President

Process improvements that are realized within a well-executed environmental management system (EMS) can add more value to the company than the traditional environment, health and safety compliance program. ISO 14001 is an international standard that sets the minimum standards for such an EMS. The process improvements are based in the environmental management programs (EMP’s) within this standard. The Systems Approach to Process Improvement (featured in Chapter 4 of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s publication, “An Organizational Guide to Pollution Prevention”) can be used to help measure the value of the EMS to the organization through its process focus and unique accounting sheets. Using the Baldrige Performance Excellence Model, a company can use the same information and analysis methods for the EMS as management uses to operate the business. Furthermore, the EMS Steering Committee can score the EMS results to document the amount of continual improvement that has been realized by this program. These two methodologies help make process information visible and understandable to management, employees and other interested parties. Using these methodologies doe