Improving Operations, Compliance,

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Improving Operations, Compliance, Environmental
Performance at Public Works Facilities APWA 4/11
/08
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Ever had challenges meeting or maintaining
compliance?What made it a challenge?
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What are your biggest challenges?Operational?C
ompliance?Supervisory?Fiscal?
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Whats changed over past 5, 10, 20
years?What challenges lie in the future?
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Contributing Factors?
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What could make it better? How could
Plan-Do-Check-Act help?
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ISO 14001
Household EMS Exercise
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An EMS Has Three Key Commitments

• Compliance with relevant laws and regulations
• Prevention of pollution
• Continual improvement

ENV. POLICY
C O M P L Y
P P R O E L V L E U N T T
I O N
I M P R O V E
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The P-D-C-A Framework
plan
Continual improvement
do
act
check
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What is an EMS?

• An Environmental Management System is a system of
  processes to support an organization in
  integrating environmental concerns into its daily
  practices

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• A way to figure out
• Who has what impact on the environment
• How to prevent/address that impact
• Make it everyones responsibility
• Stay out of trouble, save money, feel and look
  good over a long period of time

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Fancy term for good management
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Basic Steps

• IDENTIFY how operations affect the environment
• PRIORITIZE
• MANAGE
• MITIGATE
• DOCUMENT
• CHECK
• LEARN

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Say what you doDo what you sayProve it
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Lessons Learned

• Much of what is needed for an EMS may already be
  in place
• An EMS is more of a change management issue than
  a technical fix

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Keys to Success

• Management support
• Effective champion
• Involved and engaged staff
• KISS
• 
  Effective teams

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Plan-Do-Check-Act Tools

• Process flow diagrams
• Aspects and Impacts
• Significance Ranking
• Action Plans/Environmental Management Programs
• Operational Controls

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Environmental Aspects Impacts Figuring
out how our activities affect the
environmentHow do you do it now?
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What is an Environmental Aspect?

• An Element of An Organizations Activities,
  Products or Services That Can Interact with the
  Environment

• Examples
• Air Emissions (CO NOx)
• Energy Usage (Gas Diesel)
• Used Oil Recycling
• Solid Waste Generation

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Key Identify the environmental aspects that
your organization
- Can control, and
- Over which it can have an influence
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Environmental Impact
Any Changes to the environment, whether adverse
or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from
an organizations activities, products or services

• Examples
• Degradation of Air Quality
• Reduction in Natural Resources
• Conservation of Natural Resources
• Reduction in Landfill Space

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Relationship

• ASPECT
• CAUSE
• Air Emissions (CO, NOx)
• Energy Usage (Gas and Diesel)
• Used Oil Recycling
• Solid Waste Generation

• IMPACT
• EFFECT
• Degradation of Air Quality
• Reduction in Natural Resources
• Conservation of Natural Resources
• Reduction in Landfill Space

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• We do or provide.. (Activity)
• That results in (Aspect)
• That has an impact on.. (Impact)

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How?

• Identify main activities, products, and services
  within your fenceline

- Brainstorming, process flow diagrams

• List environmental aspects

- Are they under your control and influence?
- Identify the associated impacts
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Aspect/Impact Matrix
POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ACTIVITIES, OPERATIONS, SERVICES
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS
1. Purchasing recycled paper 2. Recycling paper
1. Recycling conserves natural resources 2.
Promotes demand for recycling and contributes
to societal goals for resource conservation
PRODUCING BROCHURES paper

1. Water use 2. Water treatment 3. Water
discharge to sewer
1. Drawing water impacts rivers and aquifers 2.
Overburden at POTW results in untreated
discharges
water
1. Storing supplies 2. Removing unneeded
suppl. 3. Recycling 4. Possible spills 5.
Disposal of packaging
1. Incompatible compounds pose potential
hazard 2. Health hazard 3. Landfill impacts
Ink ink preservers cleaning solv.
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NOW WHAT?

• What do we work on first?
• Determining SIGNIFICANCE helps you decide
• How do you currently decide whats important?

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Criteria for Significance

• Defined by the core team
• Unique to the organization
• Subjective, not an exact science
• Not based on a complex formula

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A Simple Matrix Approach
You determine these criteria
Everything regulated is significant Aspects with
a total 12 or higher are significant
Sig?
Reg
Total
ASPECT
Cost
Volume
Toxic
Health
Nuisance
Key 5 high 3 moderate 1 low
0 N/A
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• Common Issues
• If its Significant it must be managed!
• Just because its not (per the scoring) doesnt
  mean its not important
• Significant environmental aspects need extra
  intervention and attention

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Setting Goals

• Objectives and Targets
• Accomplish______ by__________ date.

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How do we get there?

• Action Plans and Environmental Management Programs

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What does it take to make it part of the way we
work?

• Training

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SOPs Operational Controls
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Communication
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Communication
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Communication
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The EMS Framework
plan
Continual improvement
do
act
check
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Checking Back The Role of Audits in an EMS

• Compliance Audits Determines whether operational
  
• practices comply with applicable regulatory
  requirements.
• It is a systematic inspection of regulatory
  conditions,
• techniques and practices, operations, records and
  assesses
• violations for emissions, effluents, accidental
  releases,
• or failed record keeping.

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Role of Audits

• EMS Audit Determines whether the environmental
• management system conforms with planned
  arrangements. (3
• stages)
• A Documentation Audit to assure the documented
  procedures
• conform to a standard.
• A Conformity Audit to verify that the actual
  management and
• operational activities meet the goals of the
  management system.
• Addresses Continuous Development of system
  procedures
• to prevent reoccurrences of non-compliances

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When?

• Audit periodically during development
• like mid term exams.
• Check what has worked and what could
• work/improved.

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BOTTOM LINEAre we doing what we said we
would do? Do we need to modify things to improve
implementation and efficacy?
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Build a SYSTEM to SurviveBuild a SYSTEM to
Manage BetterBuild a SYSTEM to Excel
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Resources
www.peercenter.net www.uml.edu/emsc Madeline
Snow, UML, 978-934-4875 www.epa.gov/ems EMS
An Implementation Guide for Small and
Medium-Sized Organizations, NSF International,
January 2001 www.epa.gov/owm/iso14001/ems2001final
.pdf Ensuring a Sustainable Future An Energy
Management Guidebook for Wastewater and Water
Utilities, January 2008 http//www.epa.gov/waterin
frastructure/pdfs/guidebook_si_energymanagement.pd
f
http//www.epa.gov/waterinfrastructure/pdfs/guideb
ook_si_energymanagement.pdf