Promoting Resource Efficiency in Small & Medium size ... - UNEP

Hazardous substances and dangerous goods are chemicals for which
a manufacturer or importer must provide a Material Safety Data Sheet
(MSDS). A MSDS includes a characterisation of the materials, and
guidelines for handling, storage and safe disposal.
Unsafe storage and handling of chemicals off-site by both dealers and
end-users have documented environmental and health consequences 23
because they frequently do not have the proper training or knowledge
regarding the risks posed by products and used containers. Additionally,
accidents with hazardous substances can also occur during transport
e.g. on roads, railways or inland waterways. Transport accidents
involving hazardous substances can have severe consequences for the
affected communities.
Safer production aims at using less hazardous materials, understanding
the risks involved and controlling their use. Thus it minimises
the occurrence and harmful effects of technological accidents and
environmental emergencies. The strategy is to identify and create
awareness of risks in an industrialised community, to initiate measures for
risk reduction and mitigation, and to develop coordinated preparedness
between the industry, the local authorities and the local population.
2.7 Integrated Management Systems
An integrated management system is a management system that
integrates responsibilities and procedures with regards to different
aspects, such as quality, health and safety, environment and risk
management, into one complete framework, enabling an organization
to work as a single organism with clear and harmonized objectives.
Instead of creating responsibilities for the different departments
separately, an integrated management system provides one organised
framework, by which each process is controlled with consideration to
quality, health and safety, environment and risk management.
An integrated management system allows a management team to create
one system with a consistent set of process indicators, objectives
and measures. An integrated system provides a clear and holistic
picture of all aspects of an organization, how they interact and their
associated risks. An integrated management system avoids duplication
of documentation, training and auditing, and renders the maintenance
of the system easier.
An example of an integrated management system might be a combination
of the following standards:
Value of management
integration
Reduction of duplication
Reduction of risks
Balance of conflicting objectives
Elimination of conflicting
responsibilities
Focusing on business goals
Formalisation of information
in systems
Harmonization and optimisation
of practices
Explanation
Integrated management systems use a generic
management model that encompasses environment,
quality and risk management in one tool.
Therefore redundancies in defining responsibilities
will be avoided and the duplication of documentation
is minimized, reducing the cost of maintaining
the management systems.
A management system assesses risk to a company
from different perspectives such as: environmental,
quality management, and health and
safety. This way, potential problems are more likely
to be identified. Regulations and hazards are
identified and measures taken to avoid them thus
minimizing unknown risks, and reducing costs for
potential liabilities and for insurance.
An integrated management system looks at the
productive activities of a business and highlights
conflicting procedures and objectives. The systems
can then help to resolve these conflicts.
Clear structure makes conflicts of responsibility
visible and helps resolve them through streamlined
organisation.
Harmonizing and coordinating different goals
through a system makes it easier to move
towards the company’s vision while not forgetting
the company’s environmental and societal
responsibilities.
Integrated management system uses one centralised
information system with clear-cut indicators
and reporting system that minimises information
loss, inconsistencies and mistakes because of
missing information.
Annual auditing and reviewing procedure optimise
and streamline management practices and
procedures systematically. Documentation of the
audit is useful to measure progress towards company
goals and information gathered can improve
communication and be used to facilitate staff
training and development.
• ISO 9001 (Quality Management)
• ISO 14001 (Environmental Management)
• OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety)
• ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security)
• ISO 22000 (Food Safety)
• ISO/IEC 20000IT (Service Management)
• ISO 31000 (Risk Management)
2.8 Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the process of comparing one business to another
one, by using key performance indicators. In classical benchmarking
profit related indicators, production cost, or productivity are used
as indicators. Applying benchmarking to resource efficiency, the
relevant indicators relate to material and energy consumption, to waste
generation and emissions.
“Best practice benchmarking” or “process benchmarking” is a process
in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in
relation to industry standards. This then allows organizations to develop
plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices.
When benchmarking, companies need to be comparable in terms of
products, processes, legal requirements, applicable prices, productivity,
cost materials and energy use. Benchmarking works best on a unit
operations level, meaning defined units that can be compared in
different companies and sometimes even across sectors, for example,
boilers, refrigeration equipment, air compressors, washing operations.
“Internal benchmarking” is a process that tracks the company’s
consumption patterns over time, and analyses it for variation; from this
process, problems can be identified as well as good practices.
Benchmarking may be a one-off event, e.g. at the start of a resource
efficiency project to analyse the status quo and the potential for
improvement, but it is often treated as a continuous process in which
organizations continually seek to improve their practices.
Table 4: Value of management integration
23) UNEP, Safer Production, undated
18