations as well as hazards to people. This link is emphasised by the 'competent authority' for COMAH, which is a combination of the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency. The COMAH Regulations define a Major Accident as:

an occurrence (including in particular, a major emission, fire, or explosion) resulting from uncontrolled developments in the course of the operation of any establishment and leading to serious danger to human health or the environment, immediate or delayed, inside or outside the establishment, and involving one or more dangerous substances.

Specific guidance as to which events would be classed as a Major Accident to the Environment (MATTE) has been provided in the UK by DETR. The key parameters influencing this judgement are a combination of:

Although the guidance does not cover every eventuality, it should enable accidents to be screened and decisions to be made as to whether they warrant consideration as MATTEs.

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999 (COSHH), which re-enact the 1994 regulations, apply to all "very toxic, toxic, harmful, corrosive or irritant substances". They require, amongst other things, an assessment of risks to the health of employees, the introduction of appropriate control measures and the monitoring of exposure of workers to hazardous substances.

Many of the substances controlled under health and safety legislation will also be hazardous to the environment. In addition, there are many substances that are not hazardous in the workplace that have adverse environmental impacts. Under legislation such as COSHH and COMAH many organisations will already have in place procedures for assessing hazards to health, major hazards to the environment and procedures for emergency situations. There will also be records of accidents and emissions to the environment. This information will be useful for assessing the impacts of the organisation's activities on the environment and emergency procedures for safeguarding the environment will be incorporated into an emergency plan that also covers health and safety.

Legislation has an important role in the control of pollution. However, it allows little flexibility and mainly concentrates on regulating emissions rather than their causes. As the amount of European Union (EU) and UK environmental legislation increases, there is a danger that the situation could become unworkable as the cost of enforcement rises. 'Over-regulation and under-enforcement' is a great problem that not only brings the law and the regulators into disrepute, but would have a detrimental effect on the environment. To prevent this situation arising, other solutions to environmental problems have to be found. An EMS is one of the market-based mechanisms that can be used.

The idea of using EMS's finds support in the policies of the EU. The Fifth Action Programme recognises that legislation cannot be used to solve all environmental problems and that other mechanisms are needed to achieve sustainable development. These include market based instruments such as voluntary agreements: EMS's, eco-audits and eco-labelling come within this category.

Market based tools are designed to internalise environmental costs , to demonstrate to producers and consumers the need to use natural resources responsibly and to minimise pollution and waste. EMS's introduce market forces in the environmental field by promoting competition between industrial activities on environmental grounds. The assumption is that the market will reward organisations that establish EMS's with greater market share and, as a result, market pressure will encourage others to join the scheme. The overall outcome should be that more organisations will become active in environmental management and their environmental performance will improve.

The EMS approach also endorses the 'Polluter Pays Principle' and the 'Precautionary Principle', which are part of EU environmental policy by placing the responsibility on business and by using a pro-active as opposed to a reactive approach.

Environmental management system standards are voluntary, market based mechanisms that aim to improve the environmental performance of organisations.

The pattern of implementation of EMS's appears to be following that of the Quality Management Systems (QMS). Those companies that originally implemented the standard then pressurised their suppliers and the service industries until all sectors of manufacturing and services were affected. However, the driving forces behind EMS's and QMS's are not the same: QMS's are based on ensuring the quality of the end product, whereas with EMS's there are no 'end products'.

The primary aims of an EMS are:

There are many pressures that companies face, financial pressures are obviously particularly relevant to businesses. However, environmental pressures are becoming increasingly significant both locally and on an international scale.

2.2.1 Legislation

One of the strongest proponents for environmental control by legislation has been the EU; probably as a result of strong political green lobbies, especially in countries such as Germany, environmental thinking at an academic level in countries such as Sweden and Holland, and pressure from international bodies such as Greenpeace.

As a result of this the amount of EU environmental legislation has increased dramatically in the last three decades. Full implementation of legislation often takes some time and there are many measures that are either waiting to be finally ratified by the EU or are still waiting to be adopted into national law.

