Managing Environmental Impacts and Risks in Mining Operations

FOREWORD
Environment protection is a significant priority
for our society. A major role for government is
setting environment standards and ensuring that
individuals and organizations meet them.
Increasingly, however, government, industry and
community organizations are working as partners in
protecting our environment for present and future
generations.
© www.asia-masters.com

Representatives of the minerals industry in Australia and
Environment Australia, (the environment arm of the Federal
Government), are working together to collect and present
information on a variety of topics that illustrate and explain
best practice environmental management in Australia's
minerals industry. This publication is one of a series of
booklets aimed at assisting all sectors of the minerals
industry—minerals, coal, oil and gas—to protect the
environment and to reduce the impacts of minerals
production by following the principles of ecologically
sustainable development.

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL RISK
MANAGEMENT?
INTRODUCTION
This booklet addresses the principles of applying
environmental risk management (ERM) to the overall
management of environmental issues associated with mining
operations and related activities. It also aims to provide practical
advice to those responsible for planning, developing, operating
and regulating mining activities on the best way to apply risk
management to protect the environment and efficiently allocate
resources.

The management of risk is inherent in all our daily activities.
Almost every action we take, or do not take, affects our risk
exposure. Choices over simple day-to-day things, such as what
we eat, how we travel, what physical activity we engage in, or
how much sleep we get, can directly influence the type,
consequences and likelihood of adverse outcomes. This is no less
true for mining operations where decisions to act or not to act
are constantly being made. Many of these decisions affect the
likelihood of adverse outcomes from intended or unintended
effects of the mining operations or from the effect of external
forces or events.

Environmental Risk Management
Encompasses
• systematically applying policies, procedures and
practices to hazard
• identification;
• the consequences of those hazards;
• estimating risk levels (quantitatively or qualitatively);
• assessing those levels of risk against relevant criteria
and objectives; and
• making decisions about, and minimizing, the
identified risks.

Managing the Environmental Impacts
Environmental impacts are harmful aspects of human
activity on the biophysical environment.
Environmentalism, a social and environmental
movement that started in the 1960s, addresses
environmental issues through advocacy, education and
activism.
The carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases
(GHG) in the atmosphere has already exceeded 400
parts per million (NOAA) (with total "long-term" GHG
exceeding 455 parts per million).

(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Report) This level is considered a tipping point. "The
amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is
already above the threshold that can potentially
cause dangerous climate change. We are already at
risk...It's not next year or next decade, it's now."
Report from the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):

Climate disasters are on the rise. Around 70 percent of disasters
are now climate related – up from around 50 percent from two
decades ago.
These disasters take a heavier human toll and come with a higher
price tag. In the last decade, 2.4 billion people were affected by
climate related disasters, compared to 1.7 billion in the previous
decade. The cost of responding to disasters has risen tenfold between
1992 and 2008. Destructive sudden heavy rains, intense tropical
storms, repeated flooding and droughts are likely to increase, as will
the vulnerability of local communities in the absence of strong
concerted action." (OCHA) "Climate change is not just a distant future
threat. It is the main driver behind rising humanitarian needs and we
are seeing its impact. The number of people affected and the damages
inflicted by extreme weather has been unprecedented."

Middle and Senior Managerial Positions in
any Organization
Levels of Management
The term “Levels of Management’ refers to a line of
demarcation between various managerial positions in an
organization. The number of levels in management
increases when the size of the business and work force
increases and vice versa. The level of management
determines a chain of command, the amount of authority &
status enjoyed by any managerial position. The levels of
management can be classified in three broad categories:

1. Top level / Administrative level
2. Middle level / Executory
3. Low level / Supervisory / Operative / First-line
managers
Managers at all these levels perform different
functions. The role of managers at all the three levels is
discussed below:

1. Top Level of Management
It consists of board of directors, chief executive
or managing director. The top management is the
ultimate source of authority and it manages goals
and policies for an enterprise. It devotes more time
on planning and coordinating functions.

The role of the top management can be summarized as follows -
A. Top management lays down the objectives and broad policies of
the enterprise.
B. It issues necessary instructions for preparation of department
budgets, procedures, schedules etc.
C. It prepares strategic plans & policies for the enterprise.
D. It appoints the executive for middle level i.e. departmental
managers.
E. It controls & coordinates the activities of all the departments.
F. It is also responsible for maintaining a contact with the outside
world.
G. It provides guidance and direction.
H. The top management is also responsible towards the shareholders
for the performance of the enterprise.

