An EMS includes procedures and metrics for measuring and evaluating wastes and the costs of environmental emissions. This information can help organizations implement the best practices and determine their results. The environmental staff can help employees and management understand and use environmental systems to improve organizational performance and benefits. A management system can lead to more reliable and predictable environmental performance which can reduce or limit the severity of incidents. ISO 14000 requires a common terminology which improves the communication of goals, procedures, impacts, and solutions.
Improved communications can mean greater efficiency in decision making.
For example, the severity of an environmental impact can increase with time, so an efficient notification system can reduce the time it takes to respond, and thus the impact, risk and liability to the organization. ISO 14000 provides feedback on the operations of the organization that can be used for daily action and to determine the appropriateness of pollution prevention strategies. Problems that could be expensive to resolve and damaging to the environment can be identified earlier. Early management awareness of problems would offer the best opportunity for efficient resolution. Management awareness of environmental impacts provides the opportunity for planning to reduce negative impacts.