Determining the Significant Aspects

EPA Regions 9 & 10 and The Federal Network for Sustainability

Objectives
After this discussion, you should : Describe the importance of significant environmental aspects for your EMS. Describe factors to consider in evaluating the significance of environmental aspects and impacts.

Overview
Definition EMS Requirements Risk Assessment Decision Matrices

Definition
A significant environmental aspect is an environmental aspect that has or can have a significant environmental impact. Significance could be tied to:
Environmental concerns Natural resource concerns Regulatory or legal exposure Business or mission concerns Concerns of interested parties
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EMS Requirements
ISO 14001 uses significant aspects and impacts as the basis for developing objectives and preparing programs. The facility determines which aspects and impacts are significant. The EMS must address all significant aspects.
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Considerations for Determining Significance

Legal and other requirement Toxicity Consequence / Magnitude Risk / Likelihood Sustainable Others
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Several Methods for Determining Significance

Risk Assessment Decision Matrices Significance Set by Management

Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is a tool used by managers to provide information for decision making. Risk assessment may be formal or informal, but it is always there.

Risk Management
Risk management addresses unacceptable risk. Residual risk is the unidentified risk plus any acceptable, identified risk remaining after risk management.

Characterizing Risk
Exposure - How big of a problem is it?
Global, regional, local?

Severity - How bad will it get? Probability - How likely is it to occur?

Daily, weekly, monthly, annually, in emergencies, only when a certain event happens, when a new project starts?
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Risk Assessment
Estimate exposure, severity, and probability for each aspect Prepare relative rank for each aspect Compare ranking to determine significance

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Risk Assessment Example

Aspect Vehicle exhaust Hazardous waste Food waste Exposure Severity Probability Total 4 1 3 2 4 1 3 2 2 24 8 6

Not real data. Scale of 1 to 5 used with 1 being low and 5 high. Numbers were multiplied to give totals. No weighting factors used.
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Decision Matrices
A decision matrix is a tool used to quantify a risk assessment Identify key criteria Determine relative ranking Evaluate significance

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Key Criteria for Significance

Environmental impact Health & safety Regulatory or Executive Order requirement Cost Mission impact Environmental policy commitments Community impact
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Decision Matrix Example

Aspect Vehicle exhaust Hazardous waste Food waste Env.Imp 3 4 1 H&S 2 3 1 Cost of Change -1 -2 -1 Mission 1 2 1 Comm. 3 2 1 Total 8 9 3

National data. Scale of 1 to 5 used with 1 being low and 5 high. Numbers were added to give totals. No weighting factors used.
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Significance May Be Defined by Management

Environmental Goals Management Priorities

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Determining Significance
Risk Assessment and Decision Matrices are only suggestions Refer to your agencys risk management procedures Establish a procedure and stick with it Make a list of significant aspects and the impacts associated with them
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Where Do Significant Aspects Fit in Your EMS?

EMS manages your significant aspects, impacts Objectives and targets for your significant aspects shall be considered Employees need to be aware of significant environmental aspects of their jobs Organizations shall consider processes for external communication of significant aspects and document decision Organization shall have procedures to monitor operations & activities that can have signif. impact(s)
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Summary
Significant aspects are defined based on facility-specific criteria A formal procedure is used to evaluate significance Preparing a list of significant aspects is a big part of an EMS

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Exercise 4: Determining significant Aspects

Use reproducible methodology; e.g., rank using a formula containing factors the organization considers important

Potential factors
severity probability/frequency risk (environmental/ health/financial) toxicity external concerns ability to control/ influence/investigate duration regulatory concern
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Examples of Factor Ratings

Severity
5 4 3 2 1 0 Catastrophic High Moderate Low Slight Positive Impact

Regulatory Importance
5 4 3 2 1 0 Current violation Non-compliance, past 3 yrs Non-compliance, past 5 yrs In compliance Below regulatory cut-off Unregulated

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Examples of Factor Ratings

Probability
5 4 3 2 1 Certainty Likely So/So Unlikely Very unlikely

Potential for Increased Control

5 4 3 2 1 High, with cost savings High at low cost Moderate Low Low and very costly

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Example of Rating Scheme

Significance = (Severity + RI + Prob) Control

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