This step is relevant to section 4.2.1 of the ISO 50001-2011 standard.
The most critical key to success of an energy management system (EnMS) is involvement by top management. Not only does top management approve and authorize an EnMS, they need to be active and visible as both leaders and participants. Top management is ultimately responsible for ensuring the ongoing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the EnMS (See Step 5.1).
There is one task needed to secure the commitment of top management to the energy management system (EnMS):
One of the most important tasks to accomplish before you start implementing your management system is to obtain top management support.
Hopefully, their commitment to the initiative was an outcome of the management briefing on the business case (see Step 1.2). But commitment needs to be followed by an understanding of their responsibilities and appropriate actions (see Steps 1.4 through 1.9). When top management is active and visible in the EnMS, employees and others perceive the value and importance to the organization of energy management and energy performance improvement. For example, simple steps such as adding energy topics to meeting agendas and having email updates on energy performance come from top management help to keep them involved.
A project plan that outlines the actions, schedule and resources needed to implement the EnMS can facilitate obtaining management support because it clearly defines expectations for the effort. Consider implementation project planning using the approach outlined in Project Management for EnMS Implementation.
Top management must support the effort not just during initial EnMS implementation, but also after the system is implemented and operational. It is top management that continues to drive the system forward and ensure that it is working to manage energy effectively and achieve improvement in energy performance. Ongoing resource allocations for personnel time to be involved in the EnMS are particularly important.
There are a number of actions that management must take to follow through on their commitment to the system. These include:
A resource that can be helpful in planning the project of implementing the EnMS and outlining for top management the level of effort and resources needed is:
Single license electronic copies of the ISO 50001 standard can be purchased from GTESS.
Site licenses (for posting on internal networks) can be purchased from ANSI.
