Understanding the Requirements of ISO 14001 Clause 6.1.2

In this article, I’m going to cover Clause 6.1.2 Environmental aspects which fall under the overarching Clause 6 Planning. I’m going to break this clause down and turn it into something you can all understand.
You’ll then be able to apply this to your own organization's system and understand what the requirements will look like for you.No more guessing! 

I believe that this clause is pivotal to the entire Standard. The output from these requirements forms a key driver of the environmental management system.

Before we cover these requirements, it may be beneficial to get our heads around the definitions for an environmental aspect and an environmental impact.

The term environmental aspect is defined as an element of an organization’s activities or products or services that interacts or can interact with the environment. I always think of this as the cause. If we consider the activity of printing documents, the environmental aspects associated with this could be, the use of electricity and the use of paper.

Then the term environmental impact is defined as the change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization’s environmental aspects. I always think of this as the effect. So environmental aspects are the cause and environmental impacts are the effect. So, again if we consider the activity of printing documents and we now understand that the environmental aspects are the use of electricity and the use of paper, the actual and potential environmental impacts are the depletion of natural resources (obviously as we are consuming paper and electricity, which are natural resources).

The definition does state whether adverse or beneficial – the previous example was adverse so what does beneficial look like? Using the ongoing example of document printing, this could be a reduction in natural resource use when printing double-sided. So printing double-sided is an activity that has a beneficial environmental aspect.

Ok, now that we have got our head around what an environmental aspect and impact are let’s get stuck into the clause requirements.

Clause 6.1.2 starts off by stating that

Within the defined scope of the environmental management system, the organization shall determine the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that it can control and those that it can influence, and their associated environmental impacts, considering a life cycle perspective.

Well, there’s a bit going on in that statement so let’s break it down. First up, the statement, Within the defined scope of the environmental management system – always remembers the scope of the environmental management system when conducting any activities to do with the system. The scope was defined in Clause 4.3, so if you need a refresher take a look at that video.

The scope is important in environmental aspects as it is all about the activities, products, and services the organization conducts. You are determining the environmental aspects of the activities, products, and services which would be stated in the scope. If there are other activities outside of the scope then this would not need to be included.

Then this section is referring to what the organization can control and those that it can influence. Normally an organization can control the environmental aspects of those activities that they are directly responsible for, like document printing within their own office. There are then others that they can influence which are normally related to the products and services that are outsourced or the use of external suppliers or contractors and even the products that are purchased.

And then finally when we are determining our environmental aspects, a life cycle perspective is to be considered. This means that the life cycle of the activity, product, or service is to be considered when determining the environmental aspects.

I think I just said the same thing but around the other way!

Let’s go with an example to try to understand this then. Sticking to the document printing example, if we were considering the life cycle perspective, the activities would look something like this – just keeping it simple:

• Purchase of paper
• Use of paper
• Disposal of paper

You could also consider the printer that you are using, of which the life cycle might be:

• Purchase of printer
• Purchase of cartridges
• Maintenance of printer
• Replacement or refill of cartridges
• End-of-life disposal

So, for every stage of the lifecycle, you need to consider the environmental aspects and impacts of each activity.

In general, we refer to the lifecycle as including the following stages:

• Extraction of raw materials
• Manufacturing and production
• Packaging and Distribution
• Use/Operation and maintenance
• End of Life/Disposal

You could also consider the design stage as part of the life cycle perspective if this is applicable to your activity, product, or service.

Now, I think we have all of that leading paragraph sorted. We can keep moving on through the clause requirements now.

The next section states that:

When determining environmental aspects, the organization shall take into account:

a) change, including planned or new developments, and new or modified activities, products and services; and

b) abnormal conditions and reasonably foreseeable emergency situations.

What a great point! It’s not just about determining the environmental aspects when it’s a normal, sunny day where everything goes as planned. You need to consider not only what is current, but what might change and what is changing (like new projects, new locations, new products, and so on). It’s also about considering if anything would change when influenced by weather, rain, hail, or shine!
So, when you are working through the life cycle stages, what could change, and therefore what else do you need to consider?
A great example of this is erosion and sediment control (as the risk treatment). On a nice sunny day, there may not be a great deal of erosion or sediment, however in a rain event then this all changes, doesn’t it?

Now, what do we do once we’ve identified these environmental aspects?

This clause goes on to state that:

The organization shall determine those aspects that have or can have a significant environmental impact by using established criteria.

There is no single method or criteria to be used for determining what a significant environmental aspect is. The organization should set the method and criteria used so that there are consistent results. This method and criteria would normally look like a risk matrix and again your own organization should determine the Likelihood and Consequence levels and associated criteria for each.

Once these significant environmental aspects are determined this clause states that:

The organization shall communicate its significant environmental aspects among the various levels and functions of the organization, as appropriate.

Ok, simple! Once you know what environmental aspects have been assessed as significant, you need to ensure that they are communicated within the organization where it’s relevant for workers to be aware of.
This communication requirement is further supported by clause 7.3 Awareness further in the Standard where it does state that the organization shall ensure that persons doing work under the organization’s control are aware of the significant environmental aspects and related actual or potential environmental impacts.

Now to finish this clause off it goes on to state that

The organization shall maintain documented information of its:

- environmental aspects and associated environmental impacts
- criteria used to determine its significant environmental aspects; and
- significant environmental aspects

So all of that work we have done to identify the environmental aspects and impacts within the scope of the environmental management system following a life cycle perspective, the criteria the organization decides to use to assess and identify the significant aspects, and then finally what these significant aspects are all needs to be documented.

If you are implementing and building a system, all of this isn’t just talk, you need to ensure that you can demonstrate what your aspects and impacts are, what the criteria are that you use to assess, and then finally what the significant aspects are.

So, what does this look like? Normally what I see is referred to as an Aspects Register – you can call it what you want really, I just used that name as it seems to be the most common term I come across. This register could include fields that list areas such as:

• Activities, products, services,
• Environmental aspects
• Environmental impacts
• Risk assessment (risk matrix) which would identify the significant aspects (as well as the lower risk aspects of course)
•  

Now that I’ve explained all of these requirements, can you see more clearly how you could action and demonstrate this within your management system and what it might look like also – seeing as you need to maintain documented information?

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