• Implementing an EMS to meet environmental objectives that include training of employees, establishing work instructions and practices, and establishing the actual metrics by which the objectives and targets will be measured.
• Auditing the operation of the EMS.
• Taking corrective actions when deviations from the EMS occur.
Conclusion
ISO 14001 standards on air, water and soil quality, and on emissions of gases and radiation, contribute to preserving the environment in which we all live and work. The U.S. environmental Protection Agency (EPA) now offers a guide entitled “Environmental Management Systems (EMS) : An Implementation Guide for Small and Medium Sized Organizations” The Guide offers a plain-English, commonsense guide to becoming ISO 14001 certified. Not being ISO14001 certified can be a strategic disadvantage for towns, counties, and companies as people today expect organizations to minimize or even better, eliminate environmental harm the cause.
The explosion of the internet into the workplace has raised many new ethical questions in organizations today.
The “E-Commerce Perspective” focuses on business ethics issues related to the Internet. Merely having a code of ethics, however, is not sufficient to ensure ethical business behavior. A code of ethics can be viewed as a public relations gimmick, a set of platitudes, or window dressing. To ensure that the code is read, understood, believed, and remembered, organizations need to conduct periodic ethics workshops to sensitize people to workplace circumstances in which ethics issues may arise. If employees see examples of punishment for violating the code rewards for upholding the code, this helps reinforce the importance of a firm’s code of ethics.