ISO 14001 Aspects Analysis

By Barry Hirsch with assistance from

Elizabeth Davey

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 What is ISO 14001?
● The International Standard Organization is a
certifying body that with the aid of licensing
agencies provides a recognition of standard
operation procedures in a particular area
● ISO 14001 concerns an environmental
management scheme and is open to institutions of
all sizes and types
● ISO guidelines exist, however there are no strict
requirements for developing the management
scheme
● This project will focus on an aspects analysis,
under section 4.3.1 in ISO 14001. 2
 What is an aspects analysis?
“The organization shall establish and maintain (a)
procedure to identify the environmental aspects of
its activities, products or services that it can
control and over which it can be expected to have
an influence, in order to determine those which
have or can have significant impacts on the
environment. The organization shall ensure that
the aspects related to these significant impacts are
considered in setting its environmental objectives.

The organization shall keep this information up-

to-date.”
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The Green Gradecard for the Green Wave

● Associate Professor Timmons Roberts conducted

an environmental audit with his Environmental
Sociology class in the Spring of 1997
● The class collected data on over twenty aspects
which it determined were important
● April A. Smith’s book Campus Ecology was used
as the model for completing this audit

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 Indicators Used in Green Gradecard:
● CURRICULUM A- Strong, growing, funded
● BUILDINGS C New buildings OK

old poor, no retrofitting plans

● ENERGY USE
Lights A-
Upgrading program underway Heating/AC D Leaky
buildings, overuse

● WATER C Overuse, poor conservation

● FOOD SERVICES
Bruff B- Mostly reusable dinnerware, some veggie
meals, low food waste, no donation, recycling
U.C. C+ Mostly disposables, improving, as Bruff

Composting F No composting of yard/food wastes 5

● RECYCLING

Academic Bldgs. B
Program needs more workers,
infrastructure Dormitories C
Need more institutional follow-up
Campus Grounds F
Need bins on grounds; bad accessibility

● PROCUREMENT

Paper Purchasing B 2-sided/recycled

policy exists, use varies
Cleaning/Pesticides F No environmental or safety
considerations
● HAZARDOUS WASTE

Policies A- Good policies exist

Compliance C- Little or no 6
awareness and
● MEDICAL WASTE C Good safety, regs.; poor info-
gathering

● CONSCIOUSNESS
Knowledge B Students aware of
needs Action D Wasteful behaviors
abound
● RESEARCH B Much positive research, some
questionable funders

● INVESTMENTS
Business Partners B- Pepsi, Marriott, BFI
Endowment F No social/environmental screening
Donors D Shell, Freeport et al. have poor
enviro. records

● GREEN GPA C 1.9 Average Overall on 22 items

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What we learned from our first analysis:
● Tulane has relatively little easily accessible data on
its impacts
● An audit was a good step in getting people on
campus to start realizing how they affect the
environment
● Report addressed many key issues about impacts,
but does not provide quantitative data

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● Students are effective in aiding an aspects
analysis, and thus should be involved during the
implementation of ISO 14001
● An effective audit will have to include direct
impacts on the Earth, such as the level of Tulane
recycling, as well as aspects which are institution
specific like the status of the environmental
curriculum at Tulane
● There are many things that a class cannot
accomplish in one semester working on an aspects
analysis

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Things to work on in next analysis:
● The Green Gradecard is already outdated because of the
construction of new buildings on campus, the expansion of
our recycling and composting programs and a new natural gas
co-generation facility, as well as many changes in Tulane’s
environmental staff
● The previous analysis considered mostly internal factors and
lacked data on how Tulane’s impacts affect surrounding
communities (ex. Shintech) and ecosystems (ex. Waste
disposal in Mississippi and Cancer Alley)
● An effective analysis will require more organization, labor,
time, resources and expertise than can be afforded by a class
of undergraduates in a few months
● The next analysis will have to look at both quantitative and
qualitative data 10
Comparative Analysis and Case Studies:
Part I: Research Processes and Purpose
● A major part of my project was to gather data on how other
universities and corporations conducted their aspects
analysis
● Information was located on the World Wide Web
● A letter was sent to over 50 institutions and corporations
requesting information
● An indicator report conducted by a community in the Sierra
Nevada was utilized to get another perspective on aspects
analysis
● These case studies will show Tulane how others have
conducted an aspects analysis and help us determine the best
way to do ours
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Penn State University Indicators Report
● Two editions of the Indicator Report exist: a first edition
published in 1998 and an updated version released in the year
2000
● Report completed by a team of 30 students and several faculty
● First Edition:
➞ Reactions and comments to this process are provided from

students, faculty members and other interested parties

➞ There is a good breakdown on why the indicators were

chosen and what they entail:

