Why an EMS?
Why would a PWB company like H-R Industries decide to seek ISO 14001 certification? Before initiating its EMS, H-R had a good environmental compliance program and was active in implementing environmental projects to move the company beyond compliance. These programs were working well; however, they were strictly the domain of the Environmental, Health and Safety staff. Without widespread integration of these programs into other departments in the compnay, further environmental improvements were going to be hard to achieve. H-R Industries viewed an EMS as the way to incorporate environmental management into all levels of company operations and decision-making processes. Since implementing their EMS, awareness of environmental issues has risen in all employees, from the CEO to workers on the shop floor. Other benefits of establishing an EMS have included: • long-term economic benefit of balancing and integrating economic and environmental interests • consolidation of all environmental pr
