ABSTRACT
Environmental
Management System refers to 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. It is not
surprising that collectively, SMEs also have major The increasing demands for consideration of
the environmental impacts may result in SMEs being required to at least
consider environmental management systems implementation based on standards
such as the ISO 14001 series, developed by the International Organization for
Standardization. In this situation, an EMS may be considered both a cost and a
benefit to the organization. The aim and objective of this project work is to
study the Environmental Management Systems in small and medium scale companies
using Lagos as a case study. Five small and medium scale companies namely:
Ulysses, Regency Overseas, Onward Paper mill, Techno Oil Ltd and VGC Water were
used for this project research. Questionnaires were administered to the
management staff and employees below the management level of the selected
companies and the two selected regulators-SON and LASEPA. The findings obtained
from the survey carried out on the companies indicated that these companies
were not yet Environmental Management System (ISO14001) certified. This study
therefore recommends that Environmental Management Systems should be
implemented in SMEs because the integration of EMSs into a company process of
activities will help to support environmental sustainability and also help the
companies to reduce their resource consumption of water, electricity, heat
energy and discharge of waste. This research work is made up of five chapters.
Chapter One dealt with the introduction to the subject matter; Chapter Two
examined the conceptual ad theoretical framework to the study; Chapter Three
stated the methodology used in carrying out the research work; Chapter Four
covered the discussion of findings and results obtained from the survey. Lastly
and Chapter Five concluded on the whole research work and recommendations were
drawn from the results obtained from the survey findings.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
CERTIFICATION
ii
DEDICATION
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT
v
TABLE
OF CONTENTS vi
LIST
OF TABLE vii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
DEFINITION OF ENVIRONMENT 1
1.2
THE NEED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (EMS) 3
1.3
THE OBJECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 4
1.4
THE CORE ELEMENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 5
SYSTEM
1.5
OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES OF STUDY 19
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
CONCERNS ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 20
2.2
AN OVERVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT 21
SYSTEMS IN MANUFACTURING COMPANIES
2.3
WHY INTRODUCE AN ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM 22
2.4 FUNCTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
ORGANIZATION 22
2.5 ELEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS 23
OR
ISO 14001
2.6 CURRENT STATUS OF EMS PRACTICES IN
MANUFACTURING 37 COMPANIES IN NIGERIA:
2.7
REVIEW OF EXISTING FEDERAL, STATE
ENVIRONMENTAL 38
LAWS
& REGULATIONS
2.8 THE COMPONENTS OF A GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL 41
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:
2.9
STUDY QUESTIONS 43
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION 44
3.2 FACE TO FACE INTERVIEWS 44
3.3 QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION 45
3.4 DATA COLLECTION AND RATE
OF RETURNING OF 47
QUESTIONNAIRE
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.0
INTRODUCTION 51
4.1
QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION 51
4.2 FINDINGS 52
4.3. INVESTIGATION
OF EMPLOYEES’ KNOWLEDGE OF THE 60
EXISTENCE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
POLICY IN THE
RESPECTIVE COMPANIES
4.4. INVESTIGATION OF REGULATORS PERSPECTIVE ON
TRAINING 87
4.5 DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS 101
4.6
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS FROM
REGULATORS ON THE EMS 106
PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDIED COMPANIES
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 CONCLUSION 111
5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 113
REFERENCES 115
APPENDIX
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 DEFINITION OF
ENVIRONMENT:
Environment, according to the Concise
Oxford Dictionary of Current English means surrounding. This definition fails
to mention the extent of the surrounding is made up of. The environment, in
fact, includes everything living and non living: air, water, land animals and
plants among others. The environment also involves the ways living and
non-living objects interact as well as what result from such interactions.
Birds, for example, interact with rocks either by perching on them, or the
building of nests in rock crevices. The environment and humanity are
inseparable; this underscores the need for the conservation of the environment
and sustainable development. From the above definition of ‘Environment’, one can
see clearly that environment means much, much more than one’s compound or
school premises or one’s village.
What does pollution means? Pollution is simply defined as the poisoning of
the air, the land and the seas.
Now, degradation.
The degradation of the environment means the wearing down of the environment by
various processes such as the action of water, wind, ice or erosion.
By conservation of the environment we mean
the preservation and protection of the environment against pollution and
degradation.
