Title: | Environmental Management System | Publication date: | 4/27/2021 | Effective date: | 4/3/2009 |
POLICYA. PurposeExecutive Order 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management, established the policy that federal agencies conduct their environmental, transportation, and energy-related activities in a manner that is environmentally, economically, and fiscally sound; integrated; continually improving; efficient; and sustainable. Subsequently, Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, expanded on this policy to require federal agencies to lead by example in creating a clean energy economy that will promote energy security, safeguard the environment, and increase the nation's prosperity. In response to these actions, the Department of Energy (DOE) approved DOE Order 436.1, Departmental Sustainability, to manage sustainability activities within the department. The purpose of this directive is to: - Ensure that the DOE carries out its missions in a sustainable manner that addresses national energy security and global environmental challenges, and advances sustainable, efficient, and reliable energy for the future.
- Institute wholesale cultural change to factor sustainability and greenhouse gas reductions into all DOE corporate management decisions.
- Ensure that the DOE achieves the sustainability goals established in the annual DOE Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan pursuant to applicable laws, regulations, and Executive Orders, related performance scorecards, and sustainability initiatives.
The directive's objectives flow down from DOE Order 436.1 to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) through a Contract 31 requirement that Berkeley Lab have an Environmental Management System (EMS) in place that is either certified to or conforms with the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 14001:2004(E) standard.
The federal guides for these executive orders were revoked in 2015 after publication of the current ISO standard, as they are no longer applicable. Furthermore, DOE Order 436.1 has not been updated to reference the updated ISO 14001 (2015) standard or incorporate the requirements in Executive Order 13369, Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade or Executive Order 13834, Efficient Federal Operations. To compensate for these changes, DOE issued guidance in October 2016 on annual reporting and external audits/declaration of conformance of an EMS to the current version of ISO 14001. B. Persons AffectedThis policy applies to all individuals at Berkeley Lab: employees, visitors, affiliates, and subcontractors. The degree to which individuals are involved in carrying out the policy varies. This is described below in Section E, Roles and Responsibilities, and presented graphically in the Process tab of this policy. C. ExceptionsNone D. Policy Statement- Berkeley Lab's Environmental Management System is a structured process designed to maintain compliance of Berkeley Lab programs with environmental laws and regulations, and minimize overall environmental impacts. The framework for achieving these objectives is an environmental policy with the following requirements that apply to all staff, affiliates, subcontractors, and visitors:
- Comply with applicable environmental, public health, and resource conservation laws and regulations.
- Prevent pollution, minimize waste, and conserve natural resources.
- Correct environmental hazards and clean up existing environmental problems.
- Continually improve the Laboratory's environmental performance while maintaining operational capability and sustaining the overall mission of the Laboratory.
- Administering this policy through the Berkeley Lab EMS requires the following measures:
- Initiating a core leadership team to perform a continual cycle of process improvement.
- Identifying environmental impacts (air, water, waste, resource usage, land use, and transportation).
- Developing targets to reduce identified environmental impacts and implement plans for reduction, which are called Environmental Management Action Plans (EAPs).
- Auditing and assessing the Laboratory's environmental programs to determine that all activities are being performed.
- In applying these measures, the Laboratory follows a performance-based approach to achieve the elements of the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management systems (EMSs). This approach provides real and tangible business value rather than applying all the requirements of an ISO 14001–based EMS. This approach allows the Laboratory to focus resources on activities that have a more valuable and stronger environmental benefit and to maintain the current strengths of the environmental compliance programs. Performance of the EMS is measured by multiple methods and involves various internal and external organizations, including a comprehensive annual review by senior management.
E. Roles and ResponsibilitiesRole | Responsibility | Senior management | - The EHS Division establishes policies and provides professional and technical expertise to integrate ES&H practices into all facets of research and support programs, including the EMS, in accordance with the Requirements and Policies Manual. The EHS Division Director approves this EMS Program Manual.
- Conducts ongoing long-range planning to identify and implement new programs and policies to ensure compliance with changing governmental guidelines and regulations, achieve performance goals, and pursue best management practices.
- To demonstrate leadership and commitment to the EMS, at least one member of top management from LBNL organizations having staff on the EMS Core Team will participate in each management review of the EMS. These organizations include EHS, Facilities, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, and Sustainable Berkeley Lab. Also participating in these reviews is a representative from the deputy directors for both Operations and Research who can then share information about environmental programs with relevant organizations within their respective areas.
- Reviews the EMS to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness.
- Provides leadership and direction to promote continual improvement of the EMS, including measurement systems, benchmarking, and surveys.
