Identifying Legal and Other Requirements
A key requirement of the environmental policy is a commitment to legal and other requirements. In order to fulfill this commitment your organization will need to know what legal requirements apply to your operations, activities, or services and how they affect what it is you do. Almost all organizations have an existing process, to one degree or another, for how they access, identify, and keep track of relevant legal and other requirements. When you examine your existing process ask yourself the following questions to determine whether or not you fulfill EMS requirements:
- Are the people who analyze the organization’s legal requirements qualified? If so, is this based on training, education or experience?
- Regulations change so how is this information kept up to date?
- Once it’s been identified is it stored someplace?
- Are these requirements factored into our processes and procedures to ensure we meet our compliance needs?
- How do we communicate this information to the right people in our organization?
Keys to Success
- You probably have an existing process to identify the organization’s legal and other requirements.
- There are multiple information sources where this information can be obtained. Identify those that suite your needs and incorporate into your procedure. Sources include:
- State and federal government
- Associations or groups that support your public entity (e.g. LGEAN)
- Commercial databases
- The internet
- Professional services
- Publications
Checklist
Have we
- documented the process as a procedure?
- identified applicable rules and other requirements and determined their impacts?
- established and documented a process for keeping up-to-date?
- communicated to the right people?