2. Middle Level of Management
The branch managers and departmental
managers constitute middle level. They are
responsible to the top management for the
functioning of their department. They devote more
time to organizational and directional functions. In
small organization, there is only one layer of middle
level of management but in big enterprises, there
may be senior and junior middle level management.
Their role can be emphasized as -

A. They execute the plans of the organization in accordance with the
policies and directives of the top management.
B. They make plans for the sub-units of the organization.
C. They participate in employment & training of lower level
management.
D. They interpret and explain policies from top level management to
lower level.
E. They are responsible for coordinating the activities within the
division or department.
F. It also sends important reports and other important data to top
level management.
G. They evaluate performance of junior managers.
H. They are also responsible for inspiring lower level managers
towards better performance.

3. Lower Level of Management
Lower level is also known as supervisory / operative
level of management. It consists of supervisors,
foreman, section officers, superintendent etc.
According to R.C. Davis, “Supervisory management
refers to those executives whose work has to be largely
with personal oversight and direction of operative
employees”. In other words, they are concerned with
direction and controlling function of management.
Their activities include -

A. Assigning of jobs and tasks to various workers.
B. They guide and instruct workers for day to day activities.
C. They are responsible for the quality as well as quantity
of production.
D. They are also entrusted with the responsibility of
maintaining good relation in the organization.
E. They communicate workers problems, suggestions, and
recommendatory appeals.. etc to the higher level and
higher level goals and objectives to the workers.
F. They help to solve the grievances of the workers.
G. They supervise & guide the sub-ordinates.

A. They are responsible for providing training to the
workers.
B. They arrange necessary materials, machines, tools
etc for getting the things done.
C. They prepare periodical reports about the
performance of the workers.
D. They ensure discipline in the enterprise.
E. They motivate workers.
F. They are the image builders of the enterprise
because they are in direct contact with the workers.

What is HSE
• Good, safe working habits, clear lines of responsibility,
cooperation, tidy premises and safe products and
services result in quality work and better results.
• This is what systematic health, safety and environment
work (HSE) is really about. The work is simply common
sense reduced to a system that ensures a better working
day.
• The best results come through systematic improvements,
not all-out efforts. It pays to do the job right first time. It
is better and cheaper to prevent than to repair. The term
'systematic work' is therefore a key concept in HSE.

It is important everyone participates actively in the
work, although as the employer you bear ultimate
responsibility. Important preconditions for getting HSE
work to function in day-to-day operations include
focusing on developing the working environment and
involving your employees. That way you can achieve
best practice and systems that suit your enterprise. You
also need to stay up-to-date on the requirements
stipulated by the authorities.

The Environmental Policy
Environmental policy refers to the commitment
of an organization to the laws, regulations, and
other policy mechanisms concerning environmental
issues and sustainability. These issues generally
include air and water pollution, solid waste
management, biodiversity, ecosystem management,
maintenance of biodiversity, the protection of
natural resources, wildlife and endangered species.

Policies concerning energy or regulation of toxic
substances including pesticides and many types of
industrial waste are part of the topic of
environmental policy. This policy can be deliberately
taken to direct and oversee human activities and
thereby prevent harmful effects on the biophysical
environment and natural resources, as well as to
make sure that changes in the environment do not
have harmful effects on humans.

Definition
It is useful to consider that environmental policy
comprises two major terms:
environment and policy. Environment refers to the
physical ecosystems, but can also take into
consideration the social dimension (quality of life,
health) and an economic dimension (resource
management, biodiversity). Policy can be defined as a
"course of action or principle adopted or proposed by a
government, party, business or individual".

Thus, environmental policy focuses on problems arising
from human impact on the environment, which retroacts onto
human society by having a (negative) impact on human values
such as good health or the 'clean and green' environment.
Environmental issues generally addressed by environmental
policy include (but are not limited to) air and water
pollution, waste management, ecosystem management,
biodiversity protection, the protection of natural
resources, wildlife and endangered species, and the preservation
of these natural resources for future generations. Relatively
recently, environmental policy has also attended to the
communication of environmental issues.

Rationale
The rationale for governmental involvement in the environment
is market failurein the form of forces beyond the control of one
person, including the free rider problem and the tragedy of the
commons. An example of an externality is a factory that engages
in water pollution in a river. The cost of such action is paid by society-
at-large, when they must clean the water before drinking it and is
external to the costs of the factory. The free rider problem is when the
private marginal cost of taking action to protect the environment is
greater than the private marginal benefit, but the social marginal cost
is less than the social marginal benefit. The tragedy of the commons is
the problem that, because no one person owns the commons, each
individual has an incentive to utilize common resources as much as
possible. Without governmental involvement, the commons is
overused. Examples of tragedies of the common
are overfishing and overgrazing.

