BS8555 - British Standard 8555
I wanted a breakdown of BS8555 and the Loreus software shows this very well. I hope to make good use of it.
BS 8555 was established to help breakdown an environmental management system into manageable sections (or phases). Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) lack the resources of larger organisations and therefore may choose to implement parts of an EMS or put an EMS in place in stages inline with BS 8555. There are schemes which give guidance for the staged implementation of an EMS. For example, in the UK, there is the British Standard BS 8555:2003, which is a guidance standard, not a specification standard, to the phased implementation of an EMS including the use of environmental performance evaluation.
This provides guidance and recommendations for implementing an EMS in six manageable phases (see right to learn more about the phases). The introduction of this standard has allowed businesses that do not posses the resources to gain European or International certification or implement a fully fledged EMS, but have made progress in environmental management to receive acknowledgement of their efforts.
Phase 1
The aim of phase 1 is to review your current operations, identify improvements and prepare for their implementation by conducting a Baseline Review. Loreus Review package will help you in doing this and generate improvement action plans.
Loreus Review software will help you in doing this and generate improvement action plans.
Phase 2
To achieve this phase you will need to develop procedures for identifying, accessing and complying with legal and other requirements such as industry standards.
Phase 3
Develops upon the initial objectives, targets and programs identified in phase 1, ready for implementation of the processes and procedures in phase 4. Using the review action plans from phase 1, you are required to assess the significance your company’s aspects.
Loreus Significance Calculator can assits you in this process.
Phase 4
The management structure for operating the EMS should be clearly defined. The next step is to identify all the people who will be involved with the EMS and assign roles and responsibilities, and provide appropriate specialist training. Documentation handling and control procedures have to be developed and be operational by phase 4.
Loreus Trainer and Loreus Document Control can aid in this process.
Phase 5
Its function is to check that procedures are being followed and that the EMS is effective. Audit procedures need to be developed and staff trained in auditing techniques. Once this is done a programme can be developed to systematically audit all aspects of the EMS. A procedure is also required to identify, correct and prevent non-conformances.
Phase 6
Your organisation’s EMS should now be fully functional and delivering the objectives and targets set out in the policy. It is at this point that you should seek to have your EMS certified.
ISO 14001 (International) and EMAS (European) Standards
Copies of the standard can be obtained from the British Standards Institution (BSI) website www.bsi-global.com.
