Today’s Environment is sponsored by EMS Documentation Services . Our focus is on helping our customers with the implementation of their environmental management system, which includes documentation, training and support services.
Should you have any questions about the information provided, please feel free to contact me by email at: customerservice@emsdocumentationservices.com As always, your comments and suggestions are appreciated.
Regards,
George Andersen
To ensure that your EMS is well understood and operating as designed, you must provide adequate information to the people doing the work. There also may be external parties that want to understand how your EMS is designed and implemented, such as customers, regulators, lending institutions, registrars and the public. For these reasons, the various processes that make up your EMS should be documented. Keep in mind the adage: Easy to read and understand equals easy to implement.
The EMS Manual (or description document)
A “road map” or description that summarizes how the pieces of the EMS fit together can be a very useful tool. This roadmap generally takes the form of an EMS manual. An EMS manual is a series of explanations of the processes your organization implements to conform to the EMS criteria & elements. While you don’t need to maintain a single “manual” that contains all of your EMS documentation, you should maintain a summary of the EMS that:
• describes the system’s core elements (and how the elements relate to each other), and
• provides direction to related documentation.
In addition to the EMS manual, your organization should maintain other documentation of its EMS. First, you should document the processes used to meet the EMS criteria. (For example, “How do we identify environmental aspects?” “How do we implement corrective actions?”) This documentation generally takes the form of system procedures. In addition, you might maintain area-or activity-specific documentation (such as work instructions) that instructs employees on how to carry out certain operations or activities.
EMS documentation is related to (but not the same as) EMS records. EMS documentation describes what your system consists of (i.e., what you do and how you do it), while EMS records demonstrate that you are doing what the documentation said you would do.
Rule of thumb:
Try to keep the EMS description document (or manual) to no more than one page per EMS element.
Use flow charts or other graphics where they help explain the linkages from one system element to another
You can maintain EMS documentation either on paper or electronically. There may be some advantages to maintaining documents electronically, such as ease of updating, controlling access, and ensuring that all readers are using the most up-to-date versions of documents.
For more information about your Environmental Management Manual send me an email at: GeorgeWAndersen@gmail.com or customerservice@emsdocumentationservices.com or go to our web site at: www.emsdocumentationservices.com
Posted by George Andersen 
