Critical Evaluation on Environmental Management System - Report Example

Critical Evaluation on Environmental Management System (EMS) Environmental Management System (EMS) can be described as one of the management systems whereby specific plans are made by using the requisite expertise, procedures and actions in the implementation of an effective environment policy. The purpose of such a system is to bring savings in costs by reducing the waste material and bring about efficiency in the use of natural resources such as water, gas, fuels and electricity (Ruth Hillary 1997). Following the requisite legal provisions in this regard, enables the organization to avoid penalties and fines associated with not complying with environmental legislation. An added benefit is the reduction in insurance expenses, which accrues due to better risk management strategies. An organization that follows a systematic Environmental Management System enjoys positive public opinion leading to long-term benefits for it. It also results in better support from the community due to the resultant reduction in the impact of dust, smells and noise in the area of its location (http://www.epa.gov). EMS is more of a voluntary and flexible approach to environmental management and is being implemented throughout the world by organizations and business of all sizes. EMS is considered to be in line with the management technique of Total Quality Management (TQM) in view of the similarities between the two. Essentially every organization follows similar frameworks for EMS although the complexity of each may vary. The process involved in EMS starts with first framing an Environmental Policy Statement, then following a plan, implementing it, checking and correcting, reviewing the performance and finally making further plans to improve the cycle. In the context of the statement "Environmental Management System are an expensive luxury for a university. They do not improve environmental performance and create an attitude of "We"ve got a system, We"ve done enough", it is totally wrong to infer such conclusions since the world’s dependence on science and technology is growing continuously and the future generation must achieve environmental excellence to carry on the development of the human race. It is established in every way that environmental management is essential in today’s world to bring efficiency in the use of natural resources and to extract maximum utility from them (http://policies.uws.edu.au/). Hence there needs to be developed a well detailed EMS to cater to the growing requirements of universities to achieve high standards so as to set example for others to follow, and make such a movement to catch up with the masses, failing which future generations will be faced with a situation when the natural resources of the world will be near depletion due to the harmful effects of their indiscriminate misuse and exploitation. As per the given statement, certainly universities don’t have an already well-established EMS system and have also not done enough in the area since the world efforts in this regard are still in the infancy stage, and there is still lot to do. Hence the university program should instead be directed towards integrating environmental mastery into administration, education and business activities in the curriculum of the university . ISO 14001 is an international standard for environmental management systems and is widely accepted throughout the world in measuring an organization’s environmental efforts and achievements. In a university atmosphere this requires the students and top management to support the cause by providing the required resources to facilitate environmental improvements (Environmental Management System, http://ems.mst.edu/). An excellent example of a university that has commendably pursued EMS in its true spirit is the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and it is the first university in the US that has been awarded the ISO 14001 certification due to its efforts in excellently pursuing EMS activities (Joseph Cascio 1996). There are several needs for a university to address the issue of environmental matters instead of assuming that all the required work in this context has been already done. It cannot be said at any given time that environmental issues have been taken care of and nothing else is required to be done, since this is a continuous and ongoing process and needs to be pursued on a regular basis. Every university must chalk out an environmental policy, which will serve as a determinant in providing a clear and unifying vision for matters relating to the environment and to be pursued by the entire university (, http://ems.mst.edu/). The university’s environmental policy must establish its commitment to, prevent pollution in the campus, complying with all regulations and other requirements of environmental procedures, and in making continuous efforts to improve the environment. This policy must have a solid foundation in ascertaining environmental goals, which will further reflect in the daily activities and lifestyles of students, staff and management. A university policy must be in place to implement procedures to save energy and raw materials. There have to be continuous efforts in preventing pollution and to comply with all rules and regulations pertaining to the same as also in motivating students and staff in understanding and being aware of proactively looking at environment management. Reducing waste from the daily chores as also in recycling of waste has to be incorporated in relation to the measures for EMS. To understand EMS from the aspect of its relevancy to the university and in context to the question addressed in the topic of this paper, the case of the Missouri University of Science and Technology is most ideal in highlighting the need for universities to give environmental issues the much desired attention so that its importance is developed amongst the new generation. The university has indeed followed an elaborate system in setting a true example of the efficacy of educational institutions in pioneering this cause. The university’s purpose for identifying environmental aspect is firstly to establish the methodology for its EMS activities and their impact on the environment so that it can be ascertained whether they have the desired impact on the environment. Secondly such procedures must cover the activities of the university including research and teaching activities along with business and administration activities. The university will work in establishing and maintaining procedures to identify environmental aspects, complete impacts and aspects survey for each of the processes, determination of impacts and aspects by the processes, determine significance and keep all the information up to date. For each of these areas responsibilities have been fixed and authority designated in meeting the goals of EMS (http://www.epa.gov). In this regard a detailed procedure has been outlined to evaluate initial impact and aspect on all parameters. The Missouri S&T department has identified the processes associated with the activities of each department on campus and has listed the inputs and outputs associated with each process. Legal requirements and the potential situations for emergency have been identified in addition to determining the significance of environmental aspects associated with the legal requirements. The procedure for updating the impact and aspect database has been formulated whereby an EMS Coordinator will run a report from the EMS database for each of the departments and then submit it for review. The departments will review the report in terms of its accuracy and correctness and identify new environmental activities that need to be addressed, and resubmit the information to the EMS Coordinator