Instruments, Problems, and Issues
Environmental policy instruments are tools used
by governments to implement their environmental
policies. Governments may use a number of
different types of instruments. For example,
economic incentives and market-based
instruments such as taxes and tax exemptions,
tradable permits, and fees can be very effective to
encourage compliance with environmental policy.

Voluntary measures, such as bilateral agreements
negotiated between the government and private firms
and commitments made by firms independent of
government pressure, are other instruments used in
environmental policy. Another instrument is the
implementation of greener public purchasing
programs.

Environmental Policy Studies
Given the growing need for trained environmental policy
practitioners, graduate schools throughout the world have
begun to offer specialized professional degrees in environmental
policy studies. While there is not a standard curriculum for these
programs, students typically take courses in policy
analysis, environmental science, environmental
law and politics, ecology, energy, and natural resource
management. Graduates of these programs are usually
employed by governments, international organizations, private
sector, think tanks, universities, and a host of other parties.

Due to lack of standard nomenclature, institutions use
varying names and designations to refer to the environmental
policy degrees they award. However, these degrees typically
fall in one of four broad categories: Master of Arts in
Environmental Policy, Master of Science in Environmental
Policy, Master of Public Administration in Environmental
Policy, or PhD in Environmental Policy. Sometimes, more
specific names are used to reflect the particular focus of a
degree program. For example, the Monterey Institute of
International Studies uses Master of Arts in International
Environmental Policy (MAIEP) to emphasize the international-
orientation of its curriculum.

Introduction
Adopting an Environmental Management System
(EMS) can help your organization meet its legal
obligations, improve its environmental performance,
increase resource efficiency and provide cost savings.
EMS building blocks guides you through each stage of
the EMS process, from identifying significant
environmental aspects – the factors your company
needs to monitor and control – right through to the
management review stage.

Implementing a robust EMS, as described
here in EMS Building Blocks, will help you to:
• comply with legislation and avoid therisk
• of costly fines and damage to your business reputation;
• control your processes so that impact onthe environment
is minimised;
• improveresource efficiency and reduce unnecessary
expenditure;
• set achievable improvement targets; and
• communicate your company’s EMS toemployees,
customers, suppliers and shareholders.

Environmental Legislation/Law
Environmental law is a collective term describing
international treaties (conventions), statutes,
regulations, and common law or national legislation
(where applicable) that operates to regulate the
interaction of humanity and the natural environment,
toward the purpose of reducing the impacts of human
activity.

The topic may be divided into two major
subjects: pollution control and remediation, and
resource conservation, individual exhaustion. The
limitations and expenses that such laws may impose on
commerce, and the often unquantifiable (non-
monetized) benefit of environmental protection, have
generated and continue to generate significant
controversy.

Given the broad scope of environmental law, no
fully definitive list of environmental laws is possible.
The following discussion and resources give an
indication of the breadth of law that falls within the
"environmental" metric.

Controversy
Environmental law is often the source of controversy. Notably, the
early history of national environmental regulation in the United States
(at the time the world leader in environmental regulation) was marked
by relative political unity. The National Environmental Policy
Act (1969), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1972), and
the Endangered Species Act (1973) all were enacted with broad
bipartisan support, and ultimately signed into law by
Republican President Richard Nixon. Even then, however, critics raised
concerns regarding the need for such laws and the costs involved in
implementing them. Richard Nixon himself initially vetoed the Clean
Water Act, citing its projected costs, though he was ultimately
overridden by Congress. Debates over the necessity, fairness, cost, and
need for environmental regulation continue to this day.

Necessity
The necessity of directly regulating a particular
activity due to the activity's environmental
consequences is often a subject of debate. These
debates may be scientific. For example, scientific
uncertainty fuels the ongoing debate over greenhouse
gas regulation and is a major factor in the debate over
whether to ban pesticides.

Cost
It is very common for regulated industry to argue against
environmental regulation on the basis of cost. Indeed, in
the U.S. estimates of the environmental regulation's total
costs reach 2% of GDP, and any new regulation will arguably
contribute in some way to that burden. Difficulties arise,
however, in performing cost-benefit analysis. The value of a
healthy ecosystem is not easily quantified, nor the value of
clean air, species diversity, etc. Furthermore environmental
issues may gain an ethical or moral dimension that would
discount cost.

Effectiveness
Environmental interests will often criticize
environmental regulation as inadequately protective of
the environment. Furthermore, strong environmental
laws do not guarantee strong enforcement.
Nonetheless; the cost benefit analysis for society at
large, between having laws that protect citizens from
toxic or dangerous living and work conditions (such as
those that existed in the early industrial 1900's) clearly
comes down on the side of regulation.

Environmental Risk Assessment

Introduction
“I…think there is much greater environmental
awareness now than than there used to be. We
are much better educated and are learning
where the hazards are, what products are
causing us problems.”-
Don Bremer. Vice-President of Restoration Environmental
Contractors.

