To support the delivery of more risk-based regulation, the NIEA Better Regulation Team undertook a study to statistically quantify the effectiveness of formalised environmental management systems (EMS) such as those certified to the ISO14001 standard.
The scope of the research, whilst including organisations permitted under pollution prevention and control legislation, also looked at other business sectors in Northern Ireland, including SMEs.
Overall the report concluded that a formal certified EMS is likely to provide more robust evidence of increased awareness and compliance with environmental legislation, and those with a formal EMS are more likely to have made environmental improvements in the last 5 years than those with informal or no EMS.
The report analysis and outcomes provide the basis for NIEA to incorporate EMS into a more flexible risk based compliance system of regulation, embedding the principles of Better Regulation.