In its report “Our Common Future”, the
World Commission on Environment and Development, defined economic growth as
necessary for sustainable development. But commission noted that growth alone
is not enough, since high levels of productivity and widespread poverty do
coexist and endanger the environment. Agenda 21 recognized that the private
sector plays a major role in achieving sustainable development, both by
fostering economic growth and by reducing environmental impact. The challenges
for business and industries is to provide environmentally sustainable growth;
they must devise strategies to maximize added value while minimizing resources
and energy use. The need for clean, equitable economic growth remains the
biggest single difficulty within the larger challenge of sustainable
development.
Business in industrialized nations has
begun to move from a pollution of limiting pollution and waste only in
compliance with government regulations towards one of avoiding pollution and
waste not just to be good corporate citizens but also to be more efficient and
competitive. In response, the economies of the industrialized countries have
grown even though the resources and energy to produce each unit of growth have
declined.
Eco efficiency requires not only challenges
in technology, but also in management; such issues as changes in the objectives
and assumptions that direct corporate activities, and in the day-to-day
practices used to reach those objectives. Managing for the environment is not a
new idea but a systematic approach to it is now being developed.
The forthcoming ISO 14000 SERIES sets
standards for corporate environmental management on an international level.
These standards have been set not by some international regulatory body, but
with the full participation of the private sector who will implement them. One
of several advantages the standards will bring is the creation of a more
environmentally sensitive industrial culture, which will result in a more
efficient use of raw and waste material, reduction of emissions and increased
investment in pollution control abatement and cleaner technologies.
1.2
THE NEED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (EMS)
An environmental management system (EMS)
is interpreted as the organizational structure, including practices, processes,
resources and responsibilities for implementing environmental management. Such
a system should enable organizations to achieve and demonstrate on-going
compliance with regulations. It should allow organizations to control the
environmental impact of all activities, products and services taking into
account the environmental impact of all activities, products and services
taking into account a self-determined environment. The need for Environmental
Management System are:
a. Organisation and facilities are
increasingly aware of the need to achieve and demonstrate sound environmental performance
by controlling the different aspects and the significant impacts of their
activities, products or services on the environment. They do so in the context
of increasingly stringent legislation, the development of economic policies and
other measures to foster environmental protection, and a growing of concern
from interested parties about the threats of industrialization to sustainable
development.
b. Many Organisations have undertaken
environmental ‘’reviews’’ or ‘’audits’’ to assess their environmental
performance. On their own, however, these ‘’reviews’’ or ‘’audits’’ may not be
sufficient to provide an Organisation with the assurance that its performance
not only meets, but will continue to meet its legal and policy requirements. To
be effective, they need to be conducted within a structured management system
and integrated with overall management activity.
c. The Environmental Performance of an
Organisation is of increasing importance to internal and external interested
parties. Achieving sound environmental performance requires Organisational commitment to a systematic
approach and to continual improvement of the environment.
d. An EMS provides order and consistency
through the allocation of resources, assignment of responsibilities, and
continuous evaluation of practices, procedures and processes. An EMS is
therefore: part of the enterprises enterprise’s overall management system. It
includes the organizational structure, planning activities, practices,
procedures, processes, and resources for implementing and maintaining
environmental management. It includes those aspects of management that plan, develop
pment, implement, achieve, review. Maintain and improve the companies
environmental policy, objectives and targets.
1.3
THE OBJECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
The objective of installing an EMS by
organizations is mainly to ensure continual improvement through the life of a
facility or facilities in the management system of the organization.
Specifically, an Environmental Management System is intended to help the
organisation to:
a. Achieve its environmental policy,
objectives and targets, including compliance with environmental legislation.
b. Identify and control the environmental
aspect, impacts and risks relevant to the organization.
c. Define a basic set of principles that
guide the organization to its environmental responsibilities in the future.
d. Establish short, medium and long –term
goals for environmental performance, and ensuring costs and benefits analysis,
for the organization and for its various shareholders and stakeholders.
e. Determine what resources are needed to
achieve those goals, assign responsibilities for them and commit the necessary
resources.
f. Define and document specific tasks
responsibilities, authorities and procedures to ensure that every employee acts
in the course of their his/her work to help minimize or eliminate the
organisation’s negative impact on the environment.
g. Communicate the organisation’s
environmental policies, objectives and targets and procedures to all employees
and to third parties who may be affected by these policies.
h. Measure performance against pre-agreed
standards and goals, and modify the approach as necessary.
