subject: Environmental Management Systems: Building Your Green Team [print this page] Who recognizes the environmental skills of all the contractors working on a project? Who looks after construction activities to guarantee suitable control procedures are effective and in place? Who reviews and boosts process statements for environmental factors before commencing any work? Each and every organization, particularly one which works with complex and high-risk projects - such as a construction business, for instance, needs distinct roles and accountabilities for the primary people tasked to impose environmental management systems.
In case a company's organizational chart doesn't explain each employee's obligations and functions within the company, ineffectiveness will ensue, which is most likely followed by disorder. Whenever something bad happens like grievances from other businesses about construction noise and vibration, or waste management methods weren't followed, someone either has to be in control of handling the problem or be held responsible for it. Otherwise, such situations that hold up work and incur costs will continue to happen. When someone is assigned to handle and check every factor of the job relating to your construction company's environmental effects, everyone works better.
Plan. Do. Check. Act. Each step of the company's environmental management system requires the necessary personnel to make sure the project is carried out and delivered based on environmental regulation and your organization's own rules.
As an example, your project environmental manager is responsible for coordinating and handling all the environmental functions all through the construction phase. He develops and assesses your construction environmental management plan. He tracks construction activities performance and determines environmental competence and standards for all of the staff working on the project. He accomplishes overall monitoring of the programme for environmental works, environmental audit of subcontractors and suppliers, and performs several duties that concern liaising with the client's environmental manager, the project's public officer, and the construction team.
In the meantime, your site environmental representative will be directly involved in dealing with and organizing environmental activities on-site. That individual will be reporting to your project environmental manager. He'll help the manager in developing and upholding your construction environmental management plan (CEMP). He'll perform weekly (or as advised in your CEMP) site inspections, ascertain actions necessary, and recognize instruction requirements as well as give it when needed. He will check out and sort out complaints. He's going to pass information about waste management practices.
All environmental management systems begin with making or drafting your construction company's regulations. Such policies, as identified by ISO 14001, must be communicated to all the staff and suppliers to guarantee that everyone works in line with those policies. Monitoring, documentation, and compliance audits - it takes a good green team to utilize the guidelines of environmental management. Make certain your team is well-informed and well-trained so that your construction projects wholly profit by adopting a certified EMS.
