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Are you able to show the way that your company identifies external and internal issues that are
relevant to your organisation’s purpose and your ability to achieve the intended outcomes of your
environmental management system?
4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
c) Which of these needs and expectations it chooses to accept and so they become part of the
compliance obligations that your company subscribes to?
4.3 Determining the scope of the environmental management system
Does your organisation’s EMS scope clearly define the boundaries and applicability?
e) Your authority and ability to exercise control and influence over outsourced processes?
Once your scope has been defined, did you make sure that all activities, products and services within
that scope were included in your EMS?
Can you demonstrate that your organisation has documented the scope and made it available to all
interested parties?
4.4 Environmental management system
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
Has your organisation got a simple way to describe the interactions between the processes of your
EMS?
Can you show how your organisation considered the knowledge gained when implementing clauses 4.1
and 4.2 when establishing and maintaining your EMS?
5. Leadership
Responsibility can be delegated but Accountability cannot. Do top management take accountability for
the effectiveness of your EMS?
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Were your environmental policy and objectives set by top management and are they compatible with
the strategic direction and context of your organisation?
Do top management ensure that your EMS requirements are integrated into your business processes?
Are the resources needed for your EMS made available by top management?
Can you clearly see how your environmental policy is appropriate to the purpose and context of your
organisation, including the nature, scale and environmental impacts of your activities, products and
services?
Does your policy provide a framework for setting environmental objectives?
Does your policy include a commitment to the protection of the environment relevant to the context of
your organisation?
Does your policy include a commitment to fulfil its compliance obligations?
Are roles and responsibilities assigned by top management and communicated within your
organisation?
Have people been assigned to report to top management on the EMS’s performance?
6. Planning
6.1.1 General
a) The issues that you identified when you addressed clause 4.1?
b) The requirements of the interested parties that you determined when you addressed clause 4.2?
c) The scope of your EMS as determined when you addressed the requirements of clause 4.3?
f) The risks and opportunities identified that need to be addressed to give assurance that your EMS
can achieve its intended outcomes?
g) How to prevent, or reduce, undesired effects, including the potential for external environmental
conditions that may affect your organisation?
h) How to achieve continual improvement?
Within the scope of your EMS, does your organisation determine potential emergency situations,
including those that may have an environmental impact?
Does your organisation document:
b) The processes needed as a result of considering the clauses 6.1.1 to 6.1.4 to the extent necessary
to have confidence they are carried out as planned?
6.1.2 Environmental aspects
Within the defined scope of your EMS, does your organisation identify the environmental aspects of its
activities, products and services that it can control?
Within the defined scope of your EMS, does your organisation identify the environmental aspects of its
activities, products and services that it can influence?
Do you understand how to take into account the life-cycle perspective of your activities, products and
services?
When determining environmental aspects, does your organisation take into account:
a) Change, including planned or new developments and new or modified activities, products or
services?
b) Abnormal conditions and reasonably foreseeable emergency situations?
Does your organisation use clear criteria for determining those aspects that can have a significant
environmental impact?
Does your organisation document its:
Determine and have access to the compliance obligations related to its environmental aspects?
Take these compliance obligations into account when establishing, implementing, maintaining and
continually improving your EMS?
Does your organisation keep its compliance obligations in documented form?
b) Compliance obligations?
a) Integrate and implement the actions into your EMS processes or other business processes?
When planning these actions, does your organisation consider its technological options and its
financial, operational and business requirements?
6.2 Environmental objectives and planning to achieve them
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
Have you established, at the relevant levels within your organisation, environmental objectives that
take into account your environmental aspects, compliance obligations and identified risks and
opportunities?
b) Measurable?
c) Monitored?
d) Communicated?
e) Updated as appropriate?
f) Documented?
e) How the results will be measured and evaluated, including indicators for monitoring progress?
Does your organisation consider how actions to achieve its environmental objectives can be
integrated into your organisation’s business processes?
7. Support
7.1 Resources
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
a) Determine the necessary competence of person(s) doing work under its control that affects its
environmental performance and its ability to fulfil its compliance obligations?
b) Ensure that these persons are competent on the basis of appropriate education, training or
experience?
c) Determine training needs associated with your organisation’s environmental aspects and EMS?
d) Take actions to acquire the necessary competence and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions
that it took?
Does your organisation retain appropriate documented information as evidence of competence?
7.3 Awareness
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
Does your organisation ensure that persons doing work under your organisation’s control are aware of
the following:
a) The environmental policy?
b) The significant environmental aspects and related actual or potential environmental impacts
associated with their work?
c) Their contribution to the effectiveness of your EMS, including the benefits of enhanced
environmental performance?
d) The implications of not conforming with your EMS requirements, including not fulfilling your
organisation’s compliance obligations?
