Resort Information

Environmental Management System

What is an Environmental Management System?

An Environmental Management System (EMS) provides a framework for assessing the impacts on the environment resulting from the resort’s activities, for setting and reviewing goals and targets to reduce those impacts, for monitoring environment management performance and for communicating the outcomes.

The two key goals of Perisher Blue’s EMS are to

Identify and minimise any harmful effects on the environment caused by Perisher Blue’s operations; and
to continually improve Perisher Blue’s environmental management performance.

Perisher Blue's EMS has been developed with expert assistance and having regard to the EMS developed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) for the Perisher Range Resorts. Perisher Blue’s EMS is consistent with the requirements of ISO 14001, being the international EMS quality standard and was implemented during 2004/2005. In 2007, Perisher Blue created a new role of Environmental Coordinator with a focus on ensuring the practical implementation, maintenance and development of the EMS.

Each year, an annual progress report is presented to the NPWS which provides a broad summary of the activities that have been undertaken by Perisher Blue to meet the objectives and targets identified within the EMS. In 2007, good progress regarding integrating the EMS within day-to-day business processes was realised. Programs to improve environmental management performance have been established, a number of targets have been met and the outlook for 2008 is for further gains to be made.

Staff involvement and EMS awareness

For an EMS to be successful a commitment is required from all staff within the organisation. Perisher Blue’s permanent staff have undergone EMS awareness training which involved a 1.5 hour presentation focusing on a range of issues such as the causes of climate change, energy use and its impacts, the effects of atmospheric warming, the importance of biodiversity, ski industry responses to climate change, the ISO14001 framework and an outline of Perisher Blue’s EMS elements, including relevant staff responsibilities and opportunities for their involvement. Importantly, seasonal staff also receive an EMS awareness induction presentation.

Perisher Blue’s intranet

A comprehensive ‘environment home page’ has been added to Perisher Blue’s intranet site to allow staff to become more familiar with Perisher Blue’s EMS, including policy and procedures, as well as access a range of useful environmental information and resources. Importantly, the use of the intranet ensures effective document version control and up to date content management.

(read on Energy Use & Climate Change...)