Environmental Factor Identification, Evaluation, and Control Procedure

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Formulating department: Production Technology Department. Date of formulation: May 20, 2006. Person who formulated it: Date: Person who reviewed it: Date: Person who approved it: Date. Total number of pages: Pages. Chapter issued: Revision record. Serial number, content of revision, person who made the revision, date of revision: 1.0 Purpose: To clarify the methods for identifying environmental factors and to effectively assess the major environmental factors within the factory; this procedure is hereby established. 2.0 Scope of Application This procedure applies to the identification and assessment of all environmental factors arising from all activities, products, or services within the factory. 3.0 Glossary of Terms 3.1 Environment: The external elements in which an organization operates, including air, water and soil, natural resources, plants, animals, humans, and the interrelationships among them. 3.2 Environmental factors: Elements in an organization’s activities, products, or services that can interact with the environment. 3.3 Environmental impact: Any harmful or beneficial change to the environment, caused in whole or in part by an organization’s activities, products, or services. 4.0 Responsibilities: 4.1 Relevant departments: Responsible for identifying relevant environmental factors and evaluating them. 4.2 Environmental Management Representative: Responsible for identifying environmental factors and reviewing the results of their assessment. 4.3 General Manager: Responsible for approving the final results of environmental factor identification and assessment. 5.0 Identification of environmental factors: Each department is responsible for identifying the environmental factors resulting from its own activities, products, and services. 5.1 Scope of environmental factor identification: 5.1.1 Factors that can be controlled, for which an impact can be expected to be exerted, as well as factors such as planned or new developments, new or modified activities, products, and services that have been taken into consideration. 5.1.2 Three tenses: A. Past: Environmental problems that existed in the past or environmental accidents that occurred previously. In the past, when chemicals such as used oil were discharged into the ground, emissions often exceeded regulatory limits, and incidents such as fires, leaks, and explosions occurred. Currently: The existing pollution and environmental issues at the site are generally the focus of an organization’s attention. Waste gas, wastewater, noise, waste solids, etc., generated during the production process. B. Future: Environmental problems that will arise in the future. Environmental impact resulting from the product after it leaves the factory ； Future legal and regulatory requirements and their changes, the introduction of new projects, new products, and potential environmental issues arising from process design ； Disposal of products and equipment when they reach the end of their useful life, etc. 5.1.3 Three states: A. Normal state: The organization’s products, activities, or services are under normal environmental conditions. For example: the issue of pollutants being emitted from production lines, and the problems of oil leakage, seepage, dripping, and spilling after the equipment is turned on. B. Abnormal state: An abnormal condition that can be reasonably anticipated and occurs; it usually refers to problems that differ significantly from the normal state and arise in foreseeable situations such as machine installation, startup/shutdown, shutdowns, or maintenance – for example, excessive oil leakage when a company is maintaining its equipment ； C. Emergency situation: refers to special circumstances such as explosions, fires, floods, heavy rains, etc. The organization should take environmental factors in foreseeable emergency situations into account and include them within the scope of management control of its environmental management system. 5.1.4 Seven major types: A. Atmospheric emissions: various environmental pollution factors such as emission points and unorganized emissions from sources ； B. Water discharge: The release of domestic and industrial wastewater, which causes pollution and damage to natural water bodies ； C. Waste management: Generation, storage, and disposal of industrial waste, particularly hazardous and harmful waste ； Generation and disposal of domestic and office waste ； D. Soil pollution: Pollution of the soil by various chemicals, harmful substances, heavy metals, etc ； E. Use of natural resources and raw materials: The use, consumption, and waste of substances such as energy and raw materials ； F. Impact on residents: Such as noise affecting residents’ lives, damaging the greenery around residences, and waste contaminating the environmental hygiene ； G. Other environmental issues and potential environmental factors: fires, heavy rain, flooding, various leaks, etc. 5.1.5 Environmental factors arising from the relevant parties’ activities and services of this company must also be identified. 5.2 Description of environmental factors 5.2.1 Verb + noun, for example: generating noise, using lubricant, etc. 5.2.2 Noun (or nominal phrase) + of + verb, for example: the discharge of wastewater, the disposal of waste parts, etc. 5.3 Methods for identifying environmental factors: Three main methods are employed, namely the process flow method, on-site environmental factor investigation method, and comparison with legal and regulatory requirements: A. Process flow method: This method draws on aspects of techniques such as product life cycle analysis, material balance, on-site investigations, and brainstorming; it is a practical approach. Its basic principles include: a. Using the concept of the product life cycle in combination with the production process flow to organize the company’s operations and activities as well as the corresponding responsible departments. This typically involves processes ranging from the procurement and handling of raw materials, through various production stages, to final product inspection, packaging, and transportation, with support functions such as those related to power supply, administration, and logistics playing a supplementary role ； b. Further detail the processes for each responsible department or its operational activities in sequence ； c. Identify the environmental factors present in each sub-process through methods such as process analysis, on-site observation, and statistics (pollutants such as water, gas, noise, and waste are generated; the three tenses, three states, and seven types of environmental factors must be taken into consideration). d. Identify the environmental impacts associated with each environmental factor ； e. Describe the environmental factors by using the description method for environmental factors outlined in 5.2, based on the outputs of each process (step). Resources (raw materials), Energy (water, electricity, gas, steam, oil, etc.), Schematic diagram of the process analysis method. B. On-site environmental factor investigation method: This is the most effective way to quickly and directly identify on-site environmental factors; various departments can identify such factors by conducting inspections and surveys at the site, and based on the definition of environmental factors, they can determine the environmental impacts associated with each factor. C. Comparison with legal and regulatory requirements: By comparing the monitoring results with relevant laws and regulations, environmental factors can be identified, along with the environmental impacts associated with each factor. 