The Importance Of Sustainability In Facilities Management And Environmental Auditing

Sustainability and its Importance in Businesses

The backdrop of the aspects of sustainability involves solving the present requirements of the management without having to compromise the generation of the future in their meeting their own needs as well. While maximizing every opportunity in the present terms and conditions, the present business and management environment, every organization is continuously getting concerned with the future business activities. These future activities are examined from the perspectives of the environmental, social, economic, as well as competitive sustainability and the impacts of issues of sustainability on the businesses. In this way, every idea that perceives sustainability without any direct influence on the main strategies of the business organization has been re-modified because organizations are quickly incorporating principles of sustainability into their core business strategies. More than that, it is found out in the various studies done in this paper that organizations are increasingly integrating issues of the sustainability individually into their reports for reasons like complying with the regulatory changes as well as improving their reputations on issues like environmental, social, as well as economic reputation. 

Sustainability, therefore, becomes a very important issue and a driver of change, as many studies has shown, making it a single most factor towards the sustainability assessment as well as advancement on the built environment.  The importance of the sustainability has made the issues to become a significant aspects and a necessity for a number of companies hiring facilities management professionals for leading, implementing, educating and enabling sustainable practice within their business (Azapagic, 2003). This paper illustrate the various levels of skills and knowledge for each elements e.g. establishment of sustainable facilities management policy, plan the improvement policy, monitoring and managing building performance sustainability , and the continual improvement of the environmental sustainability at work place,  that are used in the management of the environmental sustainability of facilities. The paper also carries out an environmental audit on an area of the facility using the organization’s template while incorporating the awareness or marketing strategies that are helpful to the facility change in personnel behaviors so they become ecologically and environmentally aware.

Environmental management audit procedure template

Procedure for Internal Environmental Audit
Document Ref. name/no: Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper
Issued by:		Approved by:
Purpose:	Makin sure the environmental management system is used and is effective
Scope:	Environmental management system as whole
	The leader of the audit must be independent of the area to be audited.
Responsibility:	Environmental manager
Training:	The members of the audit team should have appropriate training.
FORMS AND SUPPORT MATERIAL
Plan for Internal Environmental Audit Document ref. name/no.:
Audit Report Document ref. name/no.:
Nonconformance and Correction Report Document ref. name/no.:
Checklist for Environmental Audit Document ref. name/no.:
Additonal forms and support material:

2. The planned improvement system for the area incorporating all the aspects of the Audit

The main focus of the audit was on the entire environmental management system with the aim of ensuring the usability and effectiveness of the environmental management system. The support materials of the audit included the plan for internal environmental audit, the audit report, the nonconformance and correction report, and the checklist for environmental audit.

Management of Environmental Sustainability in Facilities

The main segment of the audit is where the audit team examines the observations and decides whether areas of non-conformance observed should be included in correction reports or whether they can be solved immediately. The audit report is prepared which is examined together with the manager responsible for the area in question; minor areas of non-conformance are taken care of immediately, while a conclusion for the audit as a whole is written down. Correction reports are examined with the manager responsible for the area audited and corrective action is agreed upon. The audit leader and the responsible manager sign the reports made. The reports are given to the environment manager, with one copy going to the responsible manager.

In the events where the deadlines for corrective action are reached, the manager responsible for the area audited is contacted and the environmental manager checks the corrective action carried out. If corrective action is effective, the case is closed. If not, a new report is prepared. After this, a joint report is prepared on the basis of all the internal environmental audits of the company. This report forms the basis for management’s review of the whole system.

3. Awareness Strategy Facilitating Personnel Behavioral change to Ecological and Environmental Awareness

According to Beheiry et al. (2006), sustainable facilities management has been identified as one of the emerging themes in the future of facilities management. Due to changes in the environmental as well as ecological spheres, there is a forcible climatic adaptation, energy efficiency, sustainable development and green growth are societal challenges for which the facilities management profession can develop solutions and make positive contributions at the organizational level and have societal-level effects. These adaptive focuses are making facility management a crucial industry covering over a big percentage in most economies in the world.

