Optional Environmental Management System (EMS) Information

DNR would like to know of companies using formal Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and have made the investment to have those systems certified/audited by third parties. Initiatives are ongoing at both the state and national level to recognize the environmental gains that can be realized through these systems. Work is also being done to try to understand how these systems can influence the direction for decision making on environmental issues and the direction that environmental policy should go. Consequently, for these reasons we are including the two question optional survey in Internet web reporting product. We ask you to fill out this survey even if you filled it out in prior years.

The Environmental Management Systems we seek to identify are those that meet the requirements of ISO 14001 or are equivalent to ISO 14001. An equivalent environmental management system would include:

1. An environmental policy.
2. Complete environmental aspects and impacts.
3. Plans to achieve, maintain, and exceed environmental requirements.
4. Identification of environmental legal requirements.
5. Objectives and plans to meet them.
6. Operational control and responsibility for environmental performance.
7. Employee environmental training programs.
8. Preventive, corrective and emergency action plans.
9. Communication plans for environmental issues.
10. Document control and record keeping of environmental performance.
11. Audits of the environmental management systems.
12. Senior management review.

Others systems that could be equivalent include the Natural Step, environmental systems based on the Baldrige Award Criteria or Quality Management Systems that have been adapted to include the elements listed above.

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