I started the lecture with a recap of what we had learnt about ISO-14001; scope, policy, aspects & impacts, objectives, targets & programmes. . We proceeded to discuss the various sub-sections under 4.4 - Implementation (DO). This section has seven sub-sections, viz., 4.4.1 - Resources, Roles, Responsibilities and Authority, 4.4.2 - Competence, training and awareness, 4.4.3 - Communication, 4.4.4 - Documentation, 4.4.5 - Control of documents, 4.4.6 - Operational Control and 4.4.7 - Emergency Preparedness and Response.
4.4.1 - Resources are to be provided by the management for establishing, implementing and maintaining the Environmental Management System - these resources are human resources, financial resources, infrastructure and information. The top management has to appoint a Management Representative to establish, implement and maintain an Environmental Management System and to report to the management periodically about the effectiveness of the system. Role is the part played by employees apart from the functions for which they are responsible or results for which they are accountable to. An employee, for example an Accounts Officer, may take the role of an internal auditor or a trainer even though his main responsibility is in Accounting. ( We discussed the ROLE played by individual in real life - a man is a husband to his wife, is a brother to his sister or brother, is a son to his parents, is a friend to his friends etc. These are various roles he plays in his life). In order to ensure that the system is effective the management should document the responsibilities and authority (to take actions, decisions etc.) and make it known to all concerned employees.
4.4.2 - Competence of employees who are responsible for activities related to identified significant aspects need to be ensured; competence is related to qualification, training and experience. <strong>ALL</strong> employees have to be trained to understand the policy, procedures and other relevant elements of the EMS. ALL is the key word here. We discussed the case of a CEO who had not been trained in the emergency procedure and response; how would he come to know about the emergency and save his life in case of an actual emergency ?
4.4.3 - Communication is of two types, (a) internal communication with employees and contract workers working within the premises and (b) external communication with stakeholders outside the organization, like the Government Departments, Statutory bodies, NGOs, Banks, Neighbours etc. Procedure for both internal and external communication should be effective (e.g. the internal communication should ensure that the receipient of the communication has understood the content of the communication). The procedure for external communication should address the receipt and response to communication from external stakeholders. The organization should decide whether to communicate its significant environmental aspects to external stakeholders and record its decision. One method of external communication is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guideline based Sustainability Reports.
4.4.4 - Documentation - Information with its supporting medium (paper, magnetic tape, CD, DVD etc.) is a document; Records are a sub-set of documents. Procedures, Policy, Objectives/targets/programmes etc., with the medium on which they are captured are documents. Information on the past activity, including measurements, reviews etc., are RECORDS. While documents, except RECORDS, could be changed, RECORDS cannot be changed/altered. Documents, including Records, are used as evidence of the working of the Environmental Management System. Environmental Management System Manual, capturing various elements of the EMS is one such document (ISO-14001 does not prescribe a written manual, but for better working of the system a written manual is recommended)
4.4.5 - Documents are controlled; that means that the documents are checked for their authenticity and are verified and approved by those authrorized to issue documents. This procedure is necessary to avoid obsolete documents being used in the organization. Current documents need to be available at the all places where related work is carried out. Control is also required for documents which have external origin (e.g. standards, legal documents etc). We discussed how a part of the organization was not meeting the requirement of law as they were using obsolete standards for emissions and how this could lead to risk to the organization.
4.4.6 - We discussed issues related to operational control procedures that are established to address significant environmental aspects, Procedures have to established for those activities which can cause environmental impact. These procedures identify the scope, responsibility, and the "how" of doing things.
These procedures also apply to contractors and suppliers where relevant. Procedures need not be just a summary of what has to be done; they can also presented in the form of flow-charts for clarity. Procedures should also identify the "operational Criteria" - operational ciriterion is that indicator which provides information for action that reduces the environmental impact.
4.4.7 - We discussed issues related to emergency/accident procedures and the consequence of the procedure. Incidents are indications of what is expected in days to come. Accidents and their analysis for prevention will help an organization Environmental emergency situations are those where the surrounding populations have to be evacuated or the emissions/dicharges can pollute the ground water around.. One needs to take precautions while using emergency measuers; they should not lead to other environmental issues (e.g. Sandoz fire in Switzerland)
We had a multiple choice examination (Tutorial) for about 30 minutes.
With kind regards,
Ramakrishnan
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