Environmental Management System (EMS) Certification

Just like it happens with Quality Management Systems (QMS), an Environmental Management System building, maintaining and continuous improvement relies on a long-term commitment. Environics’ same type of commitment can be seen also from an initial certification of ISO 14001 which dates back to 26^th of June, 2012.

On this post, I will walk you through what are my insights after a decade of working with an Environmental Management System.

When developing an EMS you will need to know what are your significant environmental aspects. This helps you to channel development recourses to essential issues.

Environmental aspects are usually elements that consume resources. Saving energy, material and logistics resources usually translates into saving environment and money. Development necessities are also much easier to justify when there are visible savings in cash.

You can also make sustainable choices and use your resources wisely in terms of life cycle management.
Product life cycle management starts from Research & Development stage. From the obvious performance and usability aspects, this is the stage where production, reliability, maintainability, availability, testability and safe use are designed. Through a proper and adequate life cycle management, Environics’ products are designed to have a long service life and low maintenance costs.

First thing that come in to peoples mind when speaking of EMS is recycling. Our internal recycling process has evolved into a great state over the years. Each type of material that can be recycled will be recycled by means that are most suitable.

Recycling process starts by collecting information of possible contamination. We ask this information on our customers to secure safe working conditions to each person involved in the process. If needed, decontamination is done by our internal instructions.

Once we have verified that the device is safe to handle, the device is disassembled and the parts are sorted into the correct recycling fractions. After that each type of fraction is recycled together with our recycling partners.

If your devices needs maintenance or are at end-of-life follow this link.  https://www.environics.fi/maintenance-upgrades/

With or without ISO 14001, you must be compliant with laws and regulations related to your operations. These obligations need to be identified to be fulfilled. This is not a one-time action but a continuous work. As a certified actor, your compliance management process will be under continuous development and scheduled review with audits. With a certified EMS it is easier to demonstrate compliance to your interested parties.

A certified Environmental Management System needs, of course, to be audited internally by your own resources, and externally by a certification partner.
Audits are the moments to check if the requirements are met, but an important part of these is also to learn new strategies to improve your EMS and spread awareness of it. With improved awareness you are more likely to get personnel to bring new opportunities for improvement.

As mentioned, constant and continuous improvement is necessary for an efficient environmental management system. Your organization and the world around it are under constant change, so, having a certified EMS gives you tools to adapt to these changes and also to lead them for next decades to come.