Environmental management systems to international standards - ISO 14001: Are you ready?

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) have become a way of doing business. The key to business effectiveness is integrating an EMS into a company's critical business process to improve performance, productivity and profits. EMS can help with legal/ regulatory compliance issues and ease pressure from environmental groups. Financial and insurance institutions are unwilling to issue financing and coverage unless firms have a proven EMS is place. By implementing an EMS, a company can actually reduce operating costs. Problems can be identified in process design and operations. Changes can be implemented to improve resource utilization. Using waste minimization, energy conservation and recycling initiatives,- companies operate more cost effectively. ISO 14001 is the international standard intended to guide organizations in managing the impact its products, services and operations have on the environment. The standard includes a framework for which basic EM systems are audited against, and also a system that will help companies assess their environmental credentials and make improvements where necessary. The ISO 14001 is the document that organizations can be audited against through self-declaration or registration.