Knowledge Centre

1.1 An EMS focuses on how your business can minimise or improve its impact on the environment.

Setting up and running an EMS is simply a question of reviewing what impact your business, products, services and processes have on the environment, identifying ways to make improvements and creating a framework to make sure they happen.

In simple terms, it's a similar process to setting up and managing a health and safety or quality control policy.

1.2 An EMS ensures you are complying with environmental regulations.

Regularly checking compliance with environmental law is a key part of a successful EMS. Having an EMS in place reduces the risk of overlooking any new regulations.

1.3 An EMS provides a structure to communicate legal and practical environmental issues to staff and management.

If you follow the basic EMS processes, getting environmental, efficiency and regulatory issues across to staff is made easier than adopting a piecemeal approach.

2.1 Efficiency gains.

Introducing and managing an EMS will involve reviewing how you carry out all your business functions with an eye to making them less wasteful. You may find easier and quicker ways to carry out common tasks as part of the review.

2.2 Direct cost savings.

You may find ways to cut costs and reduce waste, in areas as diverse as water and energy use, through packaging and recycling, to cheaper raw materials. All these can lead to direct cost savings

2.3 Legal compliance.

Reviewing your business' responsibilities under environmental legislation can minimise the risk of breaking the law unintentionally. Your EMS will need regular reviews which will highlight any new regulations you may not otherwise have been aware of.

2.4 Marketing benefits.

An EMS shows customers that you take your environmental responsibilities seriously. If you choose to get your EMS externally certified, you may find it easier to sell to 'green' consumers, bigger businesses or local and central government.

3.1 Your own in-house system.

You can run your own in-house EMS, basing it on the general principles of environmental management.

You can devote as much time and resource to this as you choose, but its effectiveness will be directly linked to how carefully created and well-managed it is. If you're selling to environmentally-aware customers or government departments, bear in mind this may not be sufficient to meet their requirements - you may need an accredited EMS.

3.2 Accredited systems.

You can get your EMS certified by external bodies, which will give it more weight in the eyes of customers and suppliers. To gain independent certification, you will have to be thorough in setting up your system, show a tangible commitment to environmental issues and prove that you are maintaining and improving your EMS as time passes.

There are three main types of certification you can consider: ISO 14001, the EU's Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) and BS 8555 (with accredited inspection through the Acorn or Seren Scheme).

ISO 14001 is the internationally recognised standard for environmental management systems. It independently verifies that you understand environmental issues, have a policy, manage it and plan around it, check and correct any problems and regularly review it.

If you meet the requirements of ISO 14001 certification, you can also consider getting your system recognised by EMAS, which is a Europe-wide scheme that certifies you comply with all relevant environmental regulations and continuously improve your environmental performance

As the principles of both certification schemes are similar, you can work towards and hold ISO 14001 and EMAS certification simultaneously for maximum marketing effect.

4.1 Consider using consultants to set up and manage an EMS.

For many small businesses, an EMS can quite easily be created and run in-house. If your business is large, complex or has significant environmental impact, you may choose to use external help to set up and manage your EMS.

Consultants can help on a range of levels, from giving simple advice through to creating, implementing and auditing systems and providing staff training.

4.2 Build an EMS using BS 8555 and Acorn or Seren.

If you wish to build an EMS yourself, it's a good idea to follow the process outlined in BS 8555. This is a standard specifically for small businesses that want to create an EMS while trading and provides a recognised framework and easy-to-follow six-stage process.

If you follow BS 8555 when setting up your EMS, you can get it independently certified.

BS 8555 gives guidance to all organisations who wish to implement a formal environmental management system. The standard can be used as a route towards ISO 14001 and EMAS.

BS 8555 breaks implementing an EMS down into six practical steps. The six steps are:

The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment's (IEMA) Acorn Scheme and Tarian Inspection Services' Seren Scheme offer inspection for organisations who are implementing BS 8555. Acorn and Seren list successful organisations they inspect on their registers. The listing may benefit your business, not just by promoting your environmental credentials, but because it is used as a resource for sourcing suppliers who have demonstrated environmental performance improvement.

• commitment and establishing the baseline
• identifying and ensuring compliance with legal and other requirements
• developing objectives, targets and programmes
• implementation and operation of the EMS
• checking, audit and review
• EMS acknowledgement

4.3 Find certification organisations for BS 8555, ISO 14001 or EMAS.

If you are interested in getting your EMS certified at any level, you must find a certification body to do so.

5.1 Conduct a 'baseline' assessment.

A baseline assessment is a thorough review of the current environmental impact of your business. The more detailed the assessment, the more likely it is you will find improvements and efficiencies. It will also help you to see improvements that your EMS is delivering when it's running. Get as many people from your business involved as you can - it's easy for one person to miss key elements.

5.2 Assess your business premises.

Looking at the basics of your premises will give you important pointers on environmental management. For example, do you have a drainage plan? Where do you store chemicals? Do you have chimneys coming from boilers or production equipment? If so, where are they situated and what impact might they have with different wind directions? Do you have a car park? Are there any areas where spillages are frequent?

5.3 Review your business processes.

It's a good idea to work up some flow charts that cover every stage of your business processes and consider each step's environmental impact.

For example, if you are manufacturing, what raw materials are you sourcing and where from? What additives are you using and what type are they? What sort of fuels are you using? If you're providing services, how are you physically delivering these? How are you keeping in touch with your customers? Are you travelling extensively or mainly using the phone?

