General Environmental Management
Systems Awareness Training
for Presank Limited
By
Dr. S.K Donyinah, Lecturer
Petroleum Engineering Department, KNUST
14 Nov. 2014
Objectives
After this awareness training, you should
know:
• What an environmental management system
(EMS) is.
• The benefits of an EMS.
• Why an EMS is important to what you do.
2
What Is an Environmental Management System
(EMS)?
• An EMS is simply a set of procedures to reduce our environmental
footprint in our day-to-day activities.
• An EMS is the combination of people, policies, procedures, review, and
plans to help address environmental issues.
• An EMS is that part of an overall management system which includes
organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices,
procedures, processes, and resources for...achieving environmental
policy.
• Important EMS elements include continual improvement, management
commitment, formalization, and awareness of a systems based approach.
3
Purpose of an EMS
An EMS brings together the people,
policies, plans, review mechanisms, and
procedures used to manage environmental
issues at a facility or in an organization.
4
Benefits of an EMS
• Helps maintain compliance
• Reduce operating costs
• Integrate environmental programs
into mission
• Increase employee involvement
• Reduce environmental impacts
5
Things About EMS You May
Not Know
• Your organization may already have an
have EMS established or have elements of
an EMS in place.
• You may be able to contribute to
implementing and improving your
organization’s EMS.
6
EMS Frameworks
• The International Standard ISO 14001 is the
most widely used and respected.
• Organizations, however, use many EMS
frameworks and models.
• The EO(Executive Order) 13423
Implementing Instructions directs Federal
agencies to align their EMS programs with
ISO 14001.
7
Questions
• What does an EMS look like?
• How is it structured?
8
A Basic EMS Framework
Plan, Do, Check, Act
PLAN DO
ACT CHECK
9
The Continuous Cycle
• Plan
Planning, identifying environmental
aspects and establishing goals
• Do
Implementing, includes training and
operational controls
• Check
Checking, includes monitoring and
corrective action
• Act
Reviewing, includes progress reviews
and acting to make needed changes
10
EMS Components
(e.g., ISO 14001)
• Environmental Policy
• Planning
• Implementation and Operation
• Checking and Corrective Action
• Management Review
11
Environmental Policy
• Issue a policy statement signed by facility
manager
• At a minimum, commit to
– Continual improvement
– Pollution prevention
– Environmental compliance
• Identifies EMS framework
• Publicly available
• NB: Give Environmental Template Policy
12
Planning
• Identify aspects and impacts from facility
activities, products, and services
• Review legal requirements
• Set objectives and targets
• Establish formal EMS program
13
Implementation and
Operation
• Define roles and responsibilities
• Provide EMS training
• Establish internal and external
communication mechanisms
• Establish document control system
• Establish operational controls
• Integrate with or establish emergency
preparedness procedures
14
Checking and Corrective
Action
• Conduct periodic monitoring of
environmental performance
• Identify root causes of findings and conduct
corrective and preventive actions
• Maintain environmental records
• Conduct periodic EMS audit
15
Management Review
• Conduct periodic senior management
review of EMS
• Revise policies as needed
16
The EMS
Plan, Do, Check, Act Cycle
(e.g., ISO 14001)
Management Environmental
Review Policy
Checking/ Continuous Planning
Corrective Actions Improvement
• Environmental Aspects
• Measurement and Monitoring
• EMS Nonconformance and • Compliance
Corrective Actions • Objectives and Targets
• Records • Environmental Mgmt.
• EMS Audits
Implementation Programs
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Training and Communication
• EMS Document Control
• Emergency Preparedness
and Response
17
Bottom Line EMS Requirements
• Must have commitment of top managers.
• An EMS doesn’t exist in isolation.
• Must be consistent with other management
systems (e.g., IT) in your organization.
• An EMS must be owned by everyone in
your organization.
18
Some Basic EMS Definitions
• Environmental Aspect (Cause) – The elements of an organization’s
activities, products, or services which can interact with the environment.
– It is important to establish, implement and maintain a procedure to identify the
environmental aspects of activities products and services that you “can control
and …can influence.”
– After identifying environmental aspects you must determine those which have
or can have significant impacts on the environment.
– Examples include: air emissions, water discharges, , use of raw materials,
energy use, use of natural resources, use of volatile organic compounds.
• Environmental Impact (Effect) – Any change to the environment whether
adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organizations
activities, products, or services.
– Examples include: depletion of natural resources, air pollution, hazardous
waste generation, soil and water contamination.
