ANC EMS Portal
"Silvacom's customized, online Environmental Management Solution reduced our EMS program management time by 50% and enabled our contractors to complete their training more efficiently. More robust program management led to improved efficiency and higher compliance."- Peter Winther, Technical Coordinator, ANC
The Challenge
Alberta Newsprint Company is certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard and they are very focused on maintaining high EMS standards in order to ensure future certification. One of the unintended results of this commitment is that personnel, who already have significant workload requirements, are now being asked to handle even more duties and tasks. In addition, companies remain hesitant to hire additional staff due to a number of economic factors. ANC realized there must be a better way to manage their EMS program – they required a system to help facilitate the training and administration of their EMS. In addition, they wanted to explore the opportunity to deploy training in a more effective manner utilizing available technologies.
The Solution
ANC engaged Silvacom's advanced web application development team to develop a solution to help them with their EMS program management. After the requirements for the project were defined it became apparent that there was a real opportunity to apply a leading edge technology solution to help facilitate and manage ANC's EMS. The solution developed provides ANC staff with a virtual staff member managing EMS program requirements for them. The solution features include:
- Accessible anywhere at any time
- Simple and intuitive user interface for contractors
- Administrative interface for ANC staff to use for creating new roles, responsibilities and to monitor training compliance
- Special roles and permissions for contractor administrators to manage and track their own staff
The success of the EMS system surpassed the original vision and the benefits are obvious and quantifiable:
- Reduction in staff administration: Reduced administration requirements by 50% – all data is stored and managed in the web based system
- Increased contractor uptake: Easy access for contractors to complete training – 24/7 access
- Easy to understand: Audio for the training programs to assist contractor learning, beneficial to English as a second language users
- Increased compliance: Easy to use administrative tools for the ANC EMS program manager to summarize compliance and administer training
"The most encouraging result from this initiative is the way our contractors have embraced the solution. It makes things easier for them by simplifying their world and that helps ensure a successful EMS program."