Environmental Management
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Nowadays, environmental protection is carried out with the aid of environmental management systems. An Environmental Management System (EMS) is part of the overall management of an organization that includes organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, and processes for effective environmental protection. The CERN EMS is based on the ISO14000 standards. An efficient
EMS
is equally important as technical measures taken to protect the environment.
The basic philosophy of the CERN EMS is continual improvement. The system itself is subject to periodic audits to evaluate its effectiveness and to highlight any areas needing improvement. The criteria for effectiveness concern reaching environmental objectives and examining how human and material resources have been used.
The system is organized into five basic elements, which are illustrated in the figure below. The brief description of the EMS of CERN is given in the Environmental Management System Manual.
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Policy
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The first basic element is the Environmental Policy in which CERN declares the main directions of its activities concerning the environmental protection.
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Planning
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The second main element includes activities, procedures, and knowledge needed for Planning.
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First, the Environmental Aspects and Impacts of the Organization are identified and assessed. The information is kept in the Environmental Aspects and Impacts Register, the latter is updated regularly;
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Second, a Legal Frame and the legal obligations corresponding to the identified Environmental Aspects and Impacts are defined;
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Third, based on the identification and evaluation of the Environmental Aspects and Impacts, Environmental Objectives are defined, which are in turn achieved by Environmental Programmes.
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Implementation & Operation
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The third main element - Implementation and Operation - defines structure and responsibilities within the Organization set up to achieve the aims of the environmental policy. It also includes procedures to control environmentally sensitive activities and procedures to deal with emergency situations. In this element, the way documents are controlled, the communication means and the training organization are described.
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Checking & Corrective Action
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The fourth main element - Checking and Corrective Action - is the feedback element. It concerns the monitoring programmes set up to check the actual environmental performance of the Organization. It also concerns the Audit of the system which is carried out to assess how the
EMS
is actually implemented. In cases of identified non-comformities corrective actions are triggered to restore the situation.
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Management Review
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The last EMS main element is the Management Review, which is substantial for the
EMS
continual improvement. The Management Review is carried out periodically to revise the environmental policy and environmental objectives of the Organization as well as to determine and allocate the resources needed.
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CERN
EMS
elements and their interrelations:
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