The effectiveness of any enterprise depends on a variety of factors. First of all, the company management should take care of the formation of the necessary structure, through which coordinated work of all parts of the production process would be ensured. Equally important is the quality of the enterprise’s interaction with the environment. A special role in achieving its high level is played by economic and environmental aspects. The first concern the financial and economic side of the enterprise. We are talking about the right choice of a product, analysis of supply and demand, establishing an adequate cost for goods / services, etc. Environmental aspects - this is no less important element of the enterprise. We will talk about them in the article.
General information
The environmental aspect is one of the key concepts of the management system, through which the work of the enterprise and its interaction with the external environment are correlated. The definition of this term is enshrined in ISO 14001: 2004. According to this document, the environmental aspect is an element of the company's activity, products or services, which reflects the interaction of the enterprise with the external environment. In practice, the use of this concept greatly facilitates the use of pollution prevention methods.
Identification Features
The environmental aspects of production are identified taking into account emissions into the atmosphere, water, storm sewers, land pollution and their removal, use of natural resources and raw materials (gas, fuel oil, oil, etc.), consumption of electric, thermal energy, and the volume of generated waste ( both recyclable and non-recyclable).
Identification determines the frequency of occurrence, the likelihood of loss of control over these factors and the severity of the consequences.
Nuances
It must be remembered that the term "environmental aspect" is a neutral concept. This means that in the course of production activities factors can be identified that positively or negatively affect the environment. There may also be a reverse situation. Some external environmental aspects can have a negative impact on the operation of the enterprise.
It is necessary to consider the relationship between the concepts of "environmental aspect" and "impact on the external environment" as a comparison of the causes and conditions of activity with its consequences. What does it mean? For example, the environmental aspect is the oil spill in the river. Accordingly, its environmental impact will cause the death of river flora and fauna.
Enterprise Requirements
According to ISO 14001: 2004, the organization must develop and implement procedures for:
- Identification of environmental aspects of activities, services / products within the selected area of use of the environmental management system, amenable to control and influence, taking into account new or planned developments, amended or new types of activities, services / goods.
- Identification of factors that have or are capable of influencing the natural environment.
In other words, ISO 14001: 2004 requires the identification and recording of environmental aspects in an enterprise, and their significance in the context of regulatory requirements and likely risks. When identifying the organization should proceed from the criteria of expediency. In other words, only those factors whose control is justified should be identified. These, for example, include the socio-environmental aspects of the enterprise (interaction with toxic, dangerous substances that can cause poisoning of a large number of people, etc.).
Identification technique
A variety of approaches can be used to identify aspects of environmental issues in an organization. Meanwhile, as practice shows, maximum efficiency can be achieved with their combined use.
Among the most popular approaches, it should be noted:
- Analysis of the work, services / products of the enterprise and identification of environmental aspects as elements of activity that interact with the external environment.
- Assessment of the state of the environment in the area of activity of the enterprise, impact factors (release of substances into the environment), identification of aspects that determine them.
- Analysis of energy flows / material balance, determination of possible losses and related environmental aspects.
- Studying the opinions of stakeholders, identifying factors of concern.
- Research and analysis of regulatory and legislative requirements, determination of activities, goods / services for which special requirements are established. Identification of aspects related to these requirements.
The specifics of systematization
As practice shows, from the above list the first approach is the most effective. All the others act as an addition to it: they serve to detect and guarantee the consideration of aspects that are important from different points of view.
The main problem in identifying environmental aspects is related to the systematization and analysis of processes occurring in the enterprise. As a rule, key production operations, organization interaction schemes with suppliers are documented and described. Experts recommend analyzing not only the main, but also additional (secondary and auxiliary) types of activities, risks in case of emergency, emergency situations, during the handling of goods, etc. For this, you should study:
- Documentation reflecting the processes occurring in the enterprise.
- Reporting, permits related to environmental protection.
- Documents on the procurement of materials and raw materials, on the storage and consumption of resources by the enterprise.
- Contracts with contractors, suppliers.
- Messages and suggestions from interested parties.
In addition, you must:
- Draw up a diagram of energy flows and material balance. They can be either enlarged or simplified.
- Monitor processes.
The information collected is used to draw up schematic descriptions of the processes taking place in the enterprise, as well as emergency situations.
Registry design
The data collected during monitoring and analysis is used to compile a local document containing:
- Product / service / process specification.
- Description of the environmental aspect and its impact on the environment.
- The priority of the factor.
- Requirements for the environmental aspect or the impact associated with it.
- Description of regulatory means available to the enterprise.
- References to related procedures or instructions.
- Links to related events, tasks, goals.
When compiling the register, managers must remember that the same factor can lead to different types of impacts. At the same time, aspects of various processes may have the same character, but differ in scale, probability of occurrence, etc.
Examples of factors
Among the most common environmental aspects, experts distinguish:
- Power consumption.
- Use of consumables (office paper, trash bags, etc.).
- Water consumption.
- Air pollution by lead, carbon dioxide, etc.
- Use of chemicals (alkalis, acids).
- Emission, recycling.
- Sewage discharge.
Among the socio-environmental factors include the interaction of the enterprise with people. It is, in particular, about the creation of noise, vibration, heat generation, etc. This group also includes the transportation of people to the place of work.
Aspect Assessment
It is carried out on the basis of the criteria of urgency, cost, adjustability. In turn, to assess each of them, the established indicators should be analyzed. From the list of values for each criterion, one option is selected that most accurately characterizes the factor. The resulting numbers are summed. The result will be an indicator of the significance of the aspect. Then he is assigned a symbol that reflects the level of impact on the external environment: M - small, C - medium, B - significant impact.