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Aspects, Impacts, and Significant Aspects

EMS Implementation Workshop

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Objectives of this Session

• Know definitions of aspect, impact, significant aspect

• Recognize importance of significant aspects to the EMS

• Learn EMS requirements for aspects identification

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Why do this? Managing Aspects vs. Impacts

• It is more prudent and more efficient to manage “how” you interact with the environment than to manage “what” you have done to the environment

• An EMS is built around identifying, prioritizing, controlling, and improving upon, those elements of the organization that interact with the environment

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Specific Benefits Prompts your organization to identify

issues not typically managed; particularly non-regulated issues

Integrates environmental issues into operations

Makes for proactive planning

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Environmental Aspects and Impacts-ISO 14001 Definition

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTSElements of an organization’s activities, products or services which can interact with the environment. (For example: wastewater discharges, air emissions, resource consumption, energy usage, ecosystem alterations, etc.)

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTSAny change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partly resulting from an organization’s activities, products, or services (based on the aspects, for example: air emissions impacts the air by degrading the air quality).

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ISO 14001 requires organizations to:

• develop procedures to identify environmental aspects in order to determine those which have or can have significant impact on the environment

• keep aspects information up-to-date (regularly, and whenever changes occur), not once and done.

• Necessary records will include aspects lists, and significant aspects list

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Role of Aspects in the EMS• Significant aspects drive the EMS and are a subset

of the full list of aspects• EMS is designed to identify, control, manage, and

improve upon the significant aspects• Compliance with Legal and Other Requirements is

a part of the system that does relate to the aspects• Elements such as operational control (procedures

and work instructions), training, monitoring and measurement, emergency planning, and setting objectives all depend on significant aspects.

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More on Environmental Aspects

• Aspects are “cause”, impact is the “effect”• Control and influence of aspects is a factor• Aspects can be:

• direct or indirect• normal, abnormal, or emergency• past, present, or future

• Aspects address not only waste stream, but resource consumption, energy, and other “non-traditional” factors (noise, odor, visual)

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• Identify who and how this will be done (aspects procedure)

• List and characterize activities, products services

• Identify aspects and impacts for each A/P/S -Tap into your knowledge base!

• Determine significance• Maintain records

Going About the Aspects Process

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Activities, Products and Services

• This is where you describe what you do at your facility – mostly “activities” for Feds– Consider mission – what ‘facility’ is designed

to do - e.g. visitor center– Consider activities that support the mission –

e.g. vehicle maintenance– Consider actions that are both regulated and not

regulated e.g. commuting to work

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Aspect Analysis - Examples of Activities

• Mission related operations• Maintenance• Motor vehicle fleet operations• Wastewater treatment• Solid waste handling and disposal• Raw material and chemical handling• Bulk storage of fuels• Administrative and employee activities• Engineering• Purchasing

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Some Ways to Characterize Activities, Products, and

Services• Process flow diagrams• Interviews with supervisors, managers, staff• Hazardous material inventories• Hazardous waste records• Records from emergency planning, accident

reports, emergency incidents• Water and energy consumption records

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List Aspects• Can sort and organize aspects, for example:

– Releases to air– Water consumption, pollution– Land contamination– Use of raw materials, natural resources– Other local environmental, community issues

• Will be able to “re-sort” later to better manage the aspects

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Examples of Aspects• Aspect:

– Waste generation– Material usage– Fuel usage– Air emissions– Chemical consumption– Energy consumption

• Not an aspect:– Improve air quality –

this is an objective– P2 – this is an

objective– Vehicle maintenance –

this is a activity– Water pollution – this

is an impact

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ExamplesActivity, Product, or Service• Aircraft operations

• Bus transportation and maintenance

Environmental Aspect• Jet fuel consumption• Jet fuel releases (potential)• Noise generation• Gasoline consumption• Electricity consumption• Solid waste generation• Water consumption• Waste water generation

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ExamplesActivity, Product, or Service• Vehicle maintenance

Environmental Aspect• Hazardous waste generation• Gasoline consumption• Noise generation• Electricity consumption• Solid waste generation• Water consumption• Waste water generation• Release of volatiles