According to the study done by Burritt et al. (2002) because of the globalized innovativeness, facility management is focusing on knowledge, models, policies, and technologies that with considerable attention to environmental sustainability and quality of life. In fact, the construction industry is becoming widely visualized within the perspective of the sustained environment, competitiveness, and economic growth. Therefore, while thinking along the angle of sustainability management, DuBois, et al. (2016) argues that innovation is intertwined with human creativity which linked to other akin concepts of human intelligence, adaptation and agency. Innovation can be seen as the creation of solutions that resonate with the concern of the time (Figge, et al. 2012). These are the solutions that enable the adaptation within the changing context of space and time.

Environmental Audit in the Environmental Department

Hallstedt, et al. (2013) argues that the concept of facility management is an ongoing concept at its development stage; innovation becomes a vital process to advance and deliver the sustainability agenda to a productive and effective platform. The range of sustainable facility management covers the activities of humanity that relate the use of buildings by organization, services involved and organization core activities. The organization use buildings, services and assets to create an environment that can enhance the performance of their primary business (Hesselbarth, et al. 2013). The scope of environmental sustainability in the concerned concept of facility management involves security, cleaning, catering, building fabric maintenance, gardening and landscaping, lift and escalators maintenance, lighting, and building design. It also covers all the aspects of plant replacement, construction management, energy management, voice and data communication, disposal and acquisition of buildings, relocation, and space planning (Jansson, et al 2017).

The study of the nature of the sustainable facilities management gives along of benefits to the industry at large and community in the form of best practice guidance. The general implication of the task involves the following:

1. through the knowledge discussed in the task, there is an establishment of an existing level of understanding and application of sustainable knowledge and practice within the facilities management profession
2. the task identified the key areas of Sustainable Facilities Management where clearer practical tools, information and industry best practice are required
3. the study also identified the benefits of sustainable facilities management
4. the study determined and ascertained the existing drivers for implementation of sustainable practice in the facilities management industry
5. the task also involved the determination and ascertaining of the existing barriers for implementation of sustainable practice in the facilities management industry
6. Through the task, the necessity of producing the best practice guide comprising case studies for the facilities management practitioners and community becomes a reality.

It is important to note that in the planned developments in the sustainable management, the movers and shakers of capital as well as financial organizations play very critical roles when it comes to shaping the economy and driving sustainable development. The financial analysis of such a task covers the roles played by the financial institutions, who take the major position in an increasing expectation on the social responsibility, and hence there is a growing recognition of the importance of sustainability management and reporting. The most commonly used definition of sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. From a more focused business perspective, corporate sustainability can be defined as a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks derived from economic, environmental and social developments.

The generic aspects of the sustainability management for environmental and social management and corporate governance are very unrestrictive depending on the outlook it is given. In fact, the generic aspects, by definition refer to the processes or structures that an organization uses to meet its sustainability goals and objectives while transforming inputs into a product or service.

Sustainability reporting is a generic term for corporate extra-financial reporting. It also involves putting into consideration what an organization gives to describe its performance on a number of sustainability dimensions such as economic, environmental, social and corporate governance performances. Reports can be either internal or external; within this document the term ‘sustainability reporting’ refers to external or public reporting.

Planned Improvement System for the Area Incorporating All the Aspects of the Audit

According to Salzmann, et al (2013), sustainability is the course taken for improvement that is continuous through which the products and services that the society require are delivered to them in a pattern that is progressively becoming of less negative effect to the planet earth. Sustainable management is measure through various tools that analyzes the sustainable management aspects in innovation, value-chain management, social responsibility, strategic commitment, safety performances, environmental performances, and product stewardship.

When these factors are examined from the sustainable management perspectives, it is easier to realize the deep concepts of the sustainable management benchmarks for every facility. In the case of the facility of the study, they formed vital segments of the list of the benchmark that are to be implemented by the various departmental managers. In most cases, these benchmarks are designed and implemented by a conglomerate of managers and departmental leaders in corporation with the team that works under each and every department.