19
Examples of Aspects and Impacts
• Facility Operations
– Aspect: Office use of electronic equipment
• Impact: Generation of recyclable waste
(paper, batteries, toner cartridges)
– Aspect: Use of solvents, oil, fluorescent lamps,
and excess furniture
• Impact: Land contamination (landfill)
– Aspect: Air emissions from buildings
• Impact: Air pollution, global warming
20
Examples of Aspects and Impacts
• Facility Operations (continued)
– Aspect: Motor vehicle operations
(Use of oil, rags, antifreeze, tires, and batteries)
– Impact: Hazardous waste generation and air pollution
– Aspect: Custodial Operations
(Use of cleaning products, paper, water, energy)
• Impact: Depletion of natural resources and
contamination of land
– Aspect: Grounds Maintenance
• Impact: Depletion of natural resources (pesticides,
fertilizer, water use, fossil fuels)
21
Examples of Significant Environmental
Aspects
• Purchasing chemicals • Use of electronic
• Use of chemicals equipment
• Building temperature
• Application of control
pesticides
• Grounds and custodial
• Office products/paper operations
consumption • Motor vehicle
operations
22
Objectives and Targets
• Compliance with Regulations
• Reduce Waste Streams
– Hazardous, Solid, and Universal
• Reduce Energy Consumption
• Recycle
• Green Purchasing
• Pollution Prevention
23
Definitions
An EMS objective is an overall goal arising
from the environmental policy statement
set by the organization.
An EMS target is a detailed measurable
performance requirement related to the
objective.
24
Examples
Objective: Increase solid waste diversion
Target: Achieve a 60% diversion rate for all
solid waste by the year 2015.
25
Examples
Objective: Improve environmental compliance
Target: Reduce the number of external
environmental compliance audit findings by
50% on an audit-to-audit basis.
26
Examples
Objective: Reduce transportation congestion
Target: Increase the number of employee-
days of mass transit use by 50% by the year
2017 based on a 2014 calendar year
baseline.
Target: Purchase 25 bicycles for use within
the facility by the year 2004.
27
An objective of EMS is to reduce environmental impacts.
Below are ways you can support this objective:
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – Reduce your use of resources such as
water. Reuse resources such as office supplies Recycle all waste
oils,batteries, paper, electronics, toner cartridges, metal scraps, metal
cans, glass and plastic containers, and fluorescent light bulbs, etc.
• Purchasing Requirements – Government purchasing agents,
including credit card holders, are required to follow the Affirmative
(Green) Procurement Plan.
• Carpool – Conserve fuel by carpooling to field sites or other work
related destinations.
28
What Managers and Supervisors Need to Do
Provide support to change habits
• Old habits die hard.
• Employees need support through both
motivational and technical hurdles.
• Initial training and periodic refreshers are
essential to continuing pollution prevention
success.
29
Top Ten Pollution Prevention Techniques
1. Good housekeeping and 6. Alternate cleaning
maintenance practices processes
2. Spill prevention and 7. Reduce/reuse process
preparedness wastes
3. Inventory management 8. Process modifications
4. Prudent purchasing 9. Changes in equipment or
technology
5. Waste exchange programs
[Link]
preferable purchasing
30
An Example:
Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
Definition:
Products or services that have a lesser or
reduced effect on human health and the
environment when compared with
competing products or services that serve
the same purpose.
31
Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
Environmentally
preferable
purchasing
means
examining the
pollution
prevention
practices of your
vendors and
subcontractors
32
Summary
• An EMS is the combination of people,
policies, procedures, review, and plans to
help address environmental issues.
• Important EMS elements include continual
improvement, management commitment,
formalization, and awareness of system
approach.
33
Summary
• Being a good environmental steward is every
Presank employee’s business.
• Performing your job in an environmentally safe
and sound manner benefits us all by protecting the
health of the surrounding ecosystem, preserving
resources for future generations, being good
neighbors, minimizing mission impact due to non-
compliance issues, and saving money by
decreasing wasted resources.
34
Your Participation
All personnel have roles and responsibilities at the
location for EMS. Your level of participation will vary
according to the work you perform. At a minimum, you
are responsible for knowing:
• The commitments of the Environmental Policy.
• How your job impacts the environment.
• The procedures/protocols of your job and adhering to
them.
• The potential environmental impacts of departing from
the procedures of your job.
• The legal and other requirements of your job.
35
Congratulations and Thank You!
• You have completed general EMS Awareness
Training.
• Questions please!!!!!!
36
References
U.S. Department of the Interior Office of
Environmental Policy and Compliance
Washington, D.C., 2007
ISO ( International organization for
standardization), [Link]
[Link]/media/220984/environm
ental_policy_template.doc
37