Most companies and individuals are now aware that environmental legislation will have some impact on their businesses or way of life. The expanding amount of environmental legislation will have an increasingly real impact on all businesses especially as it progressively widens to cover areas such as energy, agriculture, transport and tourism that were targeted alongside industry in the EU Fifth Environmental Action Programme - Towards Sustainable Development.

There has been a shift in policy, both nationally and internationally, from remediation towards prevention (this is embodied in the Precautionary Principle) and also towards making the producers more responsible for the pollution they cause (the Polluter Pays Principle).

In the UK, the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) and the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2000 introduced Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) and Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), respectively. Both require sites operating certain prescribed classes of potentially polluting processes to obtain an authorisation to operate from the regulatory authorities.

The EPA also introduced enhanced responsibilities for the management of waste and waste handlers were placed under a 'duty of care', to ensure a continuous chain of responsibility for waste between waste producers, operators and disposers. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 require 'obligated' companies to recover and recycle a proportion of their packaging waste and provide proof to the Environment Agency. The Landfill Tax introduced in 1996 imposes a tax on the weight of waste sent to landfill. In a similar move, the proposed Climate Change Levy seeks to tax the proportion of energy consumed by companies derived from the burning of fossil fuels.

Increased financial penalties for breaches of legislation and regulations can affect both the corporate organisation and its management. Company directors can now be fined or face imprisonment in the event of a successful prosecution under the EPA. Liability can be unlimited if conviction takes place in a Crown Court. As judges become more environmentally aware, corporate fines have been increasing so as to match the profits that can be made by organisations from polluting activities. Prosecution has also become more frequent as the regulatory authorities are more prepared to exercise their powers. Courts have been traditionally reluctant to impose prison sentences for environmental offences, but this attitude is changing. For example, in November 1999, two men were sentenced to 8 months imprisonment for illegally dumping tyres in breach of Section 33 of the EPA.

All of these changes place increased responsibility on companies and their management teams for the environmental impacts resulting from their operations.

2.2.2 Customer Pressure

Over the past few years the public has become increasingly concerned about environmental issues and this is often reflected in their behaviour as consumers. There is greater demand for products that do not damage the environment. For example, CFC-free or 'ozone friendly' aerosols, phosphate free washing powder or timber grown in sustainably managed forests. There is also demand for products that are produced in an 'environmentally friendly' manner such as free-range eggs and organically grown produce.

Customer pressures are reinforced through environmental pressure groups, which concentrate on companies considered to have a major impact on the environment. This produces publicity, which leads to an increase in public awareness and can add to consumer pressure for a cleaner environment and more responsible industry.

Environmental awareness now also plays a significant role within primary and intermediate education. We are therefore producing future generations of customers and consumers whose expectations are likely to be greater than ours. Retail suppliers are therefore under increasing pressure to supply 'environmentally sound' products or face the prospect of being struck off lists of approved suppliers. Lack of management awareness or commitment in this field can easily lead to lost markets.

2.2.3 Competition and Costs

If your customer does not take the initiative your competitor may. Although many companies are hesitating over implementing an environmental strategy, and even more are unaware that they need one, the most advanced are enthusiastically grasping the opportunity. Pro-active companies have recognised the internal benefits that improved management systems bring, as well as the very real commercial advantages.

Just as commercial customers became aware of, and now often insist upon, their suppliers having QMS certification, so a similar trend could make EMS's a prerequisite for business, particularly with the public sector. Whether this will apply to all suppliers of goods and services or just for the major ones remains to be seen.

In almost every instance, the immediate response from manufacturing industry to the Polluter Pays Principle, is that the end prices will have to rise. Yet, since it is not possible to see how consumers can continue to accept price rises, some cost increases must be shouldered by companies themselves, or alternatively they must find cheaper means of compliance.

In many cases, companies who implement environmental management systems frequently find that the increased focus on production technology and management efficiency actually reduces costs.

2.2.4 Banking and Insurance

Banks are major investors in industry. Back in 1992, a joint statement by 31 international banks based in 23 countries and issued through the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), accepted their responsibilities:

We recognise that environmental risks should be part of the normal check list of risk assessment and management. As part of our credit risk assessment, we recommend, when appropriate, environmental impact assessments.