5.4 Registration of environmental factors: Various departments shall record in detail the status of environmental factor identification as well as the resulting environmental impacts in the “Environmental Factor Identification and Assessment Form.” This form is then reviewed by the representative of the environmental management team, approved by the general manager, and finally organized and filed systematically. 5.5 Update of Environmental Factor Identification Environmental factors are a dynamic document that is regularly re-identified by the environmental management responsible person in collaboration with various departments on an annual basis. Updates must be made promptly in the following situations: a. Process changes; b. New products, new equipment, new materials; c. Business development, expansion, and new construction projects; d. Requirements imposed by laws and regulations; e. Activities, products, and services that have been planned or are being developed or modified. The relevant procedures for this purpose include the “Procedure for Environmental Impact Assessment and Control of Changes in Environmental Activities,” the “Procedure for Registration and Compliance Evaluation of Laws, Regulations, and Other Requirements,” and the “Environmental Management Procedure for New Projects.” 6.0 Evaluation of environmental factors: The evaluation of environmental factors is carried out by the representative of management in collaboration with various departments. 6.1 Basis for evaluating environmental factors: 6.1.1 From an environmental perspective: the scale of the environmental impact, the severity of that impact, the frequency of occurrence, the level of concern among relevant parties, the duration of the environmental impact, and the gap compared to relevant environmental laws and regulations. 6.1.2 From a commercial perspective: the technical difficulty of altering environmental impacts, changes in the economic viability of the environment, the future effects of altering other activities and processes, the level of concern among stakeholders, public image, the extent of business opportunities for enhancing competitiveness, and the risks to the organization arising from environmental issues. 6.2 Methods for evaluating environmental factors: (Scoring method) Evaluation criteria: Each criterion is divided into five evaluation points.
a. Frequency of occurrence: Continuous occurrence – once a day: 5; Once a day to once a week (including one week): 4; Once a week to once a month (including one month): 3; Once a month to once a year (including one year): 2; Occurs less than once a year: 1.
b. Scope and severity of impact: Severe impact even on a global scale: 5; Severe impact at the provincial or municipal level: 4; Significant impact in the vicinity of towns: 3; Mild impact near factories: 2; Impact only within the factory premises: 1.
c. Degree of management/control (regarding environmental impact control): No control at all: 5; Most aspects not under control: 4; Half of the aspects not under control: 3; A few aspects not under control: 2; All aspects under control: 1.
d. Level of public concern: International/**high level of concern: 5; High level of concern at the provincial/municipal level: 4; High level of concern in the vicinity of towns: 3; High level of concern near factories: 2; No concern: 1.
e. Compliance with laws and regulations and emission standards (regulatory compliance): Serious violations or exceeding standards: 5; Violations or exceedances: 4; Occasional violations or exceedances: 3; Meets requirements: 2; No requirements set by laws and regulations: 1.
Evaluation basis: Calculation formula: Total score for all evaluation points of environmental factors = M = a + b + c + d + e. If M > 15, it is considered a major environmental factor; if M ≤ 15, it is considered a minor environmental factor.
6.3 The “scoring method” is used for evaluating environmental factors. Generally, three or more odd-number of evaluators are involved. In case of disagreement, the principle of majority rule is applied. 6.4 For the evaluation results, fill out the \"Environmental Factor Identification and Evaluation Form\"; significant environmental factors identified through the evaluation shall be listed in the \"List of Significant Environmental Factors\". And finally acknowledged by the general manager. 6.5 The “List of Major Environmental Factors” shall be sent to the relevant departments. 6.6 As the identification of environmental factors is updated, a re-evaluation of these environmental factors is carried out simultaneously. 7.0 Management of environmental factors 7.1 Important environmental factors shall be given priority for improvement; the relevant task forces should promptly submit rectification plans to the environmental management representative for approval. Rectifications shall be carried out for these priority items, and target indicators as well as corresponding environmental management plans shall be established during the operation of the system. The management shall be carried out in accordance with the procedures specified in the document titled \"Environmental Target Indicators and Management Plan Control Procedures\". 7.2 Specific management measures shall be established in corresponding documents for general environmental factors, and monitoring shall be carried out during operation. 7.3 Control of the environmental impact caused by stakeholders’ activities is carried out through control procedures for suppliers. 8.0 Related Documents 8.1 \"Procedures for Environmental Impact Assessment of Changes in Environmental Activities\" 8.2 \"Procedures for Registration and Compliance Evaluation of Laws, Regulations and Other Requirements\" 8.3 \"Environmental Management Procedures for New Projects\" 8.4 \"Procedures for Control of Environmental Objectives, Indicators and Management Plans\" 9.0 Environmental Records 9.1 \"Form for Identification and Evaluation of Environmental Factors\" 9.2 \"List of Major Environmental Factors\"