Resource information
This Handbook is intended to be a
practical guide to help companies in the construction
industry develop and implement an environmental and social
management system, which should help to improve overall
operations. In the current economic climate, companies are
under pressure to perform or even just survive. New
initiatives are often met with resistance as people struggle
to keep up with their day-to-day responsibilities. Some
people think that an environmental and social management
system must be big, complicated and expensive. But that is
not really true. To be effective, a management system needs
to be scaled to the nature and size of the company. If a
company has existing management systems for quality or
health and safety, this Handbook will help to expand them to
include environmental and social performance. Sections I
and II provide background on environmental and social
management systems (ESMS) in the construction industry.
Section III provides step-by-step instructions on how to
develop and implement an ESMS. The ESMS Toolkit and Case
Studies section gives: 1) tools to help develop and
implement the systems described in the Handbook; and 2) case
studies presenting two companies in the construction
industry that implemented an ESMS.