➞ Indicators are broken into ten broad categories with

descriptions of what these categories consist of for Penn

State
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PSU CATEGORIES:
Energy
-Total and per capita energy
consumption
-Consumption of natural gas vs. coal
on campus
-Emissions from coal combustion on
campus
-Energy conservation initiatives
Water
-Water consumption
-Ground water quality
-Waste water disposal
Material Resources and Waste
Disposal
-Paper consumption
-Total solid waste production
-Recycled solid waste
Food
-Dining hall diet
-Dining hall waste
-Food purchasing policies
-Research on food system
sustainability
Land
-Land accumulation and
policies
-Impervious surfaces
-Planting of native vs.
exotic plants on campus
-Pesticide use in land care
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Transportation
-Car dependence
-Green space converted to parking space
-Transport-related safety
Research
The Built Environment -Ethical treatment of research subjects
-Disposal of laboratory wastes
-Building decision process
-Research priorities
-Building priorities
-Ecological design in buildings Decision Making
-Core values in decision making
Community -Openness
-Ecological literacy of graduating seniors
-Technology: enhancing vs.
undermining community vitality
-Student crime
-Student alcohol consumption
-Student depression
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Indicators were evaluated both quantitatively and
qualitatively:
“A few reviewers encouraged us to limit our
analysis to the strictly numerical indicators, but in
the course of this study we came to see that
sustainability is much more than millions of BTUs
saved or tons of paper recycled. Indeed, it is a
whole way of looking at the world which
encompasses mindfulness of place, respect for
natural processes, discernment of true needs, civic
responsibility, and full-cost accounting. In this
vein, the use of non-numerical indicators reminds
us that some of what is important and worthy of
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our attention cannot be expressed in numbers.”
Quantitative and Qualitative Data

● The quantitative data is expressed in graphs, pie

charts and numerous other forms of numerical data

● The qualitative data is shown through examples of

curriculum, research, decision making and other
factors

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Second Edition Assessment Procedure
● This edition has added an overall device for determining
how the university is doing. Four main categories are
established and the number of indicators is placed in
each. These four categories are:
➝ The University has a complete strategy to adopt
sustainable practices; high profile issue with strong
leadership - 0
➝ The University has taken many significant measures
to adopt sustainable practices but still lacks a
comprehensive strategy - 16
➝ The University has taken only limited measures to
adopt sustainable practices - 13
➝ The University has taken no significant means to
adopt sustainable practices – 4 17
Strengths of Evaluation Process
● Indicators are broken into how they affect each
student- for example how much electricity is used for
each student in a residence hall
● Short term goals and long term goals are presented
● Explanation of how and why each indicator is
important to real world and university – an example
is how much paper = how many square miles of
forest
● Conclusion summing up each category based on short
term and long term goals, as well as a short synopsis
about each aspect
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The Ford Motor Company Aspects Analysis
Step I: Determining Indicators

● Environmental Control Engineer at Ford instructs

a Cross Functional Team to determine aspects by
reviewing organization’s activities and products
or services which have potential to affect
environment
● Interactions can be positive or negative
● Interactions include but are not limited to air,
water, land, humans, flora, fauna, and natural
resources
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 Step II: Review of Aspects
● The following questions are asked to see if an aspect is
deemed significant:
➞ Is it regulated by permits, certificates or licenses?
➞ Does it have the potential to cause an accidental
release?
➞ Are there high energy use and/or corporate
initiatives associated?
➞ Can it create an environmental load (high volume &
mass, high use of natural resources, high
frequency & severity of impact)?

