What is an environmental management system?
An environmental management system (EMS) is a management tool that permeates all business operations; it is based on a Policy issued and endorsed by the Top Management that is deployed through company operations at all levels. More specifically, by implementing an EMS, we aim:
- to ensure compliance with all national legal environmental requirements taking also into account all different regulatory contexts (regions, provinces and municipalities);
- to monitor the environmental performance referred to the various activities that generate impacts by seeking continuous improvement with respect to predefined targets;
- to prevent any environmental emergency and mitigate any possible adverse effects.
Among the other ISO 14001 requirements, essential elements of the Environmental Management System are:
the commitment of the Top Management to operate in line with and to guarantee the achievement of the objectives defined by the System;
the Environmental Management System Manual;
system procedures covering environmental processes: such operating procedures describe how processes should be managed and define roles and responsibilities thus ensuring the operational control of the processes/activities/ facilities related to significant environmental aspects, as well as regulatory compliance;
the environmental analysis report that summarizes and contextualizes activities, data and information about environmental issues of greatest importance in terms of stocks, consumption, accidents/ emergencies, reports/complaints from interested parties.
In order to guarantee the effective implementation of the Environmental Management System, we have developed a set of tools with the aim:
- to maintain and update the computerized database of all applicable environmental legislation;
- to record and manage all reports of environmental problems received from outside the company (i.e. from citizens, local administrations, etc.),
to record all environmental impact data; - to store and update all environmental documents (both available on paper and in digital format);
- to communicate to the relevant authorities all the data required by current regulations on the management and disposal of wastes.