Environmental Management System Manual
ISO14001 Toolkit: Version 2 ŠCertiKit
Environmental Management System Manual
Implementation guidance The header page and this section, up to and including Disclaimer, must be removed from the final version of the document. For more details on replacing the logo, yellow highlighted text and certain generic terms, see the Completion Instructions document.
Purpose of this document The Environmental Management System Manual is a document which acts as the root definition of the Environmental Management System (EMS).
Areas of the standard addressed The following areas of the ISO14001 standard are addressed by this document: •
5 Leadership o 5.1 Leadership and commitment o 5.3 Organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities
General guidance The EMS manual should be approved by Top Management (normally defined as the “person or group of people who direct and control the organization at the highest level�) as evidence of their commitment. This manual refers in places to other documents which provide more detail; the exact structure of documentation is not mandated by the ISO14001 standard and so you could choose to add some of the contents of other documents into this manual to reduce the total number of documents in your EMS. We would also recommend that this document is made available via the intranet, if you have one, or via any other appropriate means.
Review frequency We would recommend that this document is reviewed as part of an annual exercise which also covers key documents such as the risk assessment and training plan. This exercise should include significant business involvement to ensure that changed requirements are captured and customer feedback obtained.
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Document fields This document may contain fields which need to be updated with your own information, including a field for Organization Name that is linked to the custom document property “Organization Name”. To update this field (and any others that may exist in this document): 1. Update the custom document property “Organization Name” by clicking File > Info > Properties > Advanced Properties > Custom > Organization Name. 2. Press Ctrl A on the keyboard to select all text in the document (or use Select, Select All via the Editing header on the Home tab). 3. Press F9 on the keyboard to update all fields. 4. When prompted, choose the option to just update TOC page numbers. If you wish to permanently convert the fields in this document to text, for instance, so that they are no longer updateable, you will need to click into each occurrence of the field and press Ctrl Shift F9. If you would like to make all fields in the document visible, go to File > Options > Advanced > Show document content > Field shading and set this to “Always”. This can be useful to check you have updated all fields correctly. Further detail on the above procedure can be found in the toolkit Completion Instructions. This document also contains guidance on working with the toolkit documents with an Apple Mac, and in Google Docs/Sheets.
Copyright notice Except for any specifically identified third-party works included, this document has been authored by CertiKit, and is ©CertiKit except as stated below. CertiKit is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 6432088.
Licence terms This document is licensed on and subject to the standard licence terms of CertiKit, available on request, or by download from our website. All other rights are reserved. Unless you have purchased this product you only have an evaluation licence. If this product was purchased, a full licence is granted to the person identified as the licensee in the relevant purchase order. The standard licence terms include special terms relating to any third-party copyright included in this document.
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Disclaimer Please Note: Your use of and reliance on this document template is at your sole risk. Document templates are intended to be used as a starting point only from which you will create your own document and to which you will apply all reasonable quality checks before use. Therefore, please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that the content of any document you create that is based on our templates is correct and appropriate for your needs and complies with relevant laws in your country. You should take all reasonable and proper legal and other professional advice before using this document. CertiKit makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of our document templates; assumes no duty of care to any person with respect its document templates or their contents; and expressly excludes and disclaims liability for any cost, expense, loss or damage suffered or incurred in reliance on our document templates, or in expectation of our document templates meeting your needs, including (without limitation) as a result of misstatements, errors and omissions in their contents.
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Contents 1
Introduction ............................................................................................................... 8
2
Environmental management system manual .............................................................. 9 2.1
Top management leadership and commitment ............................................................. 9
2.2
Framework for setting objectives ................................................................................. 9
2.3
Roles and responsibilities ............................................................................................. 9
2.4
Continual improvement of the EMS ............................................................................ 10
2.5
Approach to managing risks and opportunities ........................................................... 10
2.6
Human resources ....................................................................................................... 10
2.7
Auditing and review ................................................................................................... 11
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Documentation structure and policy........................................................................... 11
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Control of records ...................................................................................................... 11
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1 Introduction This manual defines how an Environmental Management System (EMS) will be set up, managed, measured, reported on and developed within [Organization Name]. While it doesn’t give any absolute guarantees of environmental protection, an EMS can contribute significantly towards delivering many of the following benefits to [Organization Name]: • • • • • • • • • •
Significantly reduced risk of reputational damage, legal penalties, or business revenue due to environmental issues Peace of mind assurance to our customers, staff, board members, suppliers and other interested parties that our products and services do not harm the environment An ability to bid for and respond to tenders for business where ISO14001 certification is a requirement A public demonstration that [Organization Name] takes environmental management seriously Internal and external recognition of the environmental controls in place Year-on-year improvement in the degree of protection we provide to the environment as a result of the continuous improvement aspects of the standard A strong move away from reactive firefighting towards proactive environmental management Better alignment of environmental management with the needs of the business and our customers through regular review meetings with interested parties Better perception and awareness of environmental issues within the business, our customers and other stakeholders An improved ability to manage environmental issues if they do occur, so reducing reputational damage and limiting the impact to us, our customers and the public
The International Standard for Environmental Management Systems, ISO14001:2015 (referred to in this document as ISO14001), is a development of the earlier British Standard, BS 7750, and was first published in 1992. This standard defines the requirements for an EMS based on internationally recognized best practice. [Organization Name] has decided to pursue full certification to ISO14001 in order that the effective adoption of environmental management best practice may be validated by an independent third party, a Registered Certification Body (RCB).
