Without the involvement and commitment of top management, the EMS will flounder because without the decision making processes, resource allocation, priority setting and business measurements, it will be difficult to achieve the integrated management system that is needed. Also, if top management is keen and involved, this will be passed on to other managers and employees and momentum will build up behind the EMS implementation programme.

To obtain the commitment of top management, the objective is to raise awareness of the issues at senior management level and obtain agreement of the proposed course of action. The mange

Raising the awareness of top management is best done through a formal presentation by the Management Representative. The presentation should be given at a relevant executive management meeting, and it may be necessary to schedule the presentation on an agenda. The outcome of the presentation is not only to raise awareness, but also to get commitment to a implementing an EMS.

The Step-by-Step Approach to Planning an EMS Raising Awareness Presentation Give the presentation a relevant title that will catch the attention of the audience Keep in mind the desired outcome Say what is going to be said, say it, and tell them what was said Start by detailing the present position of the company and the pressures it faces to improve its environmental performance: is there any recent or planned legislation that will affect the company, recent court cases that are relevant, peer pressure from within the industry, or enquiries from customers, etc.? what is the environmental performance of the company, have there been any environmental incidents on site, are there any areas of environmental risk? Then clearly describe why the above issues are a problem to the company: try to put a cost on the present poor environmental performance what will be the affects on the activities on operations of the company, or the products and services it offers, clean up costs and risk of heavy fines, lost opportunities and savings, etc.? state the benefits clearly of progressing with an EMS, e.g. cost savings, new business, etc. Next outline the options open to the company to tackle the problems: what will the consequences be if the company do nothing, or should the company do everything and what will it cost, or implement an ISO 14001 or EMAS management system that will allow the company to manage its significant environmental impacts? Finally, put forward a firm proposal so that the executive management team know what they have to consider: list the step-by-step actions that need to undertaken to implement an EMS and achieve certification/registration to ISO 14001 or EMAS. It is important to ensure that management understand that there are three phases in developing a working EMS which is externally recognised: 1) implementation, 2) certification, and 3) on-going improvements The Management Representative should be ready to listen to any concerns and answer any questions. In the end the decision to proceed has to be made by the directors who will own the system.