ERI Home EMS Resources Home Last updated 5/22/03.
Colleges and universities do not perceive themselves as suppliers to OEMs on a par with makers of various subassemblies and materials, nor do original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) consider the shapers of their skilled and professional workforce to be in the traditional supplier category. The college and university sector thus lacks the OEM-driven ISO 14001 registration pressure that has begun to penetrate the successive "tiers" of suppliers in the manufacturing sectors.
Nevertheless, the college and university sector has begun to develop an interest in environmental management systems (or at least "programs") in recent years, largely as the result of a few highly publicized enforcement actions carried out against a few high-profile institutions. (Background information on the enforcement action may be found in the "Impacts, Risks and Regulations" document pertaining to this sector, and in references noted in that document.)
The leading nationwide professional organization for campus environmental staff, the Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) does not appear to feature an emphasis on an EMS approach. Compliance with regulations is the primary focus of their signature publication on environmental programs (the Environmental Compliance Assistance Guide for Colleges and Universities, prepared jointly with the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA) and offered for sale to the public). However, one primarily regional group based in New England, the Campus Consortium for Environmental Excellence, is strongly oriented toward the EMS approach, and has provided a useful publicly accessible self-assessment checklist to help campuses considering the development of an EMS program to begin the process.
Several universities have active EMS programs, although those that do probably still comprise a small minority of schools. Some examples are listed in the database. A pattern followed by several of the schools contacted in conjunction with this analysis is to implement an EMS in non-academic departments first (such as facilities and grounds). There is a perception that the academic departments are likely, for "cultural" reasons, to resist the imposition of some of the process elements associated with the typical ISO 14001-style EMS.
Among the publicly accessible resources that specifically address this sector, two stand out. One is a detailed (113 p.) guide prepared by EPA Region 1. It is, like most currently available EMS resources, somewhat longer on process than substance, but it contains numerous case studies and examples that save it from being exclusively formal in nature.
The second is a gem -- a very detailed and well organized environmental management plan from the University of Vermont directed primarily toward hazardous laboratory chemicals. It is an exemplary resource for organizations that are serious about getting a handle on their operations.
Other resources for this sector identified so far are tabulated in spreadsheet format. Information includes resource owner, URL and contact information, and a brief analysis of the contents and potential applications for the resource, Most of the columns are self-explanatory. The last three columns summarize an overall impression of the percentage of the resource emphasizing substance, background, and process (see explanation for the intent and applicability of these distinctions).