6   About EMS

About EMS

An Environmental Management System (or EMS) is an organisational approach to environmental management based on a concept of continuous improvement in all aspects of the club's environmental performance. E-par^®  is the EMS that has been developed by Environmental Business Solutions adapting the principles of ISO 14001 for use by golf courses. Another example of an EMS is that developed by The Golf Course Company.

ISO is the acronym for International Organisation of Standardisation and currently has a portfolio of over 16,000 standards covering all three standards of sustainable development – economic, environmental and social.

ISO 14001 was first introduced in 1996 and has since been revised to ISO 14001:2004.

ISO 14001 can be broken down into four basic principles: Plan-Do-Check-Act. This is known as the Deming Cycle, so named after the famous quality guru, Edward Deming in the 1950’s. 

ISO 14001 is a set of guidelines by which a facility (golf club) can establish or strengthen its environmental policy, identify environmental aspects of its operations, define environmental objectives and targets, implement a program to attain environmental performance goals, monitor and measure effectiveness, correct deficiencies and problems and review its management systems to promote continuous improvement (Rajendran & Barrett 2003).

E-par^® covers all seventeen elements of the ISO 14001 standard and one additional element. The additional element that has been added to E-par^® is an Initial Environmental Review that allows clubs to identify their current environmental situation and procedures. This in turn is the basis for the clubs own EMS and therefore a key component in the Policy phase.

The following seventeen elements of ISO 14001 constitute holes 2-18 on the “golf course”. Some elements or ‘holes’ require 3 tasks or ‘shots’ to be taken before the element is complete, while others may require up to 5. All up there are a total of 62 tasks that must be performed in order to complete the E-par^® EMS (par 62).

One of the more challenging elements of the EMS is to identify all the legal requirements (Hole 4) that must be conformed to as part of sound environmental management. However, a matrix of legislative requirements can be obtained for E-par^® members.

For example, in Victoria there are potentially nearly 100 different Acts that may impede on the activities of the golf course. These can range from the commonly known such as the Dangerous Goods Act 1985 and the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985 to lesser known such as the Coastal Management Act 1995 or the Cultural and Recreational Lands Act 1963 and of course the Environmental Protection Act 1970. Knowing what legislation requirements govern your activities and responsibilities on the golf course are crucial.

Another of the Acts in Victoria is the Planning and Environment Act 1987 that controls the administration of planning permits for the construction of most new golf courses.