Monitoring and Measurment Programme for ISO 14001 Based Environmental Management Systems

Abstract

All organizations have their impacts on the natural environment either through the use of natural resources or through generation of wastes. However, organization’s can achieve control over their environmental impacts by adoption of an environmental management system (EMS) approach. EMS approach is a systematic way for identification and management of the environmental aspects responsible for the impacts (1). ISO 14001 specifies the requirements of an environmental management system. Environmental management system (EMS) of an organization must meet these requirements in order to achieve ISO 14001 certification by a third party (1). According to ISO 14001(2), environmental management system (EMS) is defined as the part of an organization’s management system that includes organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources used to develop and implement its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects. ISO 14001(2004) has seventeen elements that should be included in the environmental management system. These elements are categorized under plan, do, check and act (PDCA cycle) (2). Monitoring and measurement is one of these seventeen elements and comes under the check phase of PDCA cycle (2). Please see figure-1 for details. ISO 14001(1996) has been similar to ISO 14001:2004 except that it has a separate clause on environmental management programme(s) and has clubbed the clause related to monitoring and measurement with the clause related to evaluation of compliance (3). Development and implementation of a well planned and structured monitoring and measurement programme can help in the optimal use of available resources and can provide information that could be effectively used for future environmental performance improvement of the organization. The present study conceptualizes a generic monitoring and measurement programme for ISO 14001 based environmental management systems. This programme is applicable to process industries. Further, a monitoring and measurement programme has been developed for a selected industrial plant (milk plant) as a case study.