Generally, the decision to adopt an EMS is voluntary, but in rare circumstances an EMS can be required by a regulatory agency.
A unique circumstance developed when the U.S. federal government was directed by the President's Executive Order to adopt an EMS. While mandating adoption of an EMS, the directive allowed federal agencies and departments to exercise considerable "voluntary" discretion in selection of the model most appropriate to the organization. Below are examples of some different types of EMS implementations:
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A voluntary EMS that is designed and implemented in-house based on internal criteria and lacking a framework or basis that originates external to the organization. An example of this is the ESOH system adopted by the U.S. Air Force. Before the advent of an international standard, such proprietary approaches were common. |
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A voluntary EMS that is based on an external generic framework, set of criteria, guidance or standard that lacks independent verification. An example of this would be the U.S. Army's adoption of the ISO 14001 standard as the model for the Army's EMS. The Army has not committed its facilities to independent, third party certification but has left open the possibility of certification for installations willing to undertake the extra effort. |
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