Each and every aspect of the above elements of sustainable management was determined by a number of five or six metrics and indicators. When benchmarking sustainability, the following form part of the same management root:

Safety performance: Involves process safety and employee safety

Environmental performance: Include use of resources, waste water management and emission management including greenhouse gases as well as history of compliance

Social responsibility: The social responsibility incorporates stakeholder partnership and engagement as well as community investment

Product stewardship: On its end, product stewardship involves product safety as well as environmental processes of assurance. It also involves systems that have been put in place for compliance to the emerging regulations on sustainable management.

Value chain management: Through this benchmarking attribute, the issues addressed include the environmental management systems and the supplier standards and management process.

Innovation: Through research and development, the aspects of sustainable management put into place the social needs such as millennial and short term development plans. It also integrates the sustainability concepts and tools into the research and development processes as well as new products that are related to sustainability.

Strategic commitment to sustainability: This benchmarking tool involves the stated commitment and the presence as well as the extent of the sustainability goals.

An environmental management system involves systems, practices, procedures, and processes that are put in place in an organization to enable the organization to reduce its negative environmental impacts. The ultimate goal of such practices is to increase the organization’s efficiency. Through an operation that is very consistent, the spirit of environmental management system enables the organization to achieve its environmental goals. Therefore, having mastered the culture of environmental management system, the organization develops structured and planned as well as resourceful policies that help protect and conserve the environment.

Awareness Strategy Facilitating Personnel Behavioral Change to Ecological and Environmental Awareness

The basics of the environmental management systems address the regulatory frameworks of its operation through an effective manner. Through a proactive approach, the aspects of health and safety practices, energy conservation, and improvement of the public and private health practices becomes a reality. Therefore, the basic elements of environmental management system include review of the goals of the environment by the management, the requirements of the environmental impacts and legal frameworks of those frameworks, as well as environmental objectives and their targets. They also include monitoring, measuring, and reviews of the environmental objectives and awareness. Lastly, the basics of the environmental management system involve establishments of the benchmarks of the environment as well as making improvements associated with the environmental advancements.

The conservation of the environment is a practice that largely depends on individual commitments and behaviors to matters concerning environmental safety and health. The basic understanding of environmental management system is a fact of making decisions that are sustainable primarily based on policies and management tools. Every of organization has a primal objective to make decisions that are environmentally binding. These decisions involve increasing or raising awareness on environmental health impact, not only within the organization, but also within the society and larger contexts.

Some of the tools for environmental management system include the following:

1. Environmental taxes and charges: Environmental taxes and charges involve imposing some economic implications on the consumers of a given product. This aspect of environmental policy implementation involves motivating consumers to reduce their footprint on environment.  Some of the environmental charges that can be used include excise duty on packing, heavy vehicles, motor vehicles, fuel excise, and electricity excise duty among others. Through the various environmental acts, this environmental management system tool becomes legibly binding in providing the ground for determination of the resources that are natural and how they are charged, the rate of pollution charge, as well as the procedural calculations that are done on the charges.
2. Government legislations: although it is assumed that people can protect the environment on willing terms, it is still very difficult to ascertain their willingness unless the government imposes and adopt some legislation to protect and conserve the environment. The fact is that the government has dire role in putting in some systems of surveillance to ensure that people use and protect the natural resources and their values.

The current trends on environmental sustainability involve the new issues that emerge in the field of environment whose importance and relevance are increasing within the global context. That component of environmental sustainability that form the main principle behind these current trends include waste and emission eliminations, energy efficiency maximization, production maximization, as well as minimization of practices that massively affect the utilization of the natural resources for the future generation. The prevention of pollution, efficiency in energy, industrial ecology, as well as eco-friendly designs of products have become the top priority of issues leading the most organization’s sustainable environmental management. Some of these current trends in the environment management sustainability include the following:

1. Eco-friendly packing
2. Environmental reporting
3. Clean energy

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