EHS Services - Management Systems Implementation

Introduction. Strong management systems are critical to maintaining ongoing compliance and implementing EHS improvements within an organization. By implementing systems that function effectively and that 'fit' the people, culture, and expectations of the organization, the organization can help minimize its environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risks and achieve lasting improvements in EHS performance.

Implementation. In the drive for ever increasing efficiency, environmental, health, and safety activities are coming under scrutiny. Examining existing management systems from a process effectiveness standpoint is a way to identify inefficiencies and perhaps even gaps in the systems. We have worked with several Fortune 500 companies to "redesign" their EHS processes to be more efficient and effective. In the case of a carbon products manufacturer, the redesign project, conducted jointly with a client team, resulted in changes to streamline environmental compliance monitoring and shift resources to more proactive activities. Our approach to these assignments often involves working with a client team so that they can learn process assessment and redesign skills and help us to ensure that the recommendations are appropriate and will be supported internally. Additional information can be found elsewhere on this site about KCI's implementation services.

ISO 14001. ISO 14001 is becoming a well-established tool to develop a formalized environmental management system that can be verified by a third party. In addition to our assessment/audit services, we can provide guidance and hands-on assistance to help implement the required elements of a management system that meets the requirements of the ISO standard. This includes assistance in areas such as environmental aspects evaluation, procedure development, training, auditing, and management review.

The Information Technology Connection. An important aspect of effective and efficient EHS management systems today is the integration of information technology and software tools. Increasingly, proper use of information technology and software within an organization can help save time and money by streamlining how information gets managed and communicated throughout an organization. Our consultants have extensive experience developing such tools and, most importantly, helping organizations integrate those tools within their current management systems.

Our Qualifications. Our consultants have helped companies, facilities, and individual sites design, develop, and implement EHS management systems within many different types of organizations. To better understand our experience in this area, review descriptions of projects we've conducted in the areas of implementation experience and information technology.