Guide to Developing an Environmental Management System - Act

Background

Building an Environmental Management System (EMS) might sound like an overwhelming task for a smaller organization, but it need not be. Taken in steps, it is a job that small and medium-sized organizations can tackle. The content on these pages will take you through basic steps as they are outlined in the 2001 Second Edition of Environmental Management Systems: An Implementation Guide for Small and Medium Sized Organizations. This page pulls out particular steps from the "Act" section of the Guide, and points back to specific pages in the guide to fill out worksheets and get additional materials.

Act: Reviewing, including progress reviews and acting to make needed changes to the EMS

This stage continues the step-by-step action plan for developing and implementing the elements of an EMS. At this point in the EMS Cycle, you may have identified problems with your EMS and should act to resolve these issues. One approach, management reviews, is discussed below.

Conducting Management Reviews
Use the results of your internal audits (along with other information on the EMS) to conduct regular management reviews. The management of your organization should consider the need for any changes to the EMS based on your review, and make assignments for any revisions needed. Such assignments should be consistent with the roles and responsibilities previously established. After acting on the results of the management review, tasks performed in the "Plan" stage should be revisited, thus continuing the "full circle" process.