Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Working Group

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Working Group Management and Audit Systems Environmental Management Systems are only one management system out of many which are used today. This section starts with the definition of several terms, which are important to understand the general functioning of management systems. Then the development of the management system standards ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and EMAS is outlined. Definitions used in Management and Audit Systems Management is ”the organisation and controlling of the affairs of a business or a particular sector of a business. (ENCARTA World English Dictionary 1999)” ”A system is the interconnection of components to achieve a given objective. These components include the organisation, resources and processes. (Institute of Quality Assurance 2003)” Hence a management system is a goal oriented, systematic way of running a business, by building an organisational structure and assigning responsibilities ”that everyone is clear about who is responsible for doing what, when, how, why and where”(International Organization for Standardisation (2003) The four basic steps in management systems are: planning, implementing monitoring and reviewing and are referred to in many references as the ”plan – do - check – review (sometimes named”act”) - cycle”. The cycle should be better a screw to represent the ongoing improvement process, which is an important principle in management systems. You will find more information on Environmental Management Systems in the PDF files in the documents section of this website. Matthias Friebel Chair of EFAEP's Environmental Management Stystems Working Group