SYNERGIC SAFETY ENGINEERS

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT & ITS IMPACT

Compiled by N.K. Joish
Lead Auditor : ISO 9001, 14001 & OHSAS 18001

Relationship between our activities & Environment

Waste in the air

Raw material

Product

Waste
Liquid Solid

Environmental Aspect & Impact

Aspects element of an organizations activities, products, or services that can interact with the environment. Impacts any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organizations activities, products or service.

Aspect & Impact

Activity
Pickling Smoke Consumption of water

Aspect

Impact
Air pollution Depletion of resources

Waste water
Grinding Dust in air Dust on the ground

Water pollution
Air pollution Land pollution and land water pollution

Identifying of Aspect
It

is intended to provide process for an organization to identify environmental aspects and to determine those that are significant which should be addressed as a priority by the organizations environmental management system

Identifying of Aspect
Environmental aspects should be identified taking into account the inputs and outputs (both intended and unintended). This process should consider:

Normal conditions Abnormal conditions Emergency situations

Identifying of Aspect
You

dont have to consider each product, component or raw material individually. You may consider categories of activities.

Identifying of Aspect

While identifying aspects following should be considered:

Emission to air. Release to water. Release to land. Use of raw materials and natural resources. Use of energy. Energy emitted e.g. heat, radiation, vibration etc. Waste and by-products.

Environmental Aspect and Impact

Changes to the environment, either adverse or beneficial, that result from environmental aspects are called environmental impacts. The relationship between environmental aspects and impacts is one of cause and effect. In some locations cultural heritage can be an important element of the surroundings in which in which an organization operates, and therefore should be taken into account in the understanding of its environmental impacts

Evaluation of Impact

Business concern
BO business opportunity IP concern by interested parties

Environmental concern
SC scale SV severity

LR legal requirement

PR probabality
DR duration

Evaluation of Impact
Weight .
1
2

Scale (SC)
Within work area
Within plant area

Severity (SV)
Insignificant of non toxic
significant release of non-toxic or insignificant release of toxic

3
4 5

Within factory premises

Within 3 K.M. of work Beyond 3 K.M. of work

significant release of toxic and may require control equipment

significant release of toxic and requires control equipment significant release of toxic & severe damage to ecology, fatality, major injuries

Evaluation of Impact
Weight .
1
2

Probability (PB)
Annually or less but not monthly
Monthly but not weekly

Duration (DR)
< than 1 hr.
>than 1hr. But < 8hr.

3
4 5

Weekly but not daily > than 8hrs. But < than 24 hrs.
Daily but not continues Continues > than 24hrs. But < than 1 month > than 1 month

Evaluation of Impact Total Impact = SC * SV * PB * DR Minimum Impact = 1 Maximum Impact = 5 * 5 * 5 * 5 = 625 Decide a level above which it is to be considered as Significant Impact Note = If the answer to any of the business concern viz LR, BO, & IP is YES, then such impact is to be considered as significant, even if the total score of SSPD is low.

Exercise
List

down the various activities in your department. For each activity, identify environmental aspects and impacts. Evaluate the environmental impacts.

Exercise
Identification of aspects & impacts
STEP
The

1 : Select an activity or process.

selected activity or process should be large enough for meaningful examination and small enough to be sufficiently understood.

Exercise
Identification of aspects & impacts
STEP

2 : identify environmental aspects of the activity, product or service

Identify

as many environmental aspects as possible with the selected activity or process.

Exercise
Identification of aspects & impacts
STEP 3 : identify environmental impacts Identify as many actual and potential, positive and negative environmental impacts as possible, associated with each identified aspect.

Exercise
Identification of aspects & impacts
STEP 4 : evaluation of associated environmental impacts The significance of each of the identified environmental impacts can be different for each organization. Quantification can aid judgment.

Significant Aspect

Impact of any aspect shall be considered as significant:

If any aspect is governed by environmental

regulation.

If highest number of employees in a department have expressed it as concern (through the questionnaire feedback)

Significant Aspect

Impact of any aspect shall be considered as significant:

If any aspect has a cost saving potential of

Rs. -------- or more per month.

If any impact gets a total score of ------ or more. MR decides that the first cut-off score should be -----

Environment Management is all about Preservation of Natural Resources and Preventing Pollution of Natural Resources