The general approach to EHS management as per international standards ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 is based on the methodology called "Plan-Do-Check-Act" (PDCA), made popular by W. Edwards Deming. A new ISO 45001 standard is due to be released in 2015 that covers Health and Safety and likely to replace OHSAS 18001. PDCA in the EHS context can briefly be described as follows:
Plan - document the organisation's overall EHS aims and objectives in a policy statement, identify and register environmental aspects and impacts and occupational health and safety risks as well as regulatory requirements.
Do - define EHS objectives and targets, implement suitable strategic initiatives to deliver results in accordance with the organisation's EHS policy and legal requirements.
Check - monitor and measure the results against policy, objectives, targets and legal and other requirements.
Act - take action to continually improve the performance of the EHS management system.