Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
Level 5
Introduction
Unit 5
EMS Documentation


An environmental management manual needs to be created to support the organisations EMS. The manual either contains or signposts all the relevant documents that make up the EMS, such as the policy and procedures. The organisation must also control these documents so that everyone works from the same documents. In this respect, a formal EMS applies the same principles to documents as the quality system ISO 9000.

Why is documentation required?

  • principal source of reference about the organisations EMS

  • gives instructions to the relevant personnel in the form of written procedures and work instructions

  • provides a framework for assessors, which they can use to assess the level of compliance with an environmental standard

If a company has an ISO 9000 quality system, many of the quality procedures which deal with maintaining the system can be used by the EMS with minor modifications. In writing procedures for the EMS it is important to keep the number of documents to a minimum and only have those that are necessary. Avoid bureaucracy. Even if a company does not have formal quality system, the number of procedures needed should from general experience not exceed twenty. Companies certified to ISO 9000 should only have to produce around a dozen procedures from scratch.

Why is documentation controlled?

  • Documents are kept in a specified location so that they are not lost and can be located by all personnel

  • Provides a process for reviewing and revising procedures where necessary, and ensures that revisions are authorised and approved before they are implemented

  • Where more than one copy of the same document is maintained on site, current versions of that document should be available in each location

  • Obsolete documents should be promptly removed from all points of issue and points of use, or otherwise treated in a way which prevents accidental use

  • Any obsolete documents retained for legal or other reasons should be marked in such a way that they are obviously not the current versions

  • All EMS documentation must be legible, dated (with dates of revision) and readily identifiable, maintained in an orderly manner and retained for a specified period