Environmental Management System for Operation and Closure

Transcription

1 Environmental Management System for Operation and Closure Certification under ISO presented by Dave Mohr of SEAs Specialists in Environmental management and Audits i' I!I III ~ I!I Summary Origin of ISO Development process Current status Brief description of ISO Comparison with EMPR requirements Value of ISO to the mining Industry

2 Recognition of ISO European Standards Organisation (CEN) will adopt Conflicting EU standards to be withdrawn (Including BS 7750) EMAS -ISO bridging document being prepared GATT: International standards must be adopted SABS 0251 being withdrawn Recognition of ISO ISO expected to gain wider recognition than ISO South African companies } companies world wide Certlfled to ISO 9000

3 Origin of ISO June '92 - Earth summit in Rio BCSO founded recommends that ISO establish SAGE Oct. '92 - SAGE recommends that ISO form a TC on environmental management May'93 - TC207 established, given 5 years to develop international standards June '95 - ISO reaches OIS stage Sept. '96 - ISO to be published as an international standard if [SI [EJ [AI I'l ISO/le 207 Environmental Management Systems SCl Environmental Management Systems SC3 Environmental Labelling SC5 Life Cycle Analysis WGl Environmental SC2 Environmental Auditing SC4 Environmental Performance Evaluation SCS Terms and Definitions

4 Mandate given to sub-committee 1 Develop a standard (ISO 14001) and a guideline (ISO 14004) for EMS Systems requirements only (,,0 performance requirements) Applicable to all organisations No non-tariff trade barriers Sub-committee 1 (SC1) Membership: national standards bodies ± 30 countries actively Involved 7 drafts, 2% years Consensus-driven process Recent vote: ISO % ISO %

5 Process followed in SA Mirror sub-committee 48 members Drafts circulated for comment ISO 9001 Key differences ISO Supplier-customer relationship Product-related Performance requirements derived from contract with customer Multiple stakeholders All activities, products, services Performance requirements derived from various sources Identification of aspects & impacts i' 1'1 ~ 0 I!l

6 Environmental policy By top management: appropriate to nature, scale and impacts provide a framework for objectives & targets communicated to all employees publicly available 3 commitments'., f Environmental policy (cont.) 3 commitments: continual improvement prevention of pollution comply with legal & other requirements

7 Determining "significance" Management prerogative, so: define categories of significance e.g.: very high; high; medium; low. establish criteria for rating significance consistently evaluate all aspects and impacts Note: Do not consider risk only Training, awareness and competence... all personnel whose work can cause a significant impact... shall be trained & competent make employees aware of: importance of conforming with policy & procedures significant impacts of their activities their responsibilities consequences of departing from procedures

8 Communication Procedures for: internal communication... responding to external communication Consider processes for external communication, and record the decision EMS audit Procedures for periodic EMS audits to: determine whether or not the EMS: conforms to planned arrangements has been properly implemented & maintained provide information to management

9 Management review Top management shall: periodically review the EMS to ensure its continuing: suitability adequacy effectiveness Common Symptoms Fragmentation of Initiatives No holistic overview of activities Under-resourced Insufficient integration Supplier's impacts overlooked

10 Comparison of EMPR with ISO EMPR legal requirement Goal: closure certificate Describes a programme (what, when, who) Identifies impacts on specified components ISO Voluntary Goal: environmental protection Describes a system (includes how) Identifies all significant impacts EMPR identifies impacts on Geology Climate Topography Soil etc. Not mentioned Waste Resource consumption Suppliers Use and disposal of products

11 Comparison of EMPR with ISO (cont.) EMPR Commit to achieving a set goal No specific requirement for training, communications, documentation No audit requirements Once-off process (may require updating) ISO Commit to continual improvement and prevention of pollution Specific requirement Periodic audit Iterative process, regular review and update by management Value of ISO to mining industry Provides a highly credible demonstration of performance to interested parties. EMPR provides a good basis for implementing 150 ' Could be the route to follow in gaining acceptance of self-regulation. but... Requires a change of mind-sel r