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How to Identify and Evaluate Environmental Aspects and Impacts

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D

Dr. L. Ramakrishnan

Moderator
#32
#32
Friends,

The requirement of section 4.3.1 of ISO-14001 (2004) is not only to identify and evaluate environmental aspects of processes and services, but also to identify and evaluate environmental aspects of products.

In the whole discussion in this thread I do not see any critical reference to the ASPECTS of products. Almost 80 % of the environmental impacts of products throughout their life-cylce take place outside the "manufacturing" phase. It is threfore necessary that the ISO-14001 system, where appropriate, captures the significant aspects of products being manufactured by an organization (also applicable to products "transported", "Stored and distributed", "marketed and sold", "serviced" etc. by an organization as appropriate). If I were a certification auditor, I would consider it a major non-conformance if product ASPECTS are not identified and their significance evaluated.

I hope that my friends who follow this thread and others on Aspects will take this into account while establishing a general procedure for identifying and evaluating environmental aspects (of their activities, products and services).

With best regards,

Ramakrishnan
 
Randy

Randy

Super Moderator
#33
#33
You ought to see the stares you get from folks during an audit when you ask them about the aspects related to their products. The reaction many times is similiar to :mg:

The greatest problem I see is one that comes up here all the time...a failure to READ the standard, all of it, not just clause 4, and a lack of using Guidance documents.
 
Q

QMarc

#34
#34
EMAS detailed

Hi you all,

I am back again and in my package I have got some more information ...

Here is the original EMAS text:

I-A.3.1. Environmental aspects

The organisation shall establish and maintain (a) procedure(s) to identify the environmental aspects of its activities, products or services that it can control and over which it can be expected to have an influence, in order to determine those which have or can have significant impacts on the environment. The organisation shall ensure that the aspects related to these significant impacts are considered in setting its environmental objectives.

The organisation shall keep this information up-to-date.
Click to expand...
If you want, you can have a look to the whole text of EMAS

... and further on you can have a look to the Annex VI of EMAS in the file attached to this posting.
So, if you have read this, we can have a small dicussion comparing the requirements of 14001:2004.

QMarc
 

Attachments

Last edited by a moderator:
Sidney Vianna

Sidney Vianna

Post Responsibly
Staff member
Admin
#35
#35
Read the bloody document

Randy said:
The greatest problem I see is one that comes up here all the time...a failure to READ the standard, all of it, not just clause 4, and a lack of using Guidance documents.
Click to expand...
I just downloaded the "ISO 14000 family of documents" from the TC207 portal. See attached.
 

Attachments

Q

QMarc

#37
#37
Thanks a lot

Hello Covers,

thanks for your help, we got our re-certification (EMAS and 14001) a short time before christmas.

The auditor found the aspects evaluation table suitable for our company ... but we did it only to be in accordance with EMS requirements. ;)

We both knew the truth about it ... :rolleyes:

Anyway, thanks to you all, :thanx:

Qmarc
 
H

Helmut Jilling

Auditor / Consultant
#38
#38
QMarc said:
Hello Covers,

thanks for your help, we got our re-certification (EMAS and 14001) a short time before christmas.

The auditor found the aspects evaluation table suitable for our company ... but we did it only to be in accordance with EMS requirements. ;)

We both knew the truth about it ... :rolleyes:

Anyway, thanks to you all, :thanx:

Qmarc
Click to expand...

Grosse Schade, geihrte freund... (Terrible shame, my esteemed friend...)

If you did the Aspects only for the sake of the audit, you missed one of the most fundamental parts of the ISO 14001 process. It is the cornerstone of planned, structured improvement in the system. Without that, you have essentially the same system, whether good or bad, you had before ISO 14001. It is the framework that 14001 is based on.

IMO, it would be a shame to go to the trouble of implementing 14000, and miss this part.
 
Paul Simpson

Paul Simpson

Trusted Information Resource
#39
#39
Why are we here?

QMarc said:
Hello Covers,

thanks for your help, we got our re-certification (EMAS and 14001) a short time before christmas.

The auditor found the aspects evaluation table suitable for our company ... but we did it only to be in accordance with EMS requirements. ;)

We both knew the truth about it ... :rolleyes:

Anyway, thanks to you all, :thanx:

Qmarc
Click to expand...
This confirms my problems with a lot of posters to the cove. You get a lot of requests for checklists, example manuals, (in this case) aspects evaluation and the only purpose they serve is to pull the wool over the auditor's eyes and get through an audit.

It really fills my soul with joy to see these posts in a forum I support. What do others think?:confused:
 
Randy

Randy

Super Moderator
#40
#40
I'm careful about saying what I "think" nowadays.

In a case such as this and in so many others the "auditor" may have been an honest soul that though trying to do his/her job correctly wouldn't know the phylosophy around aspects, impacts and significance if it bit 'em on the bum.

To paraphrase the Disney cartoon character Goofy "Hurrhhulk, loooks good ta meie"
 
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