1.4
THE CORE ELEMENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Environmental Management Systems will be
different for different types of organizations, depending on the nature, size
and complexity of activities, products and services. However, all Environmental
Management Systems have a number of core elements in common. The core elements include
but are not limited to the following:
-Environmental Policy
-Initial Environmental Review
-Environmental Action Plan
-Organisational Structure and Management
Responsibilities
-Documentation and Communication
-Training
-Management Review
a.
The environmental policy
i. Environmental policy expresses the
commitment of senior management to appropriate environmental management. It
should not be a once –and-for-all document. The aim of the policy shall be to
maintain and potentially improve environmental performance. It is to form the
basis upon which objectives and target are set. It should reflects the
commitment of top management to comply with relevant environmental legislative
and other requirements; and for continual improvement
ii. Fundamentally, an environmental policy
shall
·
Contain a broad statement of intent
·
Be appropriate to production activities
and products and services.
·
Make provision for commitment to continual
improvement.
·
Make clear the procedure of preventing
pollution.
·
State commitment to comply with
legislation, regulation and other regulatory requirements.
·
Provide frame work for setting and
reviewing environmental targets and objectives.
·
Be documented, implemented and maintained.
·
Be made available to appropriate regulatory
authority and any other interested party.
·
Be made public.
b.
Initial Environmental Review (IER)
i. In order to achieve success, an early
step in developing and improving an EMS involves obtaining commitment of the
top management of an organization. An organization that has no EMS in place or
that has not conducted an IER. The aim of such a review should be to identify
all environmental aspects and/or impacts of its activities, products and
services. Also, the aim of an initial review is to establish a facility’s current
performance level in the Ems with the view to formulate an articulated
environmental policy.
ii. To carry out a thorough review, a Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the production processes or services from ‘’cradle-
to-grave’’ is imperative. The LCA should examine the different aspects and
possible significant impacts of all inputs at all stages of production or
services to its eventual disposal.
iii. An IER shall consider normal
operating conditions, shutdown and startup condition including realistic potential
significant aspects and impacts that could be associated with reasonably
foreseeable or emergency situations.
iv. The process of identifying significant
environmental aspects shall where appropriate, consider any or all of the
following.
·
Human health
·
Air and Water quality
·
Waste Management
·
Contamination of Land
·
Use of raw materials and natural
resources.
v. Fundamentally, an IER shall address the
following:
·
Identification of relevant legislation’s,
regulations and other regulatory requirements.
·
Identification, evaluation and
documentation of significant environmental aspects of its activities, products
or services.
·
Evaluation of existing management
practices and procedures.
·
All other elements of feedback from the
investigations of previous incidents.
vi. The IER Report shall contain the
following essential elements:-
·
Introduction/ context of review
·
Scope of review
·
Issues and objectives
·
Methodology
·
Information resources
·
Summary of findings
·
Identification of corrective action plan
and the time-frame for its implementation
·
Resources requirement for implementation
·
Conclusion
vii. ER shall be carried out at least once
annually except there is a certificate of exemption from FEPA.
viii. IER shall be carried out by one or
all of the following persons or groups of persons.
·
A competent Environmental Monitoring Team
·
Competent and certified employee(s) in
each of the production stages and/or services
·
Accredited FEPA consultants.
c.
Environmental Action Plan
i. An environmental action plan shall
translate the environmental policies into objectives and targets; and
identities activities to achieve them, defines employees responsibilities and
commit the necessary human and financial resources for implementation. The
action plan should rely on or use the assembled overview of the environmental
aspects and legal regulatory requirements. The objectives and targets of an
action plan shoulb be:
·
Specific
·
Ambitious
·
Realistic and achievable
·
Time-bound
ii. The action plan shall address the
following:
·
Objectives and targets
·
Identity activities to accomplish set
objectives and targets
·
Identity and implement steps taken to
achieve set objectives and targets
·
Define and delegates roles and
responsibilities
·
Provide material and human resources
·
Identify relevant regulations, guidelines
and other regulatory requirements relevant to operation.
d.
Organisation Structures and Management
Responsibilities
i. The organisational structure of a
facilities shall contain the flow of authority, responsibilities and
interrelationships of all those in the organization to effect the proper
functioning of the EMS.
ii. The responsibilities of the
organizational management shall include but not limited to:
·
Establishing and maintaining EMS with the
commitment of the chief executive/managing director.
