Environmental Compliance

What is environmental conformance?

Environmental compliance refers to the act of conforming to legal or official environmental requirements and policies. Some examples of environmental elements that organisations need to comply with are;

• Toxic release inventory
• Storm water permits
• Waste management
• Release of fumes into environment
• Safe drinking water
• Clean air requirement
• Wildlife and plants
• Forest resources

In order to prove that you are complying with environmental laws, it may be beneficial to implement an EMS, which will help in keeping track of every action your organisation is taking.

What is environmental conformance monitoring?

Environmental compliance monitoring is the act of collecting, analysing and reviewing information to ensure that organisations are conforming with their compliance obligations in regards to environmental effects (such as emissions, or pollutants).

This is an ongoing process, which may require the monitoring to be done at certain intervals, in order to establish whether the organisation is actually changing their behaviors and actions. For example, if an organisation dumped their waste, this may need to be revisited in 6 months’ time to confirm that silt barriers are still sufficient in no leachate has occurred.

What does it mean to be in Compliance?

If you are in compliance, this means you are successfully abiding to a rule or standard that has been set for you, such as an environmental law.

It is important to be in compliance so that you don’t face hefty fines. Om top of this, the organisations stakeholders will be more loyal and the customers will clearly be able to see that you are conforming to what is expected.

Learn More: 

• Common Environmental Non-Conformances
• Non-Conformance Best Practice