Introduction
• Environment: is the sum of all external conditions
affecting the life, development and survival of an
organism !
• Environmental degradation exacerbates the impact
of natural disasters!
• Last four decades natural disaster have caused major
loss of human lives and livelihoods, destruction of
economic and social infrastructures and significant
environmental damage.

• There are huge efforts worldwide to manage
disasters!
• A healthy environment enhance the capacity to
reduce the impact of natural and man made disaster!
• Purpose of the paper is to discuss the link between
environmental risk assessment and disaster risk
management as main task for world sustainable
development.

Purpose
• To what extent Environmental Risk Assessment
contribute for Disaster Risk Management!
• To what extent Environmental Risk Assessment
influence sustainable development through Disaster
Risk Mitigation!
• What is the link between Environmental Risk
Assessment Disaster Risk Management

Environmental Hazards and risk
Assessment
• Risk assessment: a process to determine the nature and
extent of risk by analyzing potential hazards and
evaluating existing conditions of vulnerability that could
pose a potential threat or harm to people, property,
livelihoods and the environment on which they depend.
• Environmental risk assessment aggregates a set of tools
for defining the probability and magnitude of adverse
effects to human health and natural resources posed by
environmental agents.

• Water related events, floods and droughts, are a major
concern since the dawn of the human civilization!
• They continue to hit every generation of human beings,
bringing suffering, death and and still growing material
losses;
• Human activity continues to alter the biosphere, changes
in environment in specific places and at ecosystem levels!
• Environmental degradation compounds the actual
impact of disasters, limits an area’s ability to absorb the
impact, and lowers the overall general natural resilience
to hazard impact and disaster recovery.

Environmental Degradation
Ground Water
• Most water is located underground in aquifers
• Trans boundary characteristics of aquifers create
togetherness of nations!
• Developing countries lead the over use of ground water!
• Ground water degradation because of:
1. Excessive exploitation
2. Inappropriate or uncontrolled activities (waste, chemicals
contaminate water)
3. Major change of land e.g removal of natural vegetation.

Air Pollution
• There is a major concern under the air pollution
worldwide
• Automobile and power plants are part of the
problem
• Global warming and greenhouse gases such as CO2,
methane and nitrous oxide
• Burning fossil fuel like oil, coal and other natural
gases.

Soil
• Erosion and soil degradation form an increasing
threat to land worldwide
• Two thirds of Africa is dry land over 70% is degraded
[UNEP]
• About 90 % in countries close to Sahara have been
affected and evidences show that the desert does to
south and east
• In Africa 90% of all wood is used for cooking and
other energy needs and the demand for fuel wood
has grown considerably since the oil price in 1974.

Climate Change
• IPCC third Assessment Report (2001) estimates the full
warming range over 1990 to 2100 to be 1.4ºC (2.5ºF) to
5.8 ºC (10.5Cº) with the mid range estimate being 3ºC
(5.4ºF).
• Warming-up of the atmosphere is part of changes in
climate and if it persists it will influence water availability,
flood hazards, agricultural productivity and natural areas.
• Natural and human systems are exposed to these
changes and it undermine sustainability.

Human Health
• Human health is intimately connected to the surrounding
environment
• It is usually difficult to identify the cause-and –effect
relationship between, say, noise, pollution and heart
disease.
• The IPCC special report on regional impact of climate
change acknowledges that climate have impact on
vector-bone disease.
• Most African countries are affected by environmental
related diseases such as malaria, cholera, meningitis, rift
valley fever>

Environmental Hazards
and risk Assessment

Disaster Risk Management
Disaster:
1. A great or sudden misfortune
2. A complete failure
3. A person or an enterprise ending in a failure
4. An event that produces subversion or a sudden and
violent change in order of things.
• A natural hazard is the necessary condition for the
occurrence of a disaster
• Natural hazards are triggering disaster events

• Natural disaster risk can be determined by three
main factors: Hazards, element at risk, and
vulnerability.
Total Risk ≡ (∑ element sat risk) * ("hazard"*vu ln erability ).
• The elements: populations, communities, the built
environment, the natural environment, economic
activities and services, which are threaten by a
disaster in a given area.

• Disaster reduction and environmental management
should become national
• priorities
• Disaster reduction and environment have a lot in
common Disaster reduction practitioner should use
the environmentalist experience
• Disaster risk management approaches reflects a
planned and structured actions to deal with natural
hazards risk before an event strikes

Environment and Sustainability
• Can sustainable development, along with
international strategies and instruments aiming
at poverty reduction environmental protection,
be successful without taking into account the risk
of natural hazards and their impacts?
• Can the planet afford the increasing costs and
losses due to so called natural disasters?
The answer is NO!

