Southwest Environmental Limited

A scrap yard operator near Bristol contacted Southwest Environmental with a view to producing an environmental management system for there permitted operation. The need for the environmental management system came from their environmental permit, administered by the environment agency. The site was situated over sensitive ground water, and as such a robust management system was requested by the EA.

The environmental management system highlight high risk activities such as vehicle fueling, and references operating procedures for that activity, abatement plant (interceptors), and responsible people for maintenance of said plant.

Image: TeWeBs [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

This environmental management system was designed to meet the requirements out lined by the EA, and was not prepared in line with ISO 14001.

An Environmental Management System (EMS):

• Serves as a tool, or process, to improve environmental performance and information mainly "design, pollution control and waste minimization, training, reporting to top management, and the setting of goals"
• Provides a systematic way of managing an organization’s environmental affairs
• Is the aspect of the organization’s overall management structure that addresses immediate and long-term impacts of its products, services and processes on the environment. EMS assists with planning, controlling and monitoring policies in an organization.
• Gives order and consistency for organizations to address environmental concerns through the allocation of resources, assignment of responsibility and ongoing evaluation of practices, procedures and processes
• Creates environmental buy-in from management and employees and assigns accountability and responsibility.
• Sets framework for training to achieve objectives and desired performance.
• Helps understand legislative requirements to better determine a product or service's impact, significance, priorities and objectives.
• Focuses on continual improvement of the system and a way to implement policies and objectives to meet a desired result. This also helps with reviewing and auditing the EMS to find future opportunities.
• Encourages contractors and suppliers to establish their own EMS.