Having an Environmental Management System (EMS) has become increasingly important over the past decade. It is becoming ever more common that larger companies will only work with contractors who have an Environmental Management System which is certified to external standards e.g. ISO 14001. Establishing an EMS which is certified to external standards is very beneficial and often an additional requirement when tendering for large contracts. Having an EMS is also beneficial when trying to achieve other accreditations such as Achilles or SSIP (SafeContractor, Constructionline, Altius etc.), while making complicated PQQs that much easier to complete.
An effective EMS is the cornerstone to a company’s environmental strategy and helps to ensure you are complying with all legislation and striving to achieve best practise. Our auditors will develop an EMS compiling a legal compliance register and a register of your environmental aspects. This will allow a system of policies and procedures to be established which ensures you are complying with legislation and effectively managing any activities which pose a risk to the environment. We can help you to initially achieve external accreditations and as part of retaining your accreditations will enable you to continually improve your environmental performance.
We have a multi-faceted team with experience of varying industrial sectors, including Food Manufacture, Warehousing and Distribution, Electrical Network Distribution and The Health Sector to name a few.
Once an EMS has been implemented it is extremely important that it is regularly audited to ensure it is running correctly. Our auditors are IRCA Lead Auditor trained and will come into your company to assess the effectiveness of your EMS. Having an independent assessment has various benefits over an internal assessment:
Independent audits can be staged and would usually be scheduled in preparation for an accreditation audit to ISO 14001/EMAS/Green Dragon/Achilles. Our ISO 14001 preparation audit (or alternate accreditation) will flag up any issues with the EMS which can be resolved before your accreditation audit.
Following an audit a full report will be presented, following a similar format to the major accreditation bodies, identifying Observations, Minor Non Conformities and Major Non Conformities. The difference being our report will come with recommendations for improvements.
Our EMS consultancy services are tailored to your requirements, this can be as simple as a basic environmental policy or a full EMS system which complies with legislation, meets best practise and can be accredited for your clients and stakeholders.
"Set up an environmental management system
You may also need to develop an environmental management system (EMS) to help avoid pollution and act appropriately if an incident does occur. You can use your pollution incident response plan to develop your EMS.
You must have an EMS if you have an environmental permit."
Environment Agency guidance - Pollution prevention for businesses
"You can develop and maintain your own management system or use an environmental management system scheme or standard.
If you have a larger site or carry out a more complex activity (like installations and waste operations dealing with hazardous waste), the Environment Agency prefers management systems:
Environment Agency guidance - Develop a management system: environmental permits
"You must have a procedure for checking you’re complying with your permit, procedures and management system. Record what checks are carried out, who did them and what action was taken."
Environment Agency guidance - Develop a management system: environmental permits