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2 Environmental management system manual 2.1 Top management leadership and commitment Commitment to environmental management extends to senior levels of the organization and will be demonstrated through this environmental manual and the provision of appropriate resources to provide and develop the EMS and associated procedures and controls. Top management will also ensure that a systematic review of performance of the programme is conducted on a regular basis to ensure that quality objectives are being met and relevant issues are identified through the audit programme and management processes. Management review can take several forms, including departmental and other management meetings. The [Environmental Representative] shall have overall authority and responsibility for the implementation and management of the Environmental Management System, specifically: • • • • •
The identification, documentation and fulfilment of environmental requirements Implementation, co-ordination and improvement of risk and opportunity management processes Integration of operational processes, procedures and controls Meeting compliance obligations with regard to environmental management Reporting to top management on performance and improvement
2.2 Framework for setting objectives A regular cycle will be used for the setting of objectives for environmental management to coincide with the budget planning cycle. This framework is documented in the Environmental Policy.
2.3 Roles and responsibilities Within the field of environmental management, there are roles that correspond to the areas defined within the scope. In a larger organization, these roles will often be filled by an individual in each area. In a smaller organization, these roles and responsibilities must be allocated between members of the team. Full details of the responsibilities associated with each of the roles and how they are allocated within [Organization Name] are given in a separate document, EMS Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities.
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It is the responsibility of the [Environmental Representative] to ensure that employees and contractors understand the roles they are fulfilling and that they have appropriate skills and competence to do so.
2.4 Continual improvement of the EMS The [Organization Name] policy with regard to continual improvement of the EMS is described in the Environmental Policy.
2.5 Approach to managing risks and opportunities Risk and opportunity management will take place at several levels within the EMS, including: • • • •
Management planning – risks to the achievement of environmental objectives will be assessed and reviewed on a regular basis Organization-wide risk and opportunity assessments Assessment of the environmental risk of changes As part of major projects to achieve business change, e.g. the building of a new factory
High-level risk and opportunity assessments will be reviewed on an annual basis or upon significant change to the business or operating environment. A risk and opportunity assessment process will be used which is line with the requirements and recommendations of ISO14001, the International Standard for Environmental Management Systems. This is documented in Risk and Opportunity Assessment Process. From this analysis, a risk and opportunity assessment report will be generated followed by a plan in which appropriate actions will be identified to address these risks and opportunities.
2.6 Human resources [Organization Name] will ensure that all staff involved in environmental management are competent in terms of appropriate education, training, skills and experience. The skills required will be determined and reviewed on a regular basis together with an assessment of existing skill levels within [Organization Name]. Training needs will be identified, and a plan maintained to ensure that the necessary competencies are in place. Training, education and other relevant records will be kept by the HR Department to document individual skill levels attained.
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2.7 Auditing and review Once in place, it is vital that regular reviews take place of how well environmental management processes and procedures are being adhered to. This will happen at three levels: 1. Structured regular management review of conformity to policies and procedures 2. Internal audit reviews against the ISO14001 standard (and accompanying codes of practice) by the [Organization Name] internal audit team 3. External audit against the standard by a Registered Certification Body (RCB) in order to gain and maintain certification Details of how internal audits will be carried out can be found in Procedure for Internal Audits.
2.8 Documentation structure and policy All environmental management policies and plans must be documented. Details of documentation conventions and standards are given in the Procedure for the Control of Documented Information. Core documents will be maintained as part of the EMS. They are uniquely numbered, and the current versions are tracked in the EMS Documentation Log.
2.9 Control of records The keeping of records is a fundamental part of the EMS. Records are key information resources and represent evidence that processes are being carried out effectively. The controls in place to manage records are defined in the document Procedure for the Control of Documented Information.
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