Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals - Ammonia ... - ammk-rks.net

Chapter 11.4.9 Environmental management toolsDescriptionThe best environmental performance is usually achieved by the installation of the besttechnology and its operation in the most effective and efficient manner. This is recognised bythe IPPC Directive definition of ‘techniques’ as “both the technology used and the way in whichthe installation is designed, built, maintained, operated and decommissioned”.For IPPC installations an Environmental Management System (EMS) is a tool that operators canuse to address these design, construction, maintenance, operation and decommissioning issuesin a systematic, demonstrable way. An EMS includes the organisational structure,responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for developing, implementing,maintaining, reviewing and monitoring the environmental policy. Environmental ManagementSystems are most effective and efficient where they form an inherent part of the overallmanagement and operation of an installation.Within the European Union, many organisations have decided on a voluntary basis toimplement environmental management systems based on EN ISO 14001:1996 or the EU Ecomanagementand audit scheme EMAS. EMAS includes the management system requirements ofEN ISO 14001, but places additional emphasis on legal compliance, environmental performanceand employee involvement; it also requires external verification of the management system andvalidation of a public environmental statement (in EN ISO 14001 self-declaration is analternative to external verification). There are also many organisations that have decided to putin place non-standardised EMSs.While both standardised systems (EN ISO 14001:1996 and EMAS) and non-standardised(“customised”) systems in principle take the organisation as the entity, this document takes amore narrow approach, not including all activities of the organisation e.g. with regard to theirproducts and services, due to the fact that the regulated entity under the IPPC Directive is theinstallation (as defined in Article 2).An environmental management system (EMS) for an IPPC installation can contain thefollowing components:(a) definition of an environmental policy(b) planning and establishing objectives and targets(c) implementation and operation of procedures(d) checking and corrective action(e) management review(f) preparation of a regular environmental statement(g) validation by certification body or external EMS verifier(h) design considerations for end-of-life plant decommissioning(i) development of cleaner technologies(j) benchmarking.These features are explained in somewhat greater detail below. For detailed information oncomponents (a) to (g), which are all included in EMAS, the reader is referred to the referenceliterature indicated below.(a)Definition of an environmental policyTop management are responsible for defining an environmental policy for an installation andensuring that it:- is appropriate to the nature, scale and environmental impacts of the activities- includes a commitment to pollution prevention and control24 Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals – Ammonia, Acids and Fertilisers