Environmental Management Systems and Construction Smes: a Case Study for Slovenia

Construction projects and activities are, in general, associated with a wide range of environmental impacts. Therefore the principles of sustainable development should be adopted during construction just like in any other industrial sector. At the organisation's level, one of the ways of achieving this goal is by implementing an environmental management system (EMS). The purpose of the paper is to present current environmental management trends in construction companies based on a recent study conducted for the construction industry in Slovenia, and in particular to report on how the construction SMEs perceive obstacles to the EMS implementation. The benefits and obstacles associated with ISO 14001‐compliant EMS implementation are discussed, and the results of the survey related to environmental management systems (QMS) in construction companies in Slovenia are presented and analysed. They indicate that the majority of responding construction companies has implemented QMS, and 46 % of the respondents have also established an EMS. It can be observed that, in relative terms, there are less SMEs with an EMS than larger companies with EMS; SMEs tend to see the required documentation accompanying the EMS as excessive and a major barrier for its implementation. In practice, these findings are important because they can be used to define the baseline for new initiatives that promote EMSs within construction SMEs.