Environmental Management System (EMS)

One of Brookhaven National Laboratory's highest priorities is ensuring that the Laboratory's environmental performance measures up to its world class status in science. As part of their commitment to environmentally responsible operations, they have established an Environmental Management System (EMS).

An EMS ensures that environmental issues are systematically identified, controlled, and monitored. Moreover, an EMS provides mechanisms for responding to changing environmental conditions and requirements, reporting on environmental performance, and reinforcing continual improvement. The Laboratory's EMS was designed to meet the rigorous requirements of the globally recognized International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 environmental management standard, with additional emphasis on compliance, pollution prevention, and community involvement.

As part of the Lab-wide EMS, the ES&H Directorate has an EMS that addresses activities occurring within the Directorate. ES&H's EMS also covers organizations outside of the Directorate that have very minor environmental impacts or are administrative in nature including the Directors Office, Stakeholder Relations, and Fiscal Services Division. These organizations were merged into ES&H's EMS in order to consolidate the Labwide EMS and eliminate redundancy.