Excellence in environmental, safety, and quality processes go hand in hand. Integrating the environmental aspects of your management system into a broader operations management system saves costs and time, results in fewer documents to maintain, and helps your entire workforce feel accountable for environmental improvements. Although each business is different, in practice this might look like a single EHS & Quality policy or manual, a single register of legal requirements that spans safety & environmental regulations, and/or integrated ISO 9001/14001 audits.
Do staff from top management all the way down through shop floor technicians know how to access your EHS policy? Do they know about your site’s environmental targets? Can they discuss how their role affects the environment? Often in high-hazard industries, safety topics are routinely discussed, however environmental topics get overlooked. Yet these two business aspects often reinforce each other. For example, the engineering team may be doing work to prevent or reduce losses of primary containment and thus environmental releases, and the maintenance department may be taking cost efficiency measures that also minimize hazardous waste. Consider including environmental topics in routine safety meetings. Help your workforce understand how the work they do contributes directly to your environmental goals.
An internal audit is an opportunity to get a fresh perspective on your EMS, prepare for certification, or find ways to capture more value from your system. Use the audit closeout meeting to understand the findings and discuss ways your site could address them. Ask your auditor about common pitfalls seen with other companies, as well as examples of what good looks like. Nearly anyone can take an auditor exam, but a truly experienced auditor is one who has worked in a highly regulated industry and has perspective of what works in practice at the site level. When selecting an auditor, look for lead auditor certification from a reputable certifier.
At AMB Parks Consulting, our certified experts have sat on both sides of the audit table, as both auditee and auditor. Whether you need an integrated 9001/14001 audit, or help developing your management system to prepare for certification, we can help. Don’t let EMS become a sidebar exercise; let us help you make it deliver real business value.
.png)
.webp)
.png)