What is an Environmental Management System
(EMS)?
An
Environmental Management System (EMS) is a set of cohesive
elements that an organization may use to minimize its impact
on the environment. A successful EMS will often borrow many
of the management systems inherent in an organization, and
may include such diverse areas such as how it manages
quality issues (corrective action), training, communicates
with its people and the general public.
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What is
a Health & Safety Management System (HSMS)
A Health and Safety Management System is a set
of cohesive elements that an organization may use to minimize
its health and safety risks. It is similar to the EMS, as
successful HSMS will often borrow many of the management
systems inherent in an organization, and may include quality
systems (corrective action), training, communicates with its
people and the general public.
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What is ISO 14001?
ISO
14001 is an internationally accepted specification for an
EMS. It specifies requirements for establishing an
environmental policy, determining environmental aspects &
impacts of products/activities/services, planning
environmental objectives, measurable targets and programs
(action plans), implementation & operation of programs to
meet objectives & targets, and checking through evaluation
of compliance, internal audits, and management review.
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What is OHSAS
18001?
OHSAS
18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series) is
an internationally accepted specification for an HSMS. It
specifies requirements for establishing a health and safety
policy, hazard identification, risk assessment and
determining controls, planning health and safety objectives
and programs, health and safety system implementation and
operation, and checking through evaluation of compliance,
internal audits, and management review.
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What is an
Integrated Management System?
An integrated management system merges EMS,
OHSAS, and/or the QMS requirements together into one
management system. The significant similarities and overlap
between these systems facilitates integration. An integrated
management system provides ease of requirement assimilation,
delivers a consistent message, and unites redundant
processes.
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How do I obtain the ISO 14000
and/or OHSAS 18000 standard?
The ISO
14001 and OHSAS 18000 Standards are protected by copyright
and are not "free". You can find out how and where to
purchase the standards by
clicking here.
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What is the difference between conformance and compliance?
When
speaking of an EMS and HSMS in conformance, we are talking about a
system that meets a certain set of criteria. When we speak
of compliance in the EMS / HSMS vernacular, we are talking about
meeting the requirements of regulations (EMS - EPA / HSMS -
OSHA). When
we say that an organization has a system in place that
conforms to the ISO 14001 / OHSAS 18001 standard, we do not mean to imply
that they also comply with all applicable regulations.
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Does my company need to be in compliance with all
regulations
to be certified to ISO 14001?
The simple answer is no, a
company does not need to be in compliance with environmental
regulations to be certified to ISO 14001. They must have
programs in place however, that helps them to strive toward
the goal of compliance. Since regulations are constantly
changing along with interpretations of complex requirements,
it would not be reasonable to assume that every organization
is in absolute compliance with every regulation.
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Can a Registrar offer me advice on how to
implement my system?
A
registrar can state if an element of your system does not
conform to the ISO 14001 or OHSAS 18001 Standards, but cannot tell you how
to fix it. Consultants are not allowed to conduct
certification audits on an organization they have in some
way assisted with EMS / HSMS development.
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I heard ISO requires programs to reduce
energy or raw material usage, is that true?
No, ISO
does not specifically require programs for this area. But if
you determine that your significant environmental impacts
are related to these issues, they should establish
objectives and targets to minimize these impacts, when
feasible and to prevent situations where deviations in these
areas could increase environmental impacts.
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What is the advantage of certification by a
registrar over self declaration?
Certification by a registrar provides a much greater degree
of credibility for the EMS or HSMS in the public eye. The “tension”
created by the registration and subsequent surveillance
audits helps to maintain system momentum. Finally, many
registrars, through observation, may add value by mentioning
opportunities for system improvement in their audit report.
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Does the ISO 14001 Standard require
everything we do be
documented?
No,
although it is generally a good idea to document EMS
procedures, the ISO 14001 Standard requires documented
procedures for only 3 specified items:
-
Documented management system (Environmental aspects, legal
and other requirements; competence training and awareness,
communication, control of documents, emergency preparedness
and response; evaluation of compliance; non conformity,
corrective action and preventative action; control of
records; and internal audits).
-
Documented
operational control procedures to cover situations where
their absence could lead to deviations from the
environmental policy or objectives and targets.
-
Procedures to monitor the key characteristics of its
operations and activities that can have a significant
environmental impact.
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Does ISO 14001 or OHSAS 18001 dictate a specific style
that our procedures be written?
No, the ISO 14001 and the OHSAS 18001
standards do not define the style for procedures. ISO 14001
and OHSAS 18001 require that procedures required by the
standard are to be controlled. The ISO 14001 and OHSAS
18001 standards states the expectations that need to be
integrated when developing and implementing a document
control process.
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Do our internal auditors need to have RAB
EMS auditor training to participate in internal audits of our
system?
No,
specific RAB auditor training is not required of
internal auditors, although they should have a good working
knowledge of the management system standard in order to carry out
this function effectively.
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What are some of the benefits of having an
ISO EMS?
Some of the most commonly
cited benefits of an ISO 14001 EMS are:
-
Improved perception of the
key environmental issues by their employees and a better
(greener) public image of the organization.
-
An increase in the
efficiency and use of energy and raw materials (less
waste)
-
Improved ability to meet
compliance with environmental regulations
-
Dependence on a system
rather than just the experience and capabilities of an
individual to manage the environmental function of an
organization.
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What are
some of the benefits of having an OHSAS HSMS?
Some of the
most commonly cited benefits of an OHSAS 18001 HSMS are:
-
Reduced number of employee injuries
-
Ability to
address insurance company demands to reduce liability and
risk.
-
Decreased costs due to personal injury and production
down time
-
Minimized resource constraints from personal injuries
-
Enhanced employee safety awareness and improved employee
motivation
-
Ease of managing legal and compliance requirements
-
Ease of managing safety risks
-
Enhanced public image
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