Going green just got easier with EMS Easy
Environmental charity Global Action Plan is now delivering EMS Easy training in the UK enabling
companies of all sizes to achieve internationally recognised standards - ISO14001 or EMAS.
The idea behind EMS Easy is that it simplifies the process of certification by replacing a paper-based
approach to managing environmental performance, with something more visual and intuitive, which
takes as its starting-point ‘what is happening on the ground’.
The toolkit is showing that the entire management system documentation can be a tenth of that of any
other system and implementation using EMS Easy typically takes four to nine months, compared with
the usual 15 to 18 months.
Four of Global Action Plan’s clients have achieved ISO14001 using the toolkit in the past year – none
of them employing more than 50 staff – dispelling the myth that environmental management standards
are the sole preserve of large organizations. Thomas Store, Senior Sustainable Business consultant
at Global Action Plan said:
“It is actually easier for small businesses to achieve ISO14001. At the end of the day, their operations
are simpler, there is less bureaucracy, less management levels, less hierarchy, less employees to get
on board.”
No business is too small to achieve ISO14001, Global Action Plan currently have one client who runs
a website-based company from her bedroom.
Previously businesses needed substantial spare staff capacity and/or to buy in consultancy time.
EMS Easy reduces staff and consultancy time needed and subsequently reduces the cost of
implementation. EMS Easy is also proving to be much easier for businesses to understand and,
importantly, engages staff more effectively, increasing the chances of successful accreditation.
Another option for businesses was to use the phased implementation approach according to the
British standard BS8555 where by companies could split up implementation of ISO14001 and get
recognition on the way. EMS Easy takes a company directly to ISO14001, potentially in less time than
needed normally and without the additional certification costs BS8555 can entail.
EMS Easy is all about making permanent and lasting change in the workplace and this involves
changing attitudes and behaviour. Implementing such change in the workplace has many direct
benefits as already discussed but it also has other “softer” benefits. Staff feel more valued and
included in business decisions and by changing their behaviour they also start to make changes at
home.
The EMS Easy toolkit was developed by Heinz Werner Engel as part of an EU funded programme to
enable companies, of all sizes, to achieve environmental certification to ISO14001 and the European
standard EMAS in a straightforward and simple way.
Global Action Plan is a training organisation for EMS Easy and worked with 35 clients so far, more
than any other EMS Easy registered UK organisation.
For more information contact:
Emma Bangar
Marketing Manager
Global Action Plan
t - 020 7025 3821 | e - (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | w - http://www.globalactionplan.org.uk
September 09 2009
