In the field of health and safety, management systems such as OHSAS 18001 are becoming more common. A systematic approach to some aspects of health and safety management is a legal requirement in England and Wales (see Health and Safety Summary Sheet A10).
Many organisations recognise the common elements of quality, health and safety, and environmental management systems. For the sake of efficiency, integrating these systems makes sense. Staff will also find the documents and procedures easier to use if they have the same layout and functions in all the systems.
With modern computer-based documentation, it is relatively easy to move between different documents via hyperlinks. As long as there is clear cross-referencing, duplication of written material in, for example, health and safety and environmental systems can be avoided.
For example, written procedures regarding how to deal with spills need not be documented in both an environmental and a health and safety management system. It could exist in the health and safety system documentation with a clear cross reference or even a hyperlink from the environmental management system.
Keeping it simple
Any written procedures in an environmental management system should be kept as simple as possible. For example, ISO14001 stipulates that there should be written procedures for those aspects of an organisation’s activities which may bring about significant environmental impacts (see below for definitions of the main EMS terminology). However, it does not require written procedures for all aspects of an organisation’s activities.
Some companies model their EMS documents and procedures on old quality management systems or on those which work well in other organisations. Often these procedures are excessively complicated and may create more problems than they solve.