Some Conclusions
• Climate change is not a isolated issue
• Planned population settlement and urbanization and
natural resources usage in order to maintain
environmental patterns and promote sustainable
development
• Control environmental hazards to avoid degradation
of soils, water, air and human health

Environmental and Social Assessment
The Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (S&EA)
process is a way to identify, predict and assess the type and scale of
potential biodiversity impacts, and opportunities to benefit
conservation, associated with any business activities or projects.
Biodiversity assessment should begin as early as possible, as
effective assessment of the biodiversity characteristics of an area —
and the potential impacts — may require months or even years, to
account for seasonal and migration issues. In addition, early
attention to
biodiversity issues means that potential impacts can be identified
and avoided or mitigated in the earliest stages of planning. Once a
project or business activity proceeds, the costs of redesign or re-
siting will make it more difficult to effectively address biodiversity
issues

The standard social and environmental impact assessment process is illustrated in
the figure below:

Screening
Screening is a quick, high-level analysis to determine
whether a full S&EA is necessary. For biodiversity assessments,
the process evaluates:
1. The location, scale and duration of project activities,
including those of associated facilities, and impacts arising
through supply chains or other third party relationships
2. The presence of significant biodiversity value (such as
endangered species and proximity to protected areas or
critical natural habitats) or potential impacts to ecosystem
services
3. The types of technology that will be used

Screening is a vitally important tool for predicting
and understanding potential biodiversity impacts, as it
can help determine whether biodiversity will be a
significant issue for a project, and spotlight what issues
to monitor and prioritize for future study. For example,
potential red flags that might arise during a screening
process might include the complications of operating in
a , or the risks of introducing to an ecosystem.

Through the screening process, any activities that
could affect biodiversity or ecosystems services (or the
communities dependent on these goods and services)
are designated for more detailed analysis in the full
impact assessment. In areas where biodiversity
information is scarce or absent, some companies
undertake short-term rapid assessments of biodiversity
resources, to identify major issues early n the planning
process, so that they can be more fully addressed
in subsequent stages of the S&EA.

Scoping
If a full S&EA is required, scoping determines which
impacts are likely to be significant and should become
the main focus of the S&EA. Scoping also identifies data
availability and gaps. The scoping process determines
the appropriate spatial and temporal scopes for the
assessment and suggests suitable survey and research
methodologies.

At this stage, with government officials, conservation
organizations and local communities is important to help identify
key biodiversity impacts, including those with linkages to local
livelihoods and social issues, and to gather feedback that will be
used to produce a final assessment plan. For example,
consultation during the planning stages for the Pamir Hydro
project [see the IFC website: ] in Tajikistan revealed that local
communities might be affected by changes in fish populations
and grazing areas adjacent to the reservoir and allowed for the
development of a range of mitigation measures.

Baseline Studies
Baseline studies of biodiversity resources provide a reference
point against which any future changes associated with a project
can be assessed and offer information for subsequent
monitoring of biodiversity performance. A comprehensive
baseline study should identify (both in the immediate and wider
area around a project site) habitats that will be affected, the
range and status of the main species groups that live in the area,
the potential presence and status of protected areas or other
important areas for biodiversity, and any potential impacts to
ecosystem services that might have local, regional or global
impacts. Collecting baseline biodiversity information can be
difficult, especially in remote or little studied areas, and it may
be necessary to commission lengthy field-based studies to fully
capture seasonal and migratory issues.

Impact Prediction and Evaluation
Impact prediction and evaluation is the heart of the
S&EA and involves analyzing the impacts identified in
the scoping and baseline work to determine their
nature, temporal and spatial scale, reversibility,
magnitude, likelihood, extent and effect. Such detailed
impact analysis requires professional judgment, and
will require input from relevant experts, including
ecologists, biologists, sociologists and economists

Mitigation
Mitigation aims to eliminate or reduce negative
biodiversity impacts. Mitigation options should
generally be considered in the
following order of preference:
1. Avoidance of impacts altogether
2. Reduction of impacts where unavoidable
3. Restoration of habitats to their original state
4. Relocation of affected species or habitats
5. Compensation for any residual, unavoidable damage

Environmental Management Plans

Environmental Management Plan (EMP)
Preparation of environmental management plan is required for
formulation, implementation and monitoring of environmental protection
measures during and after commissioning of projects. The plans should
indicate the details as to how various measures have been or are proposed to
be taken including cost components as may be required. Cost of measures for
environmental safeguards should be treated as an integral component of the
project cost and environmental aspects should be taken into account at
various stages of the projects:
• Conceptualization : preliminary environmental assessment
• Planning: detailed studies of environmental impacts and design of
safeguards
• Execution: implementation of environmental safety measures
• Operation: monitoring of effectiveness of built-in safeguards

