Environmental Management Systems (EMS)


Overview/Description
Target Audience
Prerequisites
Expected Duration
Lesson Objectives
Course Number


Overview/Description
Historically, companies have managed their own environmental challenges in response to external pressure from government agencies, environmental interest groups, and citizens focusing mainly on regulatory compliance. Today, companies recognize the importance of sound environmental management practices that result in economic gain. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies. International standards covering environmental management are intended to provide organizations with the elements of an effective environmental management system (EMS) that can be integrated with other management requirements and help organizations achieve environmental and economic needs. The standards require that 'each organization shall establish, document, implement, maintain, and continually improve an environmental management system in accordance with the requirements of the international standard and determine how it will fulfill these requirements.' Additionally, all employees and contractors of ISO 14001 certified companies must be aware of the importance of conformance with the company's environmental policy, the roles and responsibilities associated with achieving conformance to the environmental policy (including preparedness and response requirements), and the potential consequences of departure from specified operating procedure. In this course, learners will be introduced to the important concepts of EMS and find out how these apply to their own company's EMS. Skillsoft Corporation is not affiliated with or sponsored by the ISO and does not have a relationship with the ISO. As such, Skillsoft is not authorized or approved to act on behalf of the ISO, and is not authorized by ISO to sell or deliver ISO owned products or services. The course was developed and reviewed with subject matter support provided by certified subject matter experts and industry professionals. Please note, the course materials and content were current with the laws and regulations at the time of the last expert review, however, they may not reflect the most current legal developments. Nothing herein, or in the course materials, shall be construed as professional advice as to any particular situation with respect to compliance with legal statutes or requirements.

Target Audience
All employees and contractors of companies that are, or are working toward becoming, ISO 14001 certified

Prerequisites
None

Expected Duration (hours)
0.9

Lesson Objectives

Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

  • identify key concepts about the importance of environmental awareness to business
  • identify key concepts related to ISO 14001
  • identify the stages of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle of an EMS and examples of activities performed at each
  • identify examples of environmental aspects or impacts
  • recognize the requirements for setting objectives for an EMS
  • identify key components for implementing an EMS according to ISO 14001
  • identify ISO 14001 requirements related to operational procedures and control
  • identify the types of procedures required to monitor, measure, analyze, and evaluate company operations that are required to meet ISO 14001 requirements
  • differentiate between preventive and corrective actions for dealing with nonconformities
  • identify key activity areas associated with acting on an EMS to ensure continuous improvement
  • Course Number:
    ehs_hsf_d64_sh_enus