Environmental Management System for Operation and Closure

Certification under ISO 14001

presented by

Dave Mohr of

SEAs Specialists in Environmental

management and Audits

i' I!I III ~ I!I

Summary

• Origin of ISO 14001

• Development process

• Current status

• Brief description of ISO 14001

• Comparison with EMPR requirements

• Value of ISO 14001 to the mining Industry

Recognition of ISO 14001

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• Conflicting EU standards to be withdrawn (Including BS 7750)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• SABS 0251 being withdrawn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 14001

ISO 14000 expected to gain wider

recognition than ISO 9000 .

• 2 000 South African companies }

.70 000 companies world wide

Certlfled to

ISO 9000 •

Origin of ISO 14000

June '92 - Earth summit in Rio

1990 - 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 14001 reaches OIS stage

Sept. '96 - ISO 14001 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

SC2 Environmental

Auditing

SC4 Environmental Performance Evaluation

SC5 Life

Cycle Analysis

SCS Terms

and

WGl Environmental

Definitions

•

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 14001 -100% ISO 14004- 98%

•

Process followed in SA

• Mirror sub-committee

• 48 members

• Drafts circulated for comment

Key differences ISO 9001

• Supplier-customer relationship

• Product-related

• Performance requirements derived from contract with customer

ISO 14001

• Multiple stakeholders

• All activities, products, services

• Performance requirements derived from various sources

• Identification of aspects & impacts

i' 1'1 ~ 0 I!l

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 •

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

•

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

•

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

Comparison of EMPR with ISO 14001

EMPR

• legal requirement

• Goal : closure certificate

• Describes a programme (what, when, who)

• Identifies impacts on specified components

EMPR identifies impacts on

• Geology

• Climate

• Topography

• Soil

• etc.

ISO 14001

• Voluntary

• Goal : environmental protection

• Describes a system (includes how)

• Identifies all significant impacts

Not mentioned

• Waste

• Resource consumption

• Suppliers

• Use and disposal of products •

Comparison of EMPR with ISO 14001 (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 14001

• Commit to continual improvement and prevention of pollution

• Specific requirement

• Periodic audit

• Iterative process, regular review and update by management

Value of ISO 14001 to mining industry

• Provides a highly credible demonstration of performance to interested parties.

• EMPR provides a good basis for implementing 150 '14001.

• Could be the route to follow in gaining acceptance of self-regulation.

but. . .

• Requires a change of mind-sel

• r