Remember to think about things you influence as well as the things you do - for example, the type of raw materials you choose to use and where you buy them from will have an environmental impact. Using a local supplier may have less environmental impact than a remote one.

Consider your firm's negative impact on key environmental areas such as air quality, land contamination and use, water use, waste, chemicals and fuel management, nuisance, effect on local flora and fauna and use of resources such as packaging, tools, equipment and energy use.

With each of your business processes, estimate any potential or actual environmental impact, such as the emissions generated by running two delivery vans or expelling 200 litres of wastewater per hour.

5.4 Examine possible risks.

Check your health and safety policy for environmental risks you have already covered, such as chemicals handling or waste management.

Consider the possibility of environmental impacts that may not be covered by your existing policies, such as flooding or air pollution.

5.5 Use benchmarking to assess your current environmental performance.

Find out the environmental impact of similar types of business through benchmarking against the Environmental Index run by Business in the Community.

This will give you a useful indication whether your environmental performance is better or worse than your peers and indicate the overall size of the task.

You can use the benchmarks as initial targets where your performance needs improvement.

5.6 Build the current picture.

Note all these issues and current levels of environmental impact - they will be used later to build the practical elements of your EMS.

Don't get bogged down in details at this stage - as long as you have identified the key issues, you can build them into the final EMS.

If you can see 'quick wins' as a result of the baseline assessment, such as an easy way to cut energy consumption, you could consider putting it into place immediately.

6.1 Check which environmental regulations apply to you.

Find guidance by your type of business on the NetRegs website

Remember there may also be codes of practice for your industry that you need to follow.

6.2 Work through the regulations and ensure you are complying.

Carefully check each regulation and how you are handling its requirements.

If you are not currently complying, it's essential to do so.

While you're checking, it's a good idea to examine whether there are better ways you can do it. For example, while you're checking if you are meeting packaging waste regulations, examine whether you can change your processes to cut waste or eliminate the requirement completely.

7.1 Start to build your plan.

Use what you've uncovered from your baseline assessment and regulatory check to identify what measures you want to put in place.

Create clear and achievable targets. For example, a manufacturing business may set a target of cutting energy use to below its sector average within the next 12 months.

7.2 Get your key people involved.

Ask employees for their own recommendations on how to improve your environmental performance.

It's a very good idea to involve anyone who will be responsible for meeting the targets. Make sure they agree the targets that you are considering setting and have a clear idea of how to achieve them.

7.3 Formalise a policy document.

An EMS policy document is similar to any other policy document, such as health and safety. It needs to clearly show what the key objectives are, who has overall responsibility for meeting them and how you intend to meet your targets.

Set clear timescales for reviewing the progress of the EMS. It will help you manage it more effectively. If you want your EMS to be certified, it's essential to show that you are regularly reviewing and looking to improve it.

8.1 Make management responsibilities clear.

Like any effective system, you need to ensure that any management team is committed to it. Having involved any relevant management at the planning stage will help secure the commitment.

Delegate as much responsibility for targets as possible. For example, ensure production management know they are responsible for meeting any waste-reduction targets.

8.2 Spread responsibility widely.

The more people in your business who feel a responsibility for your EMS, the greater its chances of success.

It's a very good idea to brief all your staff on the whole EMS and their specific responsibilities under it.

Consider running training sessions for practical issues and make sure every member of staff has a copy of the policy. It's also a good idea to put copies in communal areas and at reception so it's always close to hand for reference.

If some targets will result in cost savings, you can consider giving staff incentives to meet them.

9.1 Schedule reviews as outlined in the policy.

Clearly defined timescales for reviews and targets will focus everyone's efforts on getting the policy working.

Don't delay reviews - it will seem as if you're not treating the EMS as a priority and will damage its effectiveness.

9.2 Check whether the targets are being met.

Check progress informally from time to time to uncover any potential problems.

Establish audit systems and check progress against targets regularly. You have to prove you are operating these systems if you want your EMS to be certified.

When the formal review is due, make it clear that you expect to meet the targets.

If targets haven't been met, try to find out why. If you need to approach the target differently, don't be afraid to do so, but set another clear target and deadline.

9.3 Get as much feedback as you can.

Get staff opinions on the parts of the EMS that are relevant to them. Remember that people doing the jobs may come up with better ways to achieve your objectives.

9.4 Revise your policy.

Build a new policy document as part of the review, taking into account any successes and failures.

If you've achieved a target, can you push it further or do you just want to see the progress maintained?

If you've missed a target, make it clear who is responsible for meeting it and how and when they meet it by.

Just like the original policy, circulate it to everyone in the business and spend time making sure everyone is committed to it and knows their role.

10.1 Look for obvious links to existing policies and working arrangements.

It's likely that many of the issues you cover in your EMS can be absorbed into existing practices. For example, improvements to waste management can be incorporated into existing tasks, job descriptions and ways of working. Or better ways of handling chemicals can be written into your health and safety document.

10.2 Make the changes clear.

If you're changing existing policies and processes, such as health and safety or quality control, ensure everyone involved knows about the change. Consider running training or awareness exercises with revised documentation.

Remember, your EMS is more likely to be successful if the changes just become another aspect of everyday working life.

10.3 Continue running the EMS at management level.

While most provisions of the EMS can be absorbed into day-to-day working practices, it's a good idea for management to retain the concept of the EMS in their minds to make sure the targets contained within it are still in focus.

If you want your EMS to be certified, you will need to show how you are operating, reviewing and improving it. This means you will need to continue the regular review process and keep associated paperwork for the certification process up to date, even if staff only see changes to existing practices and policies.