- Proactively builds partnerships with all levels of the LBNL community.
- Assigns the responsibility and authority for ensuring that the EMS conforms to the requirements of the ISO standard.
- Participates in audits of the EMS.
| EMS Program Manager | - Maintains the EMS Program Manual Plan.
- Attends training required to achieve competence at the EMS implementation level.
- Facilitates training for senior management and Core Team members.
- Develops training strategy and measures to increase staff awareness of their environmental impacts.
- Convenes and facilitates Core Team meetings where the following topics will generally be discussed:
- Development and maintenance of EMPs.
- Identifying environmental aspects, impacts, and significance of Berkeley Lab activities.
- Leads the response to relevant communications on the EMS. Coordinates communication involving the surrounding community with the Government and Community Relations Office.
- Coordinates internal and external audits of the EMS, including the assessment needed to complete the annual DOE EMS compliance and performance reporting.
- Liaises between the senior management and the Core Team.
- Enters assessment and audit findings into Berkeley Lab's Corrective Action Tracking System.
- Oversees the implementation of any corrective actions.
- Manages document control of required EMS documents, including audit records and any resulting corrective actions
| EMS Core Team members | - Participate in the evaluation that determines the set of significant environmental aspects.
- Develop objectives and targets for significant aspects.
- Prepare, coordinate, and monitor progress on Action Plans, including collecting performance metrics.
- Review performance results and prepare recommendations on improvements to applicable Action Plans.
- Review performance results and make recommendations to improve the EMS.
- Assist in the continual improvement of the EMS.
- Attend training required to maintain comprehensive EMS awareness.
- Participate in audits of the EMS.
- Recommend and assist in the development of any operational control needed to achieve environmental objectives and targets.
| Office of Contractor Assurance | - Provides oversight to Berkeley Lab's management and assurance systems
| General Laboratory employees, affiliates, visitors, and subcontractors | - Must be aware of the Laboratory's environmental policy statements
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F. Definitions/AcronymsTerm | Definition | Assessment | A formal review that is normally conducted by an organization with an appropriate degree of independence | Audit | A systematic and documented verification process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence to determine the adequacy of a program or system within an organization | Continual improvement | A recurring process of enhancing the Environmental Management System to achieve improvements in overall environmental performance consistent with an organization's environmental policy | Core Team | A group of Berkeley Lab employees charged with implementing the essential elements of the Environmental Management System | DOE | Department of Energy | Environment | The surroundings, including air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans, and their interrelations, in which an organization operates | Environmental aspect | An activity, product, or service that can interact with the environment | Environmental impact | A change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization's activities, products, or services | Environmental Action Plan (EAP) | A formal mechanism that summarizes how the objectives and targets will be achieved, including timescales and personnel responsible for implementing the appropriate actions | Environmental Management System (EMS) | A systematic approach to ensuring that environmental activities are well managed. It includes organization structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes, and resources. | Environmental objective | Overall environmental goal that an organization attempts to attain | Environmental Performance | Measurable results related to the management of environmental aspects | Environmental target | Detailed performance goal that results from the establishment of an environmental objective. Where practicable, the target will be quantified and include a completion date. | Executive Order | A presidential policy directive that implements or interprets a federal statute, a constitutional provision, or a treaty | Management review | A review by senior management on the performance of the EMS in relationship to the expectations specified in the ISO 14001 standard | Operational control | The identification, planning, and management of the organization's operations and activities in line with the policy' objectives and targets, and significant aspects | Risk | A deviation from the expected, expressed as a combination of the consequences of an event and the likelihood of occurrence | Senior management | The highest levels of organizational management having the day-to-day responsibilities for managing the organization and the authority to make decisions affecting the site or facility. Also may be referred to as senior leadership or top management. | Significant environmental aspect | An activity, product, or service that has or can have an unacceptable risk and require an Environmental Action Plan to reduce the risk to acceptable levels |
G. Recordkeeping RequirementsRecordkeeping requirements are identified in the procedures listed in Implementing Documents section. H. Implementing DocumentsEnvironmental Services Group EHS Division [email protected] J. Revision HistoryDate | Revision | By Whom | Revision Description | Section(s) Affected | Change Type | 1/2/2013 | 0 | P. Thorson | Rewrite for wiki (brief) | All | Minor | 9/24/2013 | 1 | P. Thorson | Rewrite for wiki (policy) | All | Minor | 4/27/2021 | 2 | L. Baldwin | Update implementing documents | All | Minor |
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