An essential component of implementing any management system is to nominate a person to be responsible for establishing, implementing and maintaining the system. In order for implementation process to run smoothly, this person needs to be given the appropriate authority to resolve any issues involved in the process and delegate tasks where required.
ISO 14001, 4.4.1 requires that a person(s) be appointed and that this person has responsibility and authorities for :
- Ensuring environmental management system requirements are established, implemented and maintained.
- Reporting on the performance of the environmental management system to top management for review and as a basis for the improvement of the environmental management system.
An appropriate person to implement an environmental management system should have knowledge of both the activities of the company and of the environmental issues.
2. Establish an Implementation Team
It is recommended a team of enthusiastic people be established to assist the environmental management representative throughout the implementation process. Clear terms of reference must be defined for the implementation team.
These people should from the main resource for getting the message out to the rest of the organisation. It is therefore vital that upper management supports the efforts of the implementation team.
It is recommended that this team be retained as an environmental committee after the implementation process has been completed to continue promotion and motivation of the system, and ensure commitment to the system is maintained.
The team may include :
- people who have shown an interest and whose assistance will be of benefit in the smooth introduction of the environmental management system;
- a representative from each key function so that all parts of the organisation are represented and participating;
- the quality and occupational, health and safety managers; and
- communication or training personnel.
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