Organizational Structures and Responsibilities
The success of the activities pursued in the “Do” step depends on implementing an organizational structure for the EMS and assigning responsibilities to appropriate individuals in the organization. The plans for the organizational structure initiated during the “Groundwork” phase and the environmental management program developed during the “Plan” phase provide the basis for this step.
The EMS organizational structure should include a representative from the top management to support the EMS. An organizational chart showing reporting and communication lines should be developed for the EMS. Along with the organizational chart, a responsibility matrix should be developed to indicate:
- who is assigned to which responsibility,
- who is in charge of each responsibility,
- who reports to whom, how often, and when, etc.
The organizational chart and responsibility matrix should be distributed to everyone in the organization and the responsibility matrix should be reviewed periodically to make sure communication and reporting lines proceed as planned.
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