EMS Service Package

Our service package includes the following:

An Altech professional will conduct a walk-through review of your facilities in order to obtain the information necessary to evaluate the plant’s environmental aspects and identify the legal requirements and compliance tasks that apply to your plant. For most facilities the site visit typically takes half a day to complete.

Clause 4.3.1 is one of the most important clauses of the standard and requires an organization to: 1) identify the environmental aspects associated with its operations and evaluate which aspects have a significant impact on the environment; 2) consider aspects determined to be significant in setting environmental objectives and targets; and 3) keep the identified environmental aspects up to date.

Altech will identify and evaluate the plant’s environmental aspects and impacts to determine which aspects are significant. In assessing the plant’s aspects consideration will be given to:

• normal and abnormal conditions;
• current operations and planned changes;
• degree of control and/or influence over the aspects; and
• positive and negative impacts of the aspects.

In evaluating the significance of the aspects, consideration shall be given to both the environmental and business concerns. These will include:

• probability of occurrence;
• the severity of the environmental impact;
• potential regulatory exposure or legal liabilities;
• public or stakeholder concern; and 
• the cost of reducing the impact.

There are a number of different approaches to determining the aspect significance. We will select one that best suits your organization.

Clause 4.3.2 of the standard requires that you identify and have access to environmental legal requirements that apply to your organization (e.g., environmental regulations) and "other" requirements that the organization has adopted (e.g., corporate standards, or industry code of practice). This requirement together with your plant’s significant environmental aspects form the foundation for your EMS. Registrars often expect that you will have documented the specific sections of the regulations that apply to your plant and the associated tasks needed to ensure on-going compliance.

Based on the walk-through review of your facilities, Altech will identify all Federal, Provincial and Municipal legal requirements and summarize the compliance tasks that apply to your plant. The review will include any internal corporate standards or external codes of practice that may apply.

Please note that this task is not an environmental compliance audit as defined by CAN/CSA ISO 14010-96, Guidelines for Environmental Auditing. Periodic evaluation of compliance with the regulations is required under Clause 4.5.1 of the standard, however, often this can be done after certification is obtained. Some companies choose to have a third party consultant conduct a compliance audit as a baseline for on-going measurement. We have Certified Environmental Auditors on staff and would be pleased to discuss this requirement with you in more detail.

In meeting the requirements of Clause 4.3.2 and expectations of the registrar, an organization is expected to have the means in place to track changes in the legal requirements, and reflect these changes in the EMS.

Based on the information obtained from the site walk-through and assessment of the legal requirements that apply to your plant, Altech will monitor changes to the legal requirements that may impact your plant. On a quarterly basis, we will provide you with written confirmation of any proposed or implemented changes to the legal requirements (or lack thereof), and make recommendations on appropriate revisions to your EMS.

Four hours of consulting support is included in our service package. This is intended to put expert advice at your finger tips when you need it the most. You will benefit from our experience in working with many other clients who have implemented EMS programs and our consultants can usually provide quick answers to questions that may otherwise take you hours to resolve. This time may also be used towards conducting an on-site training workshop to review the legal requirements, compliance tasks and results of the environmental aspects assessment.

For more information about our EMS Service Package, please contact us by email at info@altech-group.com, or by phone at 416-467-5555.