The possibility of major pollution catastrophes from landfill or other industrial practices invites a potential for vast claims. Experience with the US 'Superfund' has shown that costs can become prohibitive. This was a system involving compulsory insurance, where public bodies were allowed to force the clean up of contaminated sites and then recover costs on the basis of strict, joint, several and retrospective liability. This meant that claims for clean up costs could be sought from any party linked to a site, whether or not the contamination was their fault and for contamination that was the result of past activities. Under the provisions of the contaminated land regime, enacted by Section 57 of the Environment Act 1995 and implemented by the Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2000, operators whose land is contaminated by historical pollution can be ordered to remediate it to the satisfaction of the regulatory authorities and at their own expense.

Companies seeking insurance against environmental problems resulting from their actions will have to satisfy increasingly rigorous examination of their environmental policy and practice. An accredited EMS is strong evidence of the environmental integrity of an organisation.

The effect on organisations of pressures from different quarters can be shown in how they respond. The figure below shows the different business strategy approaches of compliance and market-led organisations, and some of the different factors that direct such organisations towards environmental management.

Compliance-led and market-led strategies can both lead to the implementation of an EMS although, in reality these two strategies are likely to interact and the decision to develop environmental management for compliance reasons is likely to lead to a realisation of the market benefits.

EMS's are normally run as part of the overall management system and the reasons for establishing an EMS include provision of control over an organisation's business and cutting down on bureaucracy and paperwork. For very large organisations and for those that run very complex processes, an EMS can be required for purely internal reasons such as control of operations, compliance with regulations and for development and investment purposes. Certain industries, for example the chemicals industry, are pushing for a new approach from regulators. This would involve an easing of regulatory oversight in return for the adoption of EMS standards. The UK Environment Agency is looking seriously at how this might be made possible.

The advantages of an EMS can include:

The disadvantages of an EMS can include:

Section 3 - The Principal Elements of Environmental Management Systems

BS 7750 was the British Standard Institution's specification for an EMS standard. It was designed to aid industry by providing a generic model that helped organisations to initiate, develop and maintain their own purpose built EMS and to provide a recognised certified standard for such systems. BS 7750 was originally set up in 1992 after discussions with industry and practitioners. After a pilot programme involving several organisations, the standard was re-launched in 1994. BS 7750 was developed with the intention that it would be fully compatible with EMAS and the eco-labelling initiative. BS 7750 was superseded in 1996 by ISO 14001, the International Standard Organisations' environmental management standard.

EMS's share common principles with QMS's and organisations may use these or other existing management systems as a basis on which to build their EMS. However, there are important differences between the two types of standard. For instance, an EMS requires a commitment to continual improvement once the standard has been achieved, whereas at present a QMS does not. (This is likely to change when the revised QA Standard ISO 9000:2000 is introduced.)

Both ISO 14001 and EMAS are at the time of writing subject to a comprehensive review. It is likely that differences between the two approaches will be narrowed and in fact, it looks likely that ISO 14001 will comprise the environmental management element of EMAS.

Certification to an EMS Standard is carried out in the UK by a number of different certification and inspection bodies, which have been accredited for this purpose by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, UKAS.

EMS standards do not outline the expected environmental performance of an organisation, although they do require the relevant legislation and regulations to be adhered to. Instead, compliance is centred on the ability of the organisation to meet its own stated objectives. These objectives are expected to change and be modified over time as the organisation strives to ensure continual improvement .

The concepts of regular auditing and a continual cycle of improvement are central to an EMS; for these in turn lead to the redefinition of the environmental policy and objectives.

The figure below shows the basic process for devising a suitable environmental management system. Most of these stages may be tackled at the same time or revisited at any time.

EMS standards are applicable to any organisation that wishes to assure itself of its compliance with a stated environmental policy and demonstrate such compliance to others. Such standards can therefore be used by a wide range of organisations from manufacturers to service providers. There must be consideration of the total organisation and the overall process , therefore many of the techniques and principles of the standard are similar to those of Total Quality Management.