7.4 Communication
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
7.4.1 General
Does your organisation establish, implement and maintain the processes needed for internal and
external communications relevant to your EMS, including:
d) How to communicate?
a) Internally communicate information relevant to your EMS among the various levels and function
of your organisation, including changes to the EMS?
b) Ensure its communication processes enables persons doing work under your organisation’s
control to contribute to continual improvement?
7.4.3 External communications
7.5.1 General
b) The documented information that your organisation has decided it needs to ensure that the
EMS is effective?
7.5.2 Creating and updating
When creating and updating documented information, does your organisation ensure that it is
appropriately:
b) Formatted?
Is your organisation’s documented information (as required by your EMS and by the standard)
controlled to ensure that it is:
b) Adequately protected?
For the control of documented information, does your organisation address the following:
Is any documented information from outside your company, that you have determined to be
necessary for the planning and operation of your EMS, identified and controlled?
Does your organisation establish, implement, control and maintain the processes needed to meet your
EMS requirements and implement the actions identified in clauses 6.1 and 6.2 by:
a) Establishing operating criteria for the processes?
Can your organisation show that any planned changes happen in a controlled way and that the
consequences of any unintended changes are reviewed, taking action to mitigate any adverse effects,
as necessary?
Does your organisation ensure that outsourced processes are controlled or influenced?
Does your organisation define the type and extent of control or influence to be applied to the
outsourced processes within your EMS?
Consistent with the life-cycle perspective, does your organisation:
a) Establish controls to ensure its environmental requirements are addressed in the design and
development process for the product or service, considering each stage of its life cycle?
b) Determine its environmental requirements for the procurement of products and services?
Does your organisation establish, implement and maintain the processes needed to prepare for and
respond to potential emergency situations identified in clause 6.1.1?
Does your organisation:
e) Periodically review and revise the processes and planned response actions, in particular after
the occurrence of emergency situations or tests?
f) Provide relevant information and training related to emergency preparedness and response, as
appropriate, to relevant interested parties, including persons working under its control?
g) Maintain documented information to the extent necessary to have confidence that the
processes are carried out as planned?
9.1.1 General
Does your organisation monitor, measure, analyse and evaluate its environmental performance?
b) The methods for monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation, as applicable, to ensure
valid results?
c) The criteria against which your organisation will evaluate its environmental performance and
appropriate indicators?
d) When the monitoring and measurement shall be analysed and evaluated?
Does your organisation ensure that calibrated or verified monitoring and measurement equipment is
used and maintained?
Does your organisation evaluate its environmental performance and the effectiveness of your EMS?
Does your organisation communicate relevant environmental performance information both internally
and externally, as identified in its communication processes and as required by its compliance
obligations?
Does your organisation retain appropriate documented information as evidence of the monitoring,
measurement, analysis and evaluation results?
9.1.2 Evaluation of compliance
Does your organisation establish, implement and maintain the processes needed to evaluate fulfilment
of its compliance obligations?
Does your organisation retain documented information as evidence of the compliance evaluation
results?
9.2 Internal audit
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
9.2.1 General
Does your organisation conduct internal audits at planned intervals to provide information on
whether the EMS:
Does your organisation establish, implement and maintain an internal audit programme, including the
frequency, methods, responsibilities, planning requirements and reporting of its internal audits?
When establishing the internal audit programme, does your organisation take into consideration the
environmental importance of the processes concerned, changes affecting the organisation and the
results of previous audits?
Does your organisation:
b) Select auditors and conduct audits to ensure objectivity and the impartiality of the audit
process?
c) Ensure that the results of the audits are reported to relevant management?
Do top management review your organisation’s EMS, at planned intervals, to ensure its continuing
suitability, adequacy and effectiveness?
Does your management review include consideration of:
b) Changes in external and internal issues that are relevant to your EMS?
c) Changes in the needs and expectations of interested parties, including compliance obligations?
c) Decisions related to any need for changes to your EMS, including resources?
e) Opportunities to improve integration of your EMS with other business processes, if needed?
Does your organisation retain documented information as evidence of the results of management
reviews?
10 Improvement
10.1 General
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
Does your organisation determine opportunities for improvement and implement necessary action to
achieve the intended outcomes of your EMS?
10.2 Nonconformity and corrective action
Question: Yes/No: Reference/Link:
c) Evaluate the need for action to eliminate the cause of the nonconformity, so that it does not
recur or occur elsewhere, by:
1) reviewing nonconformity?
Are corrective actions appropriate to the significance of the effects of the non conformities
encountered, including the environmental impacts?