The management plans should be necessarily based on considerations
of resource conservation and pollution abatement, some of which are:
• Liquid Effluents
• Air Pollution
• Solid Wastes
• Noise and Vibration
• Occupational Safety and Health
• Prevention, maintenance and operation of Environment Control Systems
• House-Keeping
• Human Settlements
• Transport Systems
• Recovery - reuse of waste products
• Vegetal Cover
• Disaster Planning
• Environment Management Cell

Liquid Effluents
• Effluents from the industrial plants should be treated well to the
standards as prescribed by the Central/State Water Pollution Control
Boards.
• Soil permeability studies should be made prior to effluents being
discharged into holding tanks or impoundments and steps taken to
prevent percolation and ground water contamination.
• Special precautions should be taken regarding flight patterns of birds in
the area. Effluents containing toxic comp pounds, oil and grease have
been known to cause extensive death of migratory birds. Location of
plants should be prohibited in such type of sensitive areas.
• Deep well burial of toxic effluents should not be resorted to as it can
result in re-surfacing and ground water contamination. Re-surfacing
has been known to cause extensive damage to crop and live stocks.
• In all cases, efforts should be made for re-use of water and its
conservation.

Air Pollution
• The emission levels of pollutants from the different stacks, should conform
to the polluting control standards prescribed by Central or State Boards.
• Adequate control equipment should be installed for minimizing the
emission of pollutants from the various stacks.
• In-plant control measures should be taken to contain the fugitive
emissions.
• Infrastructural facilities should be provided for monitoring the stack
emissions and measuring the ambient air quality including micro-
meteorological data(wherever required) in the area.
• Proper stack height as prescribed by the Central/State Pollution Control
Boards should be provided for better dispersion of pollutants over a wider
area to minimize the effect of pollution.
• Community buildings and townships should be built up-wind of plant with
one-half to one kilometer greenbelt in addition to physiographical barrier.

Solid Wastes
• The site for waste disposal should be checked to verify
permeability so that no contaminants percolate into the
ground water or river/lake.
• Waste disposal areas should be planned down-wind of villages
and townships.
• Reactive materials should be disposed of by immobilizing the
reactive materials with suitable additives.
• The pattern of filling disposal site should be planned to create
better landscape and be approved by appropriate agency and
the appropriately pretreated solid wastes should be disposed
according to the approved plan.
• Intensive programs of tree plantation on disposal areas should
be undertaken.

Noise and Vibration
Adequate measures should be taken for control of
noise and vibrations in the industry.

Occupational Safety and Health
Proper precautionary measures for adopting
occupational safety and health standards should be
taken. Proper precautionary measures for adopting
occupational safety and health standards should be
taken.

Prevention, maintenance and operation of
Environment Control Systems
• Adequate safety precautions should be taken
during preventive maintenance and shut down of
the control systems.
• A system of inter-locking with the production
equipment should be implemented where highly
toxic compounds are involved.

House - Keeping
Proper house-keeping and cleanliness should be
maintained both inside and outside of the industry.

Human Settlements
• Residential colonies should be located away from the
solid and liquid waste dumping areas. Meteorological
and environmental conditions should be studied
properly before selecting the site for residential
areas in order to avoid air pollution problems.
• Persons who are displaced or have lost agricultural
lands as a result of locating the industries in the area,
should be properly rehabilitated.

Transport Systems
• Proper parking places should be provided for the trucks and
other vehicles by the industries to avoid any congestion or
blocking of roads.
• Siting of industries on the highways should be avoided as it
may add to more road accidents because of substantial
increase in the movements of heavy vehicles and
unauthorized shops and settlements coming up around the
industrial complex.
• Spillage of chemicals/substances on roads inside the plant
may lead to accidents. Proper road safety signs both inside
and outside the plant should be displayed for avoiding road
accidents.

Recovery - Reuse of Waste Products
Efforts should be made to recycle or recover the
waste materials to the extent possible. The treated
liquid effluents can be conveniently and safely used
for irrigation of lands, plants and fields for growing
non-edible crops.

Vegetal Cover
Industries should plant trees and ensure vegetal
cover in their premises. This is particularly advisable
for those industries having more than 10 acres of
land.

Disaster Planning
Proper disaster planning should be done to meet
any emergency situation arising due to fire,
explosion, sudden leakage of gas etc. Fire fighting
equipment and other safety appliances should be
kept ready for use during disaster/emergency
situation including natural calamities like
earthquake/flood.