·
Providing all resources needed for the
implementation of the EMS. This shall include human, financial, material,
technology and specialized skills.
·
Appointing an Environmental Manager who
should have at least a formal training in environmental management and
technology. The Environmental Manager shall
-Ensure that EMS requirements are
established, implemented and maintained in accordance with this National
Guideline.
-Report back to management on the
performance of the EMS for the purposes of review and for evaluation to ensure
continual improvement.
·
Constituting an Environmental committee.
The committee shall include all cadres of staff.
iii. Also management shall integrate EMS into
business operation by:
·
Establishing, documenting and maintaining
a procedure for integrating the EMS into the day-to-day business operation of
the organisation. This shall include provision for awareness training, internal
communication, documentation, document control, risk assessment, emergency
preparedness and response, planning and response to complaint from external and
other interested parties.
The
procedures shall incorporate environmental measures into protection of workers,
purchasing, research and development, product development, marketing, finance
etc.
·
Establishing specific procedures for
identifying environmental aspects, impact and corrective measures arising from
its activites and services
·
Establishing and maintaining detailed
procedure for implementing its Action plan within the specified period.
·
Establishing and maintaining procedure for
publishing the annual environmental statement to public and stakeholders.
vi. Management shall also maintain a
mitigation and prevention action by:
·
Establishing and maintaining procedures
for investigating and correcting non-compliance.
·
Indentifying the cause of non-compliance.
·
Identifying and implementing necessary
corrective action.
·
Implementing controls necessary to avoid
repetition of non-compliance.
·
Recording any changes in written
procedures resulting from corrective action.
·
Defining responsibility and authority in
areas of non-compliance to cover the following: handling & investigation;
mitigation of impacts; initiation & completion of actions; appropriateness
of action.
·
Ensuring that the corrective &
preventive actions are implemented and with a follow-up to ensure their
effectiveness.
E. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM(EMS) AUDIT
Another responsibility of the management
is the establishment and maintenance of programmes and procedures for EMS
audits. The audit shall be aimed at determining whether or not the EMS:
·
Is in compliance with planned arrangement
for environmental management.
·
Has been implemented and maintained as
described or planned.
·
Provides information for management
scrutiny review.
The EMS audit programme and procedure
shall cover all aspects of organisation’s activities, products or services from
cradle to grave except otherwise stated by FEPA.
i. EMS Audit process shall include:
·
Scope, objectives and frequency of audits
·
Methodologies used
·
Responsibilities and requirements for
conducting audit
·
Pre-audit meetings
·
Audit-process and recording of findings
·
Audit Evaluation
·
Presentation of findings.
·
Agreed corrective action and the time
frame.
·
Interim Report
·
Follow-up audit and close-out.
·
Audit Report.
ii. The frequency of an EMS audit shall
depend on:
·
The level of compliance from results of
previous audits
·
The nature of the operation in terms of
its environmental aspects and potential impacts.
·
The number of employee in each of the
production stages and/or services and their ability and competence.
iii. The EMS Audit shall be carried out by
any of the following persons or group of persons
·
Competent Environmental Monitoring Team
and/or
·
FEPA accredited consultants.
vi. An EMS Audit Report shall include:
·
Name of the organization
·
Scope of activities, products/services
covered
·
Identification of the auditee and the
auditee’s representative
·
Audit dates
·
Audit team members
·
Audit plan
·
Audit Method
·
Audit findings
·
Recommendations and conclusion
The audit shall be carried out as
contained in FEPA’s guidelines on Environmental Audit.
F.
DOCUMENTATION AND COMMUNICATION
i. There should be sufficient
documentation to describe the core elements of the environment management
system and their interaction. The documentation should provide direction on
where to obtain more detailed information on the operation of specific parts of
the environment management system. Such documentation shall include:
·
Process information
·
Organisational charts
·
Work instruction etc.
Documents can be in any medium and should
be useful and easily understood
ii. All documentation should be dated
(with dates of revision, readily identifiable, organised and retained for a
specified period. All documents shall be periodically reviewed/revised as
necessary and shall be approved for use by authorized personnel prior to issue
.Current versions of relevant documents shall be available at all locations
where operations essential to the effective functioning of the system are
performed. Obsolete documents shall be promptly removed from all points of
issue and use.
