EMS: the next generation of Environmental Management: Plan. Do. Check. Act.

• Author: Maynard, Barbara

With increasing consumer awareness of environmental issues, some managers are thinking about how to "green" their businesses. Environmental Management Systems are one tool that can help.

A well-designed EMS provides a framework to systematically evaluate and integrate environmental policies into a business' overall goals. The reasons for implementing an EMS are as varied as the businesses that use them. Environmental regulation is probably the most common motivator, but some companies are discovering that a thorough evaluation of environmental impacts can improve their bottom line. At the same time, some managers are redefining the concept of "bottom line."

"It's all about the triple bottom line now: economic, environmental and social," said Green Star's Sean Skaling. He sees changes in the international marketplace pushing businesses toward environmentally friendly practices. "It seems like the world is really starting to demand it, but North America is a little bit late to come to the table," he said. "So it seems like those that change voluntarily might be a step ahead."

A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH

Environmental consultant Francois Cote of ICF Consulting also has noticed a change in the business community. "If you look at how it was 20 years ago, the approach then was very reactive, especially here in North America," he said. "Slowly but surely organizations started to realize that it was not enough to be reactive. You needed to do something a little bit more ... not only, do we want to know what the issues are, but we want to follow a rigorous, thorough, comprehensive approach to not only fix those problems but to prevent them from happening again. That's what the management system approach, the systematic approach, is going to provide to the organization."

Before diving into the EMS process, an organization needs to outline its environmental policy. Stephanie Mann, EMS coordinator at Emerald Alaska, suggested that managers ask themselves several questions: "What is your policy going to be? What are you trying to achieve with this document? What is your end goal?" These introspective steps help tailor the EMS to an individual business' needs.

FOUR STEPS FOR BUSINESS

Various models of EMS exist. The most common is ISO 14001, developed by the International Organization for Standardization and often required in the international marketplace. Regardless of the model, all EMS are based on four steps: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. Planning involves...