Employees, KPI and scope

Answer:

The requirements of your EMS apply whenever those employees are working under the scope of your EMS. ISO 14001:2015 clause 7.2 a) is not about employees, is about person(s) doing work under the control of the organization. For example, consider a major maintenance intervention in a factory, employees from subcontractors should comply with company requirements (safety and environment).

2. And, we rent several offices in a large facility external to our site, essentially the rent covers all costs for utilities and waste disposal etc. Does this agreement negate our obligatory responsibilities in regard to waste disposal and tracking energy usage (this is something our group specifies as a KPI)?

Answer:

Is that facility included in your EMS scope? Have your organization any control about what is goin g on inside those offices?
If the answer is “no” to any of these two questions, I do not believe your organization is negating obligatory responsibilities.

The following material will provide you more information about an EMS scope:
How to determine the scope of the EMS according to ISO 14001:2015 - https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2016/02/01/how-to-determine-the-scope-of-the-ems-according-to-iso-140012015/
Free online training – ISO 14001:2015 Foundations Course - https://advisera.com/training/iso-14001-internal-auditor-course/
Book – The ISO 14001:2015 Companion - https://advisera.com/books/the-iso-14001-2015-companion/