G.
MONITORING, MEASURING AND RECORD
KEEPING PROCEDURE:
i. A document for monitoring, measuring
and record keeping shall be written. This document shall describe procedures to
document and monitor results of specific actions and programmes as well as the
overall effects of environmental improvements. Operations and activities that
can have significant impact on the environment shall be monitored periodically
except otherwise stated by FEPA. This document shall identify and document the
various Environmental Performance Programme(EPP) for all actions and
programmes. Procedures for identification, maintenance and disposition of
records needed for the implementation and operation of the EMS shall also be documented.
H. The organization shall establish and
maintain procedures for the identification, access, filing maintenance, and
disposition of environmental records. The organization shall determine
retention times of records bearing in mind legislative and other requirements.
Retention times shall be recorded.
ii. Environmental records shall include:
·
Information on relevant environment
regulations and requirements
·
Complaints
·
Staff education/training
·
Inspection maintenance and calibration
records
·
Products information
·
Incidents reports
·
Pertinent contractor and supplier
information
·
Significant environmental aspects
·
Management Review
·
Periodic Reports
I.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION:
iii. With regards to Environmental
Management Systems, the organization shall:-
·
Establish and maintain procedures for
internal communication at all levels of the organisation
·
Raise awareness of the organisation’s
environmental policies, objectives, targets and programs
·
Receive, document, verify and respond to
relevant information and requests from external interested parties,
stakeholders
·
Communicate environmental goals and
performance to interested members of the public i.e. stakeholders
·
Publish an annual environmental statement
to regulatory authorities and other interested parties. (The contents of the
statement shall be specific as contained in FEPA’s Guidelines on environmental
company report)
·
Address necessary communications with
public authorities regarding emergency planning and other relevant issues.
·
Communicate the findings of EMS monitoring
to all cadre of staff
·
Consider processes for external
communication on its significant environmental aspects and its decision e.g.
through annual report, regulatory submissions public government records,
industry association publications, the media or paid advertisement or the
likes.
J.
TRAINING
i. The Organisation shall:
·
Identify the needs of all employee whose
job impact upon the quality of the EMS
·
Develop a training plan to address defined
needs
·
Verify the conformity of training
programme to regulatory organizational or other requirements
·
Train of target employee groups
·
Document of training received
·
Evaluate training received
·
Ensure continual awareness programme for
its employees including casual workers making them aware of:
-the
importance of compliance with policy, procedure and requirement of EMS
-the
significant environmental impact, actual or potential of their work action and
the environmental benefits of improved personal performance
-their
roles and responsibilities in achieving compliance with the environmental
policy and procedures and with requirement of EMS including emergency
preparedness and response plan
-the
likely consequences and dangers associated with non-compliance
-establish and
maintain records of training provided.
K.
MANAGEMENT REVIEW
In order to ensure the adequacy and
continual suitability and effectiveness of the environmental management system,
top management staff of the organization shall:-
(i)
Review and evaluate the environmental management system annually
(ii)
Ensure that necessary information is collected to allow top management
to carry out this evaluation.
(iii)
Ensure that the scope of review is comprehensive and shall include:-
(a)
findings of Ems Audit
(b)
policy
(c)
procedures
(d)
a review of environmental objectives/target
(e)
commitment
vi. Management review findings including
corrective actions and any changes to the
EMS shall be documented and communicated
to all cadres of staff and the public.
1.5
OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES OF STUDY
The objectives of study are:
·
To investigate the roles of Environmental
Management System in Small and Medium Scale companies.
·
To investigate extent of adoption of of
tenets of EMS in SMEs
·
To examine the factors responsible for the
failure/success of SMEs in EMS adoption
and implementation
·
To make recommendations for improvement in
adoption of EMS
1.5.1
Hypotheses of the Study were:-
Hypotheses
a:
ISO 14001 EMS implementation has a positive and significant relationship with
Nigerian SMEs business performance.
Hypotheses
b:
The extent of adoption of EMS in SMEs in Nigeria is a total failure.
Hypotheses
c:
Adoption of tenets of EMS in SMEs has significant roles on environmental
management.
Hypothesis
d:
The investigation of the factors responsible for the failure of SMEs in EMS has
no significant influence on its performance.
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