An Environmental Management System brings many benefits to businesses.

Developing socially sustainable, environmentally friendly business practices has moved from something that businesses could be doing to improve their operational processes, to something they should be doing. Environmentally friendly business practices not only help companies meet their applicable compliance regulations, they also help businesses to develop more efficient, streamlined operational procedures, and distinguish themselves from their competitors. Through the implementation of an Environmental Management System (EMS), organisations can develop strategies for achieving the above goals, in a simple, straight-forward manner. This article will discuss the central benefits an EMS brings to businesses, and why all organisations should strongly consider implementing one at their earliest convenience.

An EMS demonstrates a commitment to socially responsible practices

The internationally recognised ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standards is a Business Management System tailored to helping companies minimise the environmental impact of their operations, through the management and control of risks. Specifically, ISO 14001 certification helps businesses to identify applicable environmental regulations, and develop strategies to ensure their operational practices both meet and maintain them. By implementing ISO 14001, businesses will be required to audit the entire operations to identify inefficiencies, complicated process, wasted and unnecessary use of resources, and so on. They will then work at developing alternative, enhanced operational practices that are in line with environmental regulations, that work at increasing operational efficiency and reducing expenditure.

For example, many companies may incur expensive electricity bills through their continual use of lights, power boards, workstations, and so on. By certifying to ISO 14001, businesses would be required to review these processes to determine whether more cost-effective, environmentally friendly solutions are available. For example, could they replace their existing lightbulbs with energy saving ones? Could computers and laptops automatically switch into power-saving mode after a period of inactivity? These are the kinds of things that an EMS will require businesses to audit, to ascertain whether more environmentally friendly practices could be introduced. While each of these, by themselves, may seem like a ‘minor’ issue, combined they can be costly to an operations, and result in an unnecessary use of resources.

An EMS will also benefit businesses in other ways, including:

• Developing a socially conscious reputation: Through ISO 14001 certification, businesses demonstrate a commitment to socially sustainable operational practices to regulatory bodies, stakeholders, staff, and clients. In a competitive marketplace, this can help distinguish an organisation from its immediate competitors.
• Keeping up with their environmental commitments: Businesses will have a range of environmental regulatory commitments they must meet, which will differ depending on their location, industry, size, and so on. An EMS ensures companies develop clear processes for keeping up with their environmental obligations, documenting what steps they have taken to develop more socially sustainable business practices, and so on.
• Creating a more efficient, customer friendly, operations: An EMS helps businesses identify costly, unwieldy processes, phase them out, and develop superior, more socially conscious practices in their place. Through this process, companies will notice that their operations becomes more efficient, allowing staff to perform the role in an enhanced capacity.

ISO 14001 certification ensures companies achieve their environmental objectives

It is clear that ISO 14001 certification helps organisations to identify, manage, and control their environmental risks, and through this process their operations stands to benefits in many ways. It is worth noting that some of the specific benefits one organisation may receive from ISO 14001 certification can differ to how another company may benefit from it, due to the specifics of their operations.

It is therefore recommended that businesses contact an ISO 14001 consulting company to discuss some of the environmental management challenges they are experiencing, and how an EMS could help them successfully address these issues.

Our specialist consultants are here to help

If you would like to know more about how an EMS can help your company manage and control environmental risks, and strengthen its operations in the process, then please contact our specialist consultants today by email at sales@anitechgroup.com or by phone on 1300 802 163 for a short, obligation-free discussion. All you need to do is tell them about your business, and some of the environmental challenges it is aiming to address, and they will be able to talk you through the specifics of ISO 14001 certification, clearly explaining how this step-by-step process will benefit your operations. After this, they can arrange for one of our specialists to work closely with your company at implementing these standards, to ensure the goals you have set for your company are reached, and that your business develops a strong reputation as a socially conscious company. Wouldn’t you like to know more about that?

Please click here to read more about how ISO 14001 certification improves work environments.