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EMS Definitions
EMS Manual Table
of Contents
Procedures
Table of Contents
The following definitions are used in our EMS Procedures and other documentation in our EMS. In addition, the impacts page contains definitions of our environmental impacts.
Activity/Product/Service - An activity is a natural or normal function of an organization. A product is what we produce. A service is performing any of the business functions auxiliary to our production or distribution.
Audit - A planned, independent and documented assessment to determine whether agreed upon requirements are being met.
Audit, Internal EMS - A periodic audit of the EMS to verify that it is properly implemented and that it continues to conform to planned arrangements for environmental management. It is an audit of the system and findings are expressed as major or minor non-conformances or observations. Audit conclusions are based on the findings and focus on the root causes that led to the non-conformances. The audit will also fulfill the requirement for periodic evaluations of compliance to legal and regulatory requirements.
Auditor - A person with the competence to conduct and audit.
Calibrate - To check, adjust, or systematically standardize the graduation of a quantitative measuring instrument.
Communication, External EMS - Communication to parties or organizations external to its physical site boundaries or its functions and activities on or off site.
Communication, Internal EMS - Communication that is intended for managers and employees to further the EMS goals at EPA Region 3. (Internal EMS communication does not include communications to headquarters, sister organizations, or parties external to EPA Region 3).
Compliance- An affirmative indication or judgment that the supplier of a product or service has met the requirements of the relevant specifications, contract, or regulation; also, the state of meeting the requirements.
Continuous or Continual Improvement - Recurring process of enhancing the environmental management system in order to achieve improvements in overall environmental performance consistent with the organization's environmental policy.
Document Control - Synonymous with document management but highlighting the importance of removing outdated versions from use and circulation and ensuring that employees are only using the latest, authorized version. The controlling document for the EPA Mid-Atlantic Region 3 EMS is the version posted on the internet.
EMS Coordinator/Management Representative - Is responsible for ensuring: the EMS is established, implemented and maintained; reporting to top management on the performance of the EMS and recommending to management improvements for the EMS.
Environment - Is defined as the physical surroundings in which the Region 3 office operates, including air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans and their interrelation.
Environmental Aspect - Any element of an organization's activities, products and services that can interact with the environment.
Environmental Impact - Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization's environmental aspects, activities, products or services.
Environmental Objective - Is an overall environmental goal, consistent with the environmental policy, that the regional office sets itself to achieve, and which is quantified where practicable in order to facilitate the evaluation of environmental performance and the measurement of progress towards specific environmental targets.
Environmental Performance - Measurable results of our organization's management of our environmental aspects.
Environmental Policy - The overall intentions and direction of our organization related to our environmental performance as formally expressed by top management.
Environmental Target - Is defined as a detailed performance requirement, quantified where practicable, that arises from the environmental objectives and that needs to be set and met in order to achieve those objectives. For example, if reduction in the use of petroleum is an environmental objective, a specific percentage decrease in the associated usage rate could be established as an associated target.
Incident or Emergency - Contemplates more than mere non-conformance in the EMS or a minor spill or release that can be corrected without invoking EPA Mid-Atlantic Region 3's Emergency Preparedness and Response Procedure. For purposes of the EMS, non-conformance and minor spills or releases will be corrected through the provisions of the "Non-conformance and Corrective and Preventive Action Procedure."
Interested Party - Is an individual or group concerned with or affected by the environmental performance of the regional office's operations.
Non-compliance - Failure to meet regulatory or other requirements that have been imposed on our organization. A compliance audit makes findings of non-compliance.
Non-conformance - Nonfulfillment of a requirement. Non-conformity or non-comformances are any deviations from established procedures, programs and other arrangements related to the EMS. They may include non-compliances to regulations, but not all non-compliances are necessarily non-conformances of the EMS. An EMS audit (internal or third-party) makes findings of non-conformance.
Major Non-Conformance: A major nonconformance indicates a required element(s) of the EMS is missing, ineffective or dysfunctional - and can potentially lead to significant detrimental impacts on the organization's environmental performance.
Minor Nonconformance - A minor nonconformance indicates a momentary lapse or discrepancy in the deployment and ongoing operation of the EMS. All required elements of the EMS must be appropriately documented and generally operational. Minor nonconformances often involve a single, observed slip-up in the EMS that can easily be rectified and does not pose a serious threat to overall environmental performance.
Observation - An observation indicates that a situation has been discovered during an audit warranting clarification or further investigation in order to improve the overall status and effectiveness of the EMS. Observations do not involve situations where there is direct evidence indicating nonconformance to the organizations's EMS. Observations may signal the potential for a future nonconformity.
Operational Controls - Are broadly defined to include technological (e.g., shut-off valves) and administrative (e.g., operator intervention, standing procedures) controls. Operational controls are applied to activities, products and services to prevent the environmental aspect that they exhibit from occurring.
Organization - Any company, corporation, firm, enterprise, authority or institution (or part or combination of the above) that has its own functions and administration.
Pollution Prevention (P2) - EPA defines P2 as source reduction and other practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants through: increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water, or other resources, or protection of natural resources by conservation. Source reduction means any practice which reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment (including fugitive emissions) prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal; and reduces the hazards to public health and the environment associated with the release of such substances, pollutants, or contaminants.
Prevention of Pollution - In addition to P2 (defined above) our EMS will also try to prevent pollution in accordance with the definition: use of processes, practices, techniques, materials, products, services or energy to avoid, reduce or control (separately or in combination) the creation; emission or discharge of any type of pollutant or waste, in order to reduce adverse environmental impacts. This can include source reduction or elimination, process, product or service changes, efficient use of resources, material and energy substitution, reuse, recovery, recycling, reclamation and treatment.
Programs/Work Plans - Are implemented to achieve the objectives and targets that are set for the EMS. They include the timelines, resources and responsibilities for achieving those objectives and targets and are amended as necessary with changing circumstances, activities and operations in EPA Mid-Atlantic Region 3.
Record - Recorded information in any format, that is created in the course of business, received for action, or needed to document activities.
Senior Management - Are the Regional Administrator and his/her Chief of Staff, the Deputy Regional Administrator, and the Office/Division Directors and their Deputies. Senior Managers are found within the boundaries of the area or functions covered by the scope of that EMS. The second requirement for senior management is that they have authority over all the areas and functions that the EMS impinges on, and that their authority is sufficient to initiate actions and allocate resources without further review or approvals. This level of authority allows for the fact that their discretion may be circumscribed by budgets that have been previously approved by higher authority. In other words, Senior Managers in the EMS need not have absolute power to allocate any resources and initiate any actions. They simply need sufficient authority to allocate or reallocate the resources that have been approved for operations within their purview and that are to be used through their own discretion.
Suppliers and Contractors - Organizations or individuals that provide supplies, materials, services and other tangible goods to EPA Region 3 office. Contractors are more likely than suppliers to provide services on or off site to the regional office.
Training, Awareness - Refers to training that is provided to all employees irrespective of whether they are associated with significant environmental aspects.
Training, Competence - Refers to training that may need to be provided to employees that are associated with significant environmental aspects. Such training is indicated when an employee is not considered competent on the basis of previous training, education, or experience, to address the responsibilities he/she has been charged with relative to the significant environmental aspect in question.
Revision History
Date of Action
Originally written January 2003
Revised January and February 2006
Revised January 2010 to add definitions for major and minor non-conformances and opportunities for improvement.
Author: EMS Team/EMS Coordinator
Reviewed
and Approved: Senior Management
Review History
Reviewed January 2010