who further presents the same to the EMS Advisory Committee, which will decide its significance in terms of the impact and different aspects. The information is finally recorded in the EMS database. The EMS is a continuous process and cannot be achieved or resolved at any given time in terms of achieving targets (Sheldon, Christopher 2005). In regard to understanding the environment aspects from the university relevance, there are several categories and regulatory aspects highlighted by the Missouri S&T Department. Its regulatory aspects relate to hazardous and potentially hazardous materials, hazardous and potentially hazardous wastes, management of air and water quality issues. The most significant issues relate to solid waste, water and paper and other lesser aspects such as coal, vehicles, chemicals, fluorescent bulbs, radioactive materials, hazardous waste, computers/monitors and explosives (http://www.environment.gov.au). Missouri S&T has to comply with legal and other requirements in keeping the EMS to be functioning in a systematic manner, for which it has to establish and document the processes to identify and have access to the legal requirements related to its activities. This compliance also includes the activities of the university such as teaching and instruction, research activities and business and administrative activities. Such legal requirements pertain to environmental legislations established by the local, federal or state governments. The university has identified different areas for meeting to the legal requirements and fixed responsibility for each of the roles with a designated authority to oversee their activities. Missouri S&T have made an elaborate procedure to carry out all the legal functions pertaining to its EMS activities. The department of Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) will ascertain all legal requirements associated with environmental aspects and the EHS director will ensure that the legal and other requirements are made accessible to all in the university campus. EHS does periodical review of legislations and environment regulations to ensure that all requirements are met in keeping with government directives (Duke University 2004). The administration of Missouri S&T has created far reaching opportunities by way of its EMS program that will greatly assist the universities of the world in helping the environmental programs to continue in making a positive difference to reap the benefits of such programs. Environmental Management Systems are not a luxury but a necessity in today’s world as evident from this case study of Missouri S&T. It certainly does improve environmental performance and absolves the present generation from the potential environmental damages that can create havoc for future generations. The given system at any given time can be accepted in its static form and it is wrong to say that whatever is done is enough. EMS is a continuous process that has to be a routine for the entire community because all the waste created has to be handled on a regular basis and natural resources have to be used prudently and regular efforts made to compensate for what is used so that there is more availability in the future (Brady John 2005). Missouri S&T has similarly outlined a systematic procedure to deal with aspects of communication procedure, and has come out with corrective action manual and document control to assist in compliance that has been outlined in the university’s responsibility matrix. There is a monitoring and measuring procedure in place whereby procedures are outlined with a tracking procedure that ensures effective monitoring of the EMS data. In the context of the experience and efforts made by this university it is incorrect to say that adopting an EMS for environmental control in universities is a costly affair or a proposition that amounts to luxury spending. For reasons already outlined in this paper, EMS is an essential part of the university curriculum in view of the future potential the system entails for the present and future generations. The costs involved are not exorbitant and could be taken advantage of from the economies of scale emanating from other functions of the university. The costs include investment on internal resources, costs for training personnel, costs associated with hiring consultants and costs for technical resources to analyze impacts and improvement options (http://www.businesslink.gov.uk). One can judge that these costs are not specific to EMS expenses only but are common expenses that may be covered on several other heads, for example cost of employing teachers for EMS functions is just a part of teacher duties in addition to their main duties of teaching (David Ronald 2004). Building an EMS requires to first plan the model by way of defining the organization’s goals for EMS. The top management’s commitment is essential after which an implementation team should be selected which will conduct the preliminary review and prepare the budget and schedule for the same (Stanley et al 1996). Having made arrangements for the financial resources, employees will be involved and the progresses made will be monitored by designated authorities and then the results conveyed to the decision taking authorities. In this context it is important to mention that implementing EMS does not require a totally new set up and too much of expenses since in most organizations EMS elements are already in place and only the links between these links have to be built upon to make the program a success (Marguglio 1991). The success of the EMS depends much upon the strength of the links as much as it does on individual elements. What is essential to implement in the process is an elaborate documenting process in the form of appropriate and effective procedures. References Brady John, Environmental Management in Organizations, 2005, Publisher Earthscan David Ronald, THE EXTERNAL VALUE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE March 2004, Prepared by the MSWG EVEMS Subcommittee Duke University, Environmental Management System (EMS) Planning Committee, Draft EMS Plan, June 2004 Environmental Management Policy, University of Western Sydney, http://policies.uws.edu.au/view.current.php?id=00216 Accessed on 07.11.08 Environmental Management System - Policies and Procedures, The University of Queensland, http://www.pf.uq.edu.au/ems.html Accessed on 07.11.08 Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) for Colleges and Universities, January 2008, US Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/ne/assistance/univ/emsguide.html Accessed on 06.11.08 Environmental Management Systems, http://www.epa.gov/EMS/info/index.htm#why Accessed on 05.11.08 Environmental Management System, http://ems.mst.edu/ Accessed on 06.11.08 Environmental Management Systems (EMS) http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/industry/corporate/ems.html Accessed on 06.11.08 ISO14000 SERIES ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, http://www.iso14000-iso14001-environmental-management.com/ Accessed on 06.11.08 Joseph Cascio, ISO 14000 Guide: The New International Environmental Management Standards, 1996, McGraw-Hill Professional Marguglio B W, Environmental Management Systems, 1991 CRC Press Ruth Hillary, Environmental Management Systems and Cleaner Production, July 1997, Wiley, John & Sons Sheldon, Christopher Environmental Management Systems, A Step by Step Guide to Implementation and Maintenance, 2005, Earthscan/ Set up an Environmental Management System, http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1079422683 Accessed on 06.11.08 Stanley J. Feldman, Peter A. Soyka, and Paul Ameer, DOES IMPROVING A FIRM.S ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE RESULT IN A HIGHER STOCK PRICE?, 1996, ICF Kaiser International, Inc. Read More