Aspects, Impacts, and Significant Aspects

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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 ASPECTS
• Elements of an organizations activities,
  products or services which can interact with the
  environment. (For example wastewater
  discharges, air emissions, resource consumption,
  energy usage, ecosystem alterations, etc.)
• ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
• Any change to the environment, whether adverse or
  beneficial, wholly or partly resulting from an
  organizations 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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Going About the Aspects Process

• 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

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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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Examples

• Activity, 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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Examples

• Activity, 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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Examples

• Activity, 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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Examples

• Activity, 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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Examples

• Activity, 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
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

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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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Identify Aspects
Significant?
Remains on aspect list
no
yes
Significant aspect
No, or yes but want to do more?
Objectives and targets
Operation controls
Under Control?
yes
Address now?
No (still must have controls)
Yes
Deployed in EMS
EMPs, and Operational Control
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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.