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Step III: Documentation Procedure:

● This selection and review process is documented

in the minutes for the cross functional team and
management review meetings.
● The significant determination process also
documents why certain aspects are considered not
significant
● Extensive information on ISO 14000 is accessible
on Ford’s home page, however none of this
documentation is readily available to the public
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 The Sierra Nevada Wealth Index
● The most interesting aspects of this indicator report
are:
➞ Indicator reports are not only being done by

corporations or universities; this is a community

undertaking a similar project
➞ This report focuses on indicators that are not just

economic or environmental – it also considers

aspects such as social well-being
➞ Each indicator report contains graphs for

quantitative analysis as well as an explanation of

why the particular indicator is important
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How they chose their indicators:
● The Sierra Business Council chose indicators that
they considered to be useful based on three criteria:
➞They are measurable and can be updated with
existing and objective data sources;
➞They measure the condition of assets which are
of material importance to the Sierra Nevada’s
wealth;
➞They measure the condition of assets in which
there is active public interest

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Part II: Important Findings
● An aspects analysis must consider both positive and negative
impacts on the environment
● A good indicator report will have both quantitative and
qualitative findings
● Universities are more likely to post their complete aspects
analysis on the World Wide Web with easy access, while
corporations tend to mention that they are ISO certified
● Corporations often give information about the process and
their commitment to helping the Earth, but they rarely provide
raw data on their analysis and its results
● Aspects analysis are being done by all different sorts of people
with many different goals in mind – their analysis will
represent these goals and objectives 24
Important Findings Continued

● An effective indicator report will explain why the

impact chosen is relevant and explain how that
impact will affect the lives of everyone within the
university, corporation or community in addition
to how that impact will affect other people and
environments
● Aspects analysis are most effective when updated
regularly and adjusted to show both short and long
term goals
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An aspects analysis at Tulane should be multi-tasked:
● The project should be headed by an environmental coordinator who
has the time to organize and lead this effort
● Undergraduates can aid through their course work-classes such as
the Environmental Management class offered in Spring 2000
● At least one hired intern or grad student will be necessary to help
collect, sort, analyze, and manage the necessary data
● A committee comprised of professors and possibly Tulane staff
employees and students which will develop strategies for collecting
data
● The aid of each Tulane faculty/staff member and student at Tulane
in helping to determine their effects on the environment- this can be
done by posting our analysis on the World Wide Web and
encouraging students and faculty to understand how they affect
environments and subsequently can act to reduce their negative
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impacts
Step 1: Indicators must be determined

● This process will be long and arduous, but vital to the

success of this project
● The aspects chosen must be measurable (either
quantitatively or qualitatively) and of importance to
both Tulane and the public
● Indicators should have broad categories as well as
more narrow defining characteristics
● The aspects chosen must incorporate any specific
guidelines or regulations set forth by the EPA or other
regulating bodies
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Step 2: Data collection and establishment of a
database
● This process will include many ways of collecting data
such as:
➞ Surveys
➞ Interviews

● A database will have to be designed/purchased and set up

by environmental coordinator or intern/graduate student
● Students can aid in this process, but they will be just a
part of a tough process which must be led by a
professional or graduate student
● The lack of existing data at Tulane will make this process
difficult, however once the database is established this
information will be accessible for many different 28
Step 3: Presentation of Data and Findings
● Data must be evaluated in terms of quantitative and
qualitative impacts
● Graphs, pie charts and other visual demonstrations of
the data will better illustrate the Tulane aspects analysis
● Analysis will have to allow for updating and be
versatile to new impacts and indicators as they arise
● Short and long term goals should be added to re-assess
Tulane’s behavior once ISO 14001 is put in place
● A measure of Tulane’s commitment to adopting
sustainable procedures, as undertaken by Penn State
would be useful
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Establishment of a web site:
● Web site should make the aspects analysis
accessible to students, faculty and members of
the public
● Web Site should be comprehensive in the Penn
State model and may even include such features
as quotes from those involved in the project
● Web site should be updated in the same fashion
as the database

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 Key Websites:
ISO website – www.iso14000.com
Tulane Green Grade- www.tulane.edu/~greenclb/audit/audit.html
Penn State Indicators Report - www.bio.psu.edu/greendestiny/index.shtml
Ford Motor Co. - www.ford.com/default.asp?pageid=581&storyid=730
Sierra Nevada Wealth Index Excerpts - tahoe.ceres.ca.gov/sbc/wealth.html

Other examples of indicator reports and ISO information:

UVM report - esf.uvm.edu/envcncl/greeninguvm/greeningindex.html
Formosa Plastics - www.fpcusa.com/ehs/envserv/index.html
EPA information - www.epa.gov (Search for ISO 14000 or 14001)

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