Environmental Management
Aspect and Impacts
Aspects and impacts describe the interaction between activities and the environment. The ISO 14001 standard defines aspects and impacts as:
Environmental aspects – the element of an organisation’s activities, products or services that can interact with the environment.
Environmental impacts – any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organisation’s activities, products or services.
Some examples of environmental aspects and impacts we identified in our audit of all our work sites and activities include:
Aspect | Impact |
|---|---|
Hosing down the deck of a vessel resulting in the discharge of sediments, oils and greases into the waterway | Contaimination of the waterway through increased turbidity and contaminants |
Spills of fuels and oils from parked vehicles entering the waterway or paved areas through stormwater flows | Contamination of the soil, ground and surface waters |
Purchase of materials and equipment without due consideration for environmental sustainability (ie. Excessive packaging, hazardous waste by-products, excessive noise generation) | Depletion and inappropriate use of natural resources |