Environment Management Cell
Each industry should identify within its setup a
Department/Section/Cell with trained personnel to
take up the model responsibility of environmental
management as required for planning and
implementation of the projects.

Best Practicable Environmental Option
The Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO)
(Twelfth Report, FEB 1988, Cm 310), is a set of
procedures adopted by Great Britain with the goal of
managing waste and other environmental concerns.
According to the Royal Commission on Environmental
Pollution, BPEO "emphasises the protection and
conservation of the environment across land, air and
water. The BPEO procedure establishes for a given set
of objectives, the option that provides the most benefits
or the least damage to the environment, as a whole, at
acceptable cost, in the long term as well as in the short
term."

Environmental Management System
• Environmental management system (EMS) refers to the
management of an organization's environmental programs in
a comprehensive, systematic, planned and documented
manner. It includes the organizational structure, planning and
resources for developing, implementing and maintaining
policy for environmental protection.
• More formally, EMS is "a system and database which
integrates procedures and processes for training of personnel,
monitoring, summarizing, and reporting of specialized
environmental performance information to internal and
external stakeholders of a firm. "EMS is typically reported
using International Organization of Standards (ISO) 14001 to
help understand the EMS process.

Goals
The goals of EMS are to increase compliance and reduce
waste:
1. Compliance is act of reaching and maintaining minimal legal
standards. By not being compliant, companies may face
fines, government intervention or may not be able to
operate.
2. Waste reduction goes beyond compliance to reduce
environmental impact. The EMS helps to develop,
implement, manage, coordinate and monitor environmental
policies. Waste reduction begins at the design phase through
pollution prevention and waste minimization. At the end of
the life cycle, waste is reduced by recycling.

Features
• An environmental management system (EMS):
• Serves as a tool, or process, to improve environmental
performance and information mainly "design, pollution
control and waste minimization, training, reporting to top
management, and the setting of goals"
• Provides a systematic way of managing an organization’s
environmental affairs
• Is the aspect of the organization’s overall management
structure that addresses immediate and long-term impacts of
its products, services and processes on the environment. EMS
assists with planning, controlling and monitoring policies in an
organization.

• Gives order and consistency for organizations to address
environmental concerns through the allocation of resources,
assignment of responsibility and ongoing evaluation of practices,
procedures and processes
• Creates environmental buy-in from management and employees and
assigns accountability and responsibility.
• Sets framework for training to achieve objectives and desired
performance.
• Helps understand legislative requirements to better determine a
product or service's impact, significance, priorities and objectives.
• Focuses on continual improvement of the system and a way to
implement policies and objectives to meet a desired result. This also
helps with reviewing and auditing the EMS to find future
opportunities.
• Encourages contractors and suppliers to establish their own EMS.

EMS Model
• An EMS follows a Plan-Do-Check-Act, or PDCA, Cycle.
The diagram shows the process of first developing an
environmental policy, planning the EMS, and then
implementing it. The process also includes checking
the system and acting on it. The model is continuous
because an EMS is a process of continual
improvement in which an organization is constantly
reviewing and revising the system.
• This is a model that can be used by a wide range of
organizations — from manufacturing facilities to
service industries to government agencies.

ISO 14000 and ISO 14001
ISO 14000 refers to a family of voluntary standards
and guidance documents to help organizations address
environmental issues. Included in the family are
standards for environmental management systems,
environmental and EMS auditing, environmental
labeling, performance evaluation, life-cycle assessment
and product standards. This system of standards was
developed to increase environmental practices
worldwide and to ease trade while reducing trade
barriers.

Development of Standards
All the ISO standards are developed through a voluntary,
consensus-based approach. ISO has different member countries across
the globe. Each member country develops its position on the
standards and these positions are then negotiated with other member
countries. Draft versions of the standards are sent out for formal
written comment and each country casts its official vote on the drafts
at the appropriate stage of the process. Within each country, various
types of organizations can and do participate in the process. These
organizations include industry, government (federal and state), and
other interested parties, like various non-government organizations.
For example, EPA and states participated in the development of the
ISO 14001 standard and are now evaluating its usefulness through a
variety of pilot projects.

Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
The Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is the
EU’s voluntary environmental management instrument. The
scheme has been available for participation by companies
since 1995 and was originally restricted to companies in
industrial sectors. Since 2001 EMAS has been open to all
economic sectors including public and private services and
since 2010 EMAS certification is also possible for
organizations and sites located outside the EU Community,
under the title of EMAS Global. Currently, more than 4,500
organizations and approximately 7,800 sites are EMAS
registered.