The standard will also have an influence beyond the limits of an organisation's own production processes. The use of raw materials and the disposal of products after use can be influenced by an organisation's management system and the use of techniques such as Life-Cycle Assessment, therefore the supply, distribution and disposal chains will be affected.

Commitment

An EMS requires commitment at the highest level in the organisation. Management needs to declare its support for the adoption of the system.

Preparatory Review

Although not an explicit requirement of ISO 14001, organisations should undertake an initial environmental review. It is essential that an organisation reviews its current situation so that it can develop an environmental policy and set effective objectives and targets. It also highlights other areas that might need attention and allows the development of an implementation plan for the EMS.

Environmental Policy

The EMS should aim to ensure that the environmental policy and objectives of the organisation are complied with. The policy must be an integral part of the EMS and stress the need for a continual improvement.

Organisation and Personnel

Personnel are central to the success of any system of management. Therefore responsibilities within the system must be clearly defined and the links between areas of responsibility made apparent. People must be clear about their own roles and the authority they have to act, as well as their lines of demarcation, responsibility and reporting. All of these should be clearly defined.

Environmental Aspects Evaluation

Organisations must carry out an environmental aspects evaluation, which will provide the information necessary for designing the EMS. It identifies the significant areas that require management.

Registers of Legislation and Environmental Aspects.

Both EMAS and ISO 14001 require organisations to keep registers of key information. EMAS requires that an organisation should maintain a register of environmental legislation, regulations, planning requirements, discharge consents and aspects and impacts data pertaining to their operations ISO 14001 however, is less prescriptive than EMAS and does not require environmental aspects information or legislative obligations to be held in registers.

Objectives and Targets

Organisations must specify attainable targets for environmental management performance and improvement that go beyond the minimum legal requirements. Targets can be arranged to achieve continual improvement.

Environmental Management Program and Documentation

Plans and strategies must be clearly defined in the Environmental Management Programme. Procedures and responsibilities need to be documented, including procedures for alterations to plans to take changing requirements into account. However, EMS's need not be over bureaucratic.

Operational Control and Records

Operational control refers to the main control of the operating system. There must be measurement and verification of the activities of the organisation and the effectiveness of its plans and strategies for environmental improvement. Procedures for corrective action for failure to meet the targets are also required.

Environmental Audits

Organisations are required to periodically audit the EMS and its operation according to a detailed plan, which sets out the audit methodology and reporting and publishing procedures.

Management Reviews

There must be a commitment to periodic reviews of the EMS and its operation based on the outcome of the environmental audit, experience of running the system and changing requirements. The system should therefore be open to adaptation and refinement. The difference between the audit and the review needs to be understood:

Continual Improvement

Continual improvement is a vital part of an EMS. It is important to understand that the EMS is not a static system but aims towards continual improvement of environmental management performance. Continual improvement is defined as:

The process of enhancing the environmental management system to achieve improvements in overall environmental performance, in line with the organisation's stated environmental policy - ISO 14001

Continual improvement might, where appropriate, be achieved by measures such as:

Section 4 - The International Standard - ISO 14001

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is the body responsible for producing voluntary international standards. It worked on various aspects of environmental management through its Technical Committee TC207. Sub-Committee 1 of TC207 worked on environmental management systems and produced the International Standard entitled "ISO 14001: 1994, Environmental Management Systems - Specification with Guidance for Use" . ISO 14001 was approved in July 1996.

ISO 14001 is only one of an ISO 14000 series of documents. ISO 14001 provides the specification for the standard of environmental management to be achieved and the other supporting documents provided guidance on the implementation, auditing and operation of an EMS conforming to the ISO 14001 Standard.

The ISO 14001 Series comprises:

ISO 14001 is applicable to all types and sizes of organisation, including industry and the commercial and service sectors. It has similarities in management system principles with ISO 9001, the international quality management standard, thus allowing integration of management systems. ISO 14001 describes the core elements necessary for certification, but does not include specific environmental performance criteria.

ISO 14001 contains the following elements:

ISO 14001 can apply to any organisation that wishes to implement and maintain an environmental management system, assure itself of conformance with stated environmental policy, demonstrate such conformance to others, seek external certification to an international standard and make a self determination and declaration of conformance with the standard.

