The Barriers for Voluntary Environmental Management Systems—The Case of EMAS in Hospitals

Abstract

Abstract:The adoption of formal environmental management systems (EMS) according to EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) represents a voluntary approach that aims to increase corporate environmental performance. Though EMAS can offer several advantages for organizations, registration numbers are falling. In the hospital sector, the dissemination of EMAS is low. The question arises as to what hinders hospitals when planning, implementing, and maintaining such voluntary environmental management initiatives. The results from interviews with environmental managers in EMAS registered hospitals reveal problems such as high initial effort for creation of the required documents, or lacking knowledge and staff awareness. The barriers are presented in a model synthesizing the problems chronologically on the organizational, group, and individual level. The challenges for the adoption of EMAS as a voluntary environmental management approach in hospitals are discussed. This paper contributes by creating an understanding of the barriers organizations might face when implementing an EMS. Thus, measures to actively manage and overcome barriers can be developed by organizations, consultants, reviewers, policy makers, and researchers.

Environmental responsibility in hospital care: Findings from a qualitative study

“…[8,9] In hospital care, environmental responsibility has traditionally been regarded as a secondary issue that falls outside the core mission. [10][11][12][13] However, it has been identified as an essential part of patient care from a health promotion perspective, [1,8,9,11] and the role that healthcare professionals play in tackling environmental issues has been emphasized. [2,9,14] Indeed, environmental responsibility refers to people's behavior, [3,4] but it also includes the actions taken by organizations to protect the world around them.…”

“…[24] Strategic work in developing environmental responsibility highlights the role that leaders need to play [25] and the importance of collaboration between different stakeholders. [9,17] Some hospitals, for instance in Germany, [13] have voluntarily hired environmental managers [26] to oversee the strategic development of such policies and ensure that they are sustainable from an operational point of view. [25,27] As they work in multi-professional teams with administrators and staff, they can provide a wider view of both technical solutions and sensible and realistic operations.…”

Prevention is better than cure—Environmental management measures in hospitals

“…The relevance of single environmental issues and measures therefore differs for the individual hospitals and, consequently, so does the necessary and ultimately allocated budget for the implementation of the measure. Limited funding for environmental protection measures can pose a barrier for hospitals' environmental management (Seifert, ). Therefore, the hospitals' primary focus on environmental measures that pay off is understandable.…”

“…There are also studies investigating the implementation of environmental management systems, for example, according to EMAS—eco‐management and audit scheme (e.g. Dettenkofer et al, ; Dettenkofer et al, ; Seifert, ). Within the framework of such a comprehensive management approach, environmental goals and measures are defined that should improve a hospital's environmental performance in the long term.…”

“…In addition, they present possible measures for this hospital. In a study by Seifert () on the barriers to the introduction of EMAS in German hospitals, it was demonstrated that, in the initial phase of EMAS implementation, the setting of environmental goals and actions can be challenging. When these problems occur even among pioneers interested in environmental protection, it can be assumed that other hospitals might struggle as well.…”