How to Manage Environmental Risks in the Workplace

We’ve found that organisations have always focused on health & safety risks, but in this video, we are going to focus on environmental risks.

6 steps that will help you manage your environmental risks:

Step 1:

You need to identify the environmental aspect. This will be dependent on the type of industry you are in, but some examples are:

• Operation of Vehicles at Work

• Storage Of Diesel

• Dust

• Road Maintenance

• Site Preparation

For the case of this video and blog, we are going to use dust as the example. As you can see in the video, dust has been added to the Environmental Aspects and Impacts register, in the first column.

Step 2:

You need to assess the environmental impact.

Examples of Environmental Impacts are:

• Fire Risk

• Air Pollution

• Visual Impact

• Erosion

• Use of Energy

• Noise

Sticking to the dust scenario, the environmental impact could be that the dust makes it into the waterway, or it gets into the air. These have been added to the register, as you can see from the video.

Step 3:

You need to determine the controls to manage the environmental impact.

So in this case, with the dust, you could have a water cart come onto site to water down the dust, you could also put up a sediment fence, to ensure that the water run off doesn’t go into any water ways.

Step 4:

You then need to allocate the responsibility for the controls. In this case, with the dust, you would have the person responsible for organizing the water cart identified on the register. This could be the construction manager, project manager or site supervisor.

Step 5:

Next, you have to monitor the impact and the controls. So you would have the site manager or supervisor check whether the water card has been effective in reducing the dust. You also then need to add to the register how often this will be monitored.

Step 6:

Finally, you need to communicate the aspects and impacts to all appropriate people(s).

In the case of the dust, you would have to make sure that all people involved on the construction site are made aware of this impact, which could be a part of their ongoing induction or training.

Environmental Aspects and Impacts Register

The examples used in this blog are just a general overview of environmental risks and impacts and aspects register. For more information, download the free EMS Resources below:

• Detailed copy of an aspects and impacts register

• Checklist of the Environmental Aspects and Impacts

Both of these resources are free to download, and will help you on your way to complying with ISO 14001, Environmental Management.