Section 5 - Certification

EMAS and ISO 14001 are externally verified EMS standards and therefore specified bodies need to be able to assess an organisation's system for certification to the standards. UKAS (UK Accreditation Service) is the body that has been appointed to oversee the accreditation of the certification bodies.

UKAS sees the certification bodies as needing expertise at two levels - management and assessment. All those involved in the certification will need adequate knowledge of the standard; beyond this the management need to be able to assemble an assessment team that is appropriate for a particular certification. Not all certifiers will have the expertise necessary to certify all organisations across the whole range of industry and service sectors, therefore they will be limited in their accreditation scope. The assessors must, as a minimum, comply with the ISO standard on qualification criteria for auditors or the draft ISO standard on qualification criteria for environmental auditors.

Further guidance on the certification team is given in a non-prescriptive way and expertise may include knowledge in three key areas: environmental aspects, technical knowledge and management systems. To enable the certification process to remain flexible, UKAS has also included the following paragraph in its accreditation criteria:

It should be recognised that client companies may have effective management systems but still have difficulties in demonstrating this in their manuals and documentation. In order to reveal the correct cause of non-compliance with the standard it will be necessary for the certification team to fully appreciate the operations and systems of the company, not just to test documentation compliance alone. The certification team must be competent to recognise and appreciate omissions from the system as well as problems with the documented system

Rules and guidance for the assessment procedure are laid down by UKAS. Certification is a two stage process, with an initial and a main assessment. The initial assessment will help plan the main one; in it the certifiers must assess the reliability of their client's internal audits, including the timeliness and effectiveness of corrective action. The purpose of the main assessment is to determine whether the environmental management system:

is designed to achieve, and is capable of achieving, performance improvement and regulatory compliance. It must also ensure that the client complies with its own policies and procedures.

Several important issues are raised in the certification procedure:

Significant Environmental Aspects

EMS's require organisations to identify their environmental aspects and decide which of these are significant. The certification bodies may not challenge an organisation's view of what is a significant aspect directly, but they have a duty to establish that the basis on which the operator determines what environmental aspects are significant is sound.

Continual / Continuous improvement

There is the requirement that an organisation make a commitment to continual/continuous improvement; this should be the fundamental focus of the certification process.

Indirect environmental aspects

Both direct and indirect aspects of an organisation's activities must be considered. The guidance available to certifiers on this subject states that they should confirm that an operator's activity with regard to suppliers and customers relates appropriately to all environmental aspects, including indirect aspects and their significance.

Integration with quality management

Some organisations that already have quality management systems may wish to have a certification system that assesses all their management systems at the same time. Where this is the case the certification body can "review at one time a single unified system against two standards." However, the major differences between quality and environmental management system goals must be taken into account so that the system is fully assessed against the two standards.

Regulatory compliance

The certifier must ensure that the organisation's system records any non-compliance with legislation, regulations or permits and that appropriate corrective action is taken.

Post-certification surveillance

Once an organisation has achieved certification, continuing surveillance must be carried out by the certification body.

Cancellation of certificates

UKAS guidance states that:

If on surveillance non-compliances indicating a structural breakdown of the environmental management system are found to exist, notice should be given to the operator that the certification will be terminated unless the non-compliance is remedied within a period proportional to the seriousness of the failure.

New entrants

UKAS does not require that an organisation can only be certified only if it has reached the stage where it can show some evidence of performance improvement; all that is necessary is to have the environmental management system up and running and that complies with the specification.

Similar sites

An organisation may have all of its sites included in one certificate, providing that one third of its sites have been assessed by way of sample, taking into account the environmental factors that may vary between sites. The operator must agree to have all the other sites assessed within a given period.

Oversight

Surveillance of accredited certification bodies by UKAS will take place every six months during the first two years after accreditation and once a year thereafter. Certifiers must also report to UKAS on a bi-monthly basis to inform them how their businesses are developing.

Author: G J Holland , ISYS International Ltd , in association with Flexible Learning Systems , De Montfort University , Leicester, UK. (c) 2002