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Establishing Objectives & Targets
Any worthwhile
Environmental Management System (EMS) will have at its core objectives and
targets or goals with metrics. Most EMS models stipulate that these
objectives be developed, managed, tracked and communicated. Simply, these
objectives will detail what an organization intends to do to improve its
environmental performance, and provide an objective measurement to insure
that the goal is met. When an EMS is initiated, there is typically an
abundance of low hanging fruit that can serve as objectives and targets
that can be easily plucked. This is important so that the system can
demonstrate initial success, and the organization can practice and learn
how to effectively manage environmental projects. Management can see
these readily achieved goals as a stepping-stone to tackling the more
complex or costly environmental issues that may face an organization.
The ISO 14001
Standard requires that an organization consider a number of variables when
establishing objectives and targets. In practice, the following questions
should all be considered in the process used to establish objectives and
targets:
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Compliance Issues: Does the objective address an area that is not in
compliance with regulations? Will it create a new compliance issue?
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Significant Environmental Impacts: Does the objective relate to an
impact your system has determined to be significant?
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Technology: What are the technical options for modifying or
replacing existing equipment or processes?
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Financial
Limitations: Will the objectives fit into the operating budget of
the organization?
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Personnel
Resources: Does the organization have the people to implement and
manage the project?
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Operational Requirements: Will the objective enhance (or decrease)
productivity or streamline the environmental activities?
A good method
that could simplify the process of establishing objectives is to create a
template listing these and other pertinent questions. The real work
behind developing the objectives is to research and answer these
questions, which can prove to be a time consuming task. A good example
would be establishing the cost of equipment and installation versus return
on investment for various technical options. This could require
significant effort, not always with the anticipated result. Another
interesting facet of this process is that targets can either be exceeded
or fall short. In the case of an objective not meeting expectations, or
being prohibitive due to a lack of resources, it must be kept in mind that
the effort expended was not a total waste. In an ISO EMS, most auditors
can accept an objective not meeting the target if the effort was made to
follow through using the established project management procedures, and
document these activities. Simply put, some projects don’t work out the
way you plan them, yet you should still take credit for having made the
attempt.
Another
question that often arises is how many targets and objectives should my
organization be pursuing at one time? The straightforward answer to that
would be to base it on the resources of your company, especially when it
comes to people. There is no strict requirement in the ISO 14001 Standard
that all significant environmental impacts need to be simultaneously
addressed by an objective and target in order to reduce them. Some
impacts are simply technically or financially not feasible for an
organization to address. A good strategy may be to address one feasible,
technically complex project related to a significant impact coupled with
addressing less technical issues that could involve the general population
of an organization. In this strategy, the technical staff would be
pursuing what they do best while involvement in continual environmental
improvement could be shared with people that want to do something
positive, but lack the necessary skills to perform complex environmental
tasks such as redesigning a piece of equipment or a process to reduce an
impact. Typical projects that could involve anyone with a willingness to
participate would be recycling or community clean-up activities. These
could also be linked into the communication element of the system, in
dealing with shared environmental issues with neighbors of an
organization.
Involvement in
the EMS by as many employees as possible is key to the long-term success
of the system. People need to feel that they can contribute to the
success of the system, rather than just hearing about the efforts of the
environmental or process engineering departments. The morale improvement
associated with these short-term non-technically driven projects should
not be underestimated. Involvement in “feel good” projects that offer
recognition to employees will enhance the importance of the EMS in the
organization. Most companies want their employees to believe they are
doing the right thing towards the environment, and these sorts of
activities will serve to enhance those beliefs. The environmental
reputation of an organization truly begins with its employees, and can
play a role in future expansion, recruitment of top caliber staff, and
global image. Complex, long-term projects that don’t necessarily involve
the general population can potentially benefit the environment by reducing
a significant impact, but the technical details are often not well
understood and the extended time line typical of these projects could
cause interest in the EMS to wane if these were the only types of
objectives under consideration.
A pitfall that
organizations should be aware of is to not take on more objectives or
establish goals beyond the resources available. The idea that an
organization should have multiple complex objectives and targets in order
to satisfy a register may be risky without sufficient resources being
dedicated to the task. There is a fine line for an organization between
over commitment and doing what you can with what may be available. By
establishing objectives and targets beyond the capabilities of an
organization, you could be setting the stage for failure, which would
subsequently paint the EMS in a negative light to both the management of
an organization, and the general population, who would view the system as
ineffective at making progress. An organization has to ‘live within its
means” when establishing objectives and targets, but continually should
strive to consider alternatives and unique methods to approach
opportunities to improve that may exist.
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