The ISO 14001: 2004 requirements are a part of EMAS, but
EMAS adds several elements to these:
• stricter requirements on the measurement and
evaluation of environmental performance against set
targets according to six environmental core indicators.
This creates multi-annual comparability within and
between organizations;
• compliance with environmental legislation ensured by
government supervision: the compliance check is
executed by an independent and external environmental
verifier, who is in turn subjected to quality checks by
national government authorities (EMAS Competent
Bodies);

• requirement of employee involvement;
• provision of information to the general public
through the obligation to publish an annual public
environmental statement that is independently
verified;
• registration by a public authority after verification by
an accredited/licensed environmental verifier; and
• registered organizations can use the EMAS logo to
communicate their EMAS compliance

Other Meanings
An EMS can also be classified as:
• a system which monitors, tracks and reports emissions
information, particularly with respect to the oil and gas industry.
EMSs are becoming web-based in response to the EPA's
mandated greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting rule, which allows
for reporting GHG emissions information via the internet.
• a centrally controlled and often automated network of devices
(now frequently wireless using z-wave and zigbee technologies)
used to control the internal environment of a building. Such a
system namely acts as an interface between end user
and energy (gas/electricity) consumption

Auditing Techniques
• PRINCIPLES OF AUDITING :-
Fundamental principles are those according to
which the books of business accounts are audited.
These principles can be changed according the
desire of the auditor.

We discuss the main principles of auditing under these
headings:
1. Planning:-
It is the basic principle of auditing. The auditor should
plan before starting the work. In planning auditor decides
accounting about the system and internal control
procedure.
2. Honesty:-
Honesty and sincerity is the second important principle
of auditing. The loyalty of auditor to work and profession
must be beyond the doubts.

3. Impartiality :-
In case of audit the attitude of the auditor must
be impartial. Keeping in view this principle his
personal views may not be included in the audit
report.
4. Secrecy :-
Secrecy must be maintained by the auditor
during the process of audit. He cannot disclose any
information to the third party.

5. Evidence :-
During the audit the auditor can collect the evidence
through the working papers. He can frame his opinion on
the audit evidence. The nature and source of evidence must
be kept in view by the auditor.
6. Consistency :-
It is an important principle of auditing. In case of
selecting the rates of depreciation and valuation of stock
the accountant must follow the rates of the coming years.
In this regard there should be consistency and changes are
not acceptable.

7. Legal Frame Work :-
The business activities may run within the rules and
legal formalities. To protect the rights of the interested
parties rules must be applied.
8. Working Paper Preparation :-
The auditor collect documents providing evidence
that audit was carried out according the principles. The
auditor prepares the working paper and kept in this
custody as a proof.

9. Internal Control :-
The auditor will examine the accounting system and
inter control. To frame his opinion, he keeps in view the
evidence obtained from the books.
10. Report :-
According the principle of auditing a report will be
prepared by the auditor at the end. It may be
conditional or unconditional. The auditor can draw
conclusion and disclose the facts and figures about the
business for general information.

TECHNIQUES OF AUDITING or AUDIT
TECHNIQUES
Techniques of auditing means the procedure and
method which is adopted by the auditor in checking
the accounts.

Following are the important techniques of audit :
1. Examination Of Record :-
This technique is commonly used by the auditors,
The inspection of books and documents is made to
verity the validity of data.
2. Inquiry :-
The auditor can also use the technique of inquiry.
He can get the information from resource persons
inside or outside the enterprise.

3. Sampling :-
Auditor can select few items from whole accounting
information. This technique enables the auditor to
obtain and evaluate the evidence of some
characteristics of the whole class. It is helpful in
forming the conclusion.
4. Confirmation :-
To ensure the accuracy of the data auditor can collect
the information from the debtor. Confirmation is
response to an inquiry to prove certain data recorded
in the books.

5. Compliance :-
To check the arithmetical accuracy of accounting
record, the balancing accounts can be compared with
the vouchers to test the reliability of data.
6. Compliance Test :-
These tests are designed to check the effectiveness and
compliance of internal control. In obtaining the audit
evidence, auditor is concerned with the existence of
effective internal control.

7. Use Of Computer Techniques :-
There are large number of audit techniques like audit
software, test packs and mapping which can be used by
the auditor to test the accuracy of the data.
8. Substantive Test :-
There are designed to obtain evidence that data
produced by accounting system is accurate or not. It
has two kinds :
a) Test of detail transaction.
b) Test of significant ratios and trends.

9. Dependence On Experts And Auditors :-
The auditor has to rely on the internal and other
auditors to complete his work. He has also to rely on
other experts like lawyers, engineers and doctors for
their expert opinion about the business.
10. Analytical Review :-
It consists of studying significant ratios, trends and
investigating different changes. This review procedure
is based on the expectations of relationship among the
past and present data.

The End

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