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ExamplesActivity, Product, or Service• Store

• Cafeteria

Environmental Aspect• Raw material consumption• Fuel consumption for transport• Solid waste generation

• Food waste generation• Electricity consumption• Water consumption• Waste water generation• Release of ammonia from

refrigeration equipment (potential)

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ExamplesActivity, Product, or Service• Office work

Environmental Aspect• Electricity consumption• Water consumption• Waste water generation• Release of ozone depleting

substances in air cooling units (potential)

• Solid waste generation• Heavy metals “use” in

computers

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ExamplesActivity, Product, or Service• Cleaning offices

• Playing field upkeep (golf course, softball field, parade ground)

Environmental Aspect• Hazardous material release• Electricity consumption• Solid waste generation• Waste water generation• Water consumption• Waste water generation• Runoff from pesticide usage• Gasoline consumption• Grass clipping generation

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Identify the Impacts of Aspects

• Once the aspects are identified, you must identify the impact(s) associated with each one.

• This can be done using the same process you used for aspects, except there might be more involvement of environmental staff to assess impacts

• List impacts along with aspects

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Examples of Aspects & Impacts

• Air emissions (exhaust)• Water consumption• Fuel release (accidental spills)• Fuel release (accidental spills) • Noise generation• Energy consumption (lights

left on)• Paper recycled

• Air quality degraded• Water resource depleted• Storm water contaminated• Soil contaminated• Area nuisance• Increased CO2 from coal-

fired power plant emissions• Landfill space conserved, raw

materials conserved

Aspects Impacts

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Determine Significant Aspects

• A significant aspect is one that has or can have a significant impact on the environment (you define)

• Site selects the criteria for significance rating and cutoff value

• Significance can be determined by numeric cutoff value or subjective assessment based on yes/no answers

• Significance could be tied to: environmental degradation concerns, natural resource concerns, regulatory or legal exposure, concerns of interested parties

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EMS Requirements• ISO 14001 uses “significant” aspects and impacts

as the basis for developing objectives and preparing programs.

• The organization chooses which aspects are “significant,” based on applying their own criteria, to the related impacts. However, once significant, the EMS must address the aspect.

• Process and criteria for significance described in procedure.

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Many Methods for Determining Significance

Criteria• Staff judgment• Risk Assessment• Organizationally-derived criteria and/or hybrid

approaches based on staff judgment and risk assessment

• Key is to be consistent, and in line with “reality check” – are you capturing what makes sense?

• Criteria must relate to environmental impact

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Examples of Significance Criteria

• Magnitude - How big of a problem is it?– Global, regional, local?

• Severity - How bad will it get?• Probability - How likely is it to occur?

– Daily, weekly, monthly, annually, in emergencies, only when a certain event happens, when a new project starts?

• Regulated?• Of concern to interested parties?

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Applying the Criteria• Each aspect must be evaluated in terms of

the criteria• Significant ones listed• Each time a new aspect enters the system

for whatever reason, it must be evaluated for significance

• ALL significant aspects must be carried forward into the system

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Where Do Significant Aspects Fit in Your EMS?

• EMS manages your significant aspects, impacts• Significant aspects drive objectives and targets and

operational controls• Employees need to be aware of significant aspects of

their jobs• Must communicate significant aspects externally• Significant aspects are monitored and measured

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IdentifyAspects

Significantaspect

Remains onaspect list

Objectives and targets

Deployedin EMS

EMPs, and Operational

Control

Operationcontrols

Significant?no

yes

UnderControl?

yes

No, or yesbut want todo more?

Addressnow?

Yes

No (still must have controls)

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In Closing- Tips for Effective Aspects Identification and Rating

• Be comprehensive• Do not pre-judge! Inventory completely; you have the

opportunity to prioritize later• Sort by activity, product, or service; and identify impacts• Significance criteria change over time; all relative. Should

never have a situation with no significant aspects (as per continual improvement commitment)

• “Aspect” is considered significant although environmental impact is used to make significance determination

• Aspects not considered significant will not be carried through the system

• Significant aspects affect and drive all other parts of system! “If you must control, it must be significant”.