This module has been designed to give you a sound understanding of the means by which UK environmental law is devised and implemented. This will provide you with an appreciation of how the law is likely to affect your business. You will also learn about the specific environmental laws relating to each of the three environmental media: land, air and water.
Through undertaking practical exercises, you will have a better understanding of which environmental laws currently, and will potentially affect your companies operations, and in turn, will be able to develop methods by which your company can keep up to date with the relevant legislation to your site and operations. This will ensure compliance with your existing or planned Environmental Management System (if applicable), or will simply ensure peace of mind and avoid hefty fines.
What you will learn from this module:
This module is structured to help you plan the stages of your EMS and the associated documentation right from the initial stage of drawing up a project plan through to writing procedures and undergoing an audit of the EMS. Specifically, the module will cover:
- How to plan the implementation of an EMS
- The importance of an environmental policy
- What procedures are required and how to write them on your own
- How to put an EMS manual together and what it should contain
- Gain knowledge of first and third party audits
- It is recommended that those with no or little knowledge of environmental management systems first complete the EMS level 4 module
- If you have completed EMS level 4 module successfully, you will find that unit one provides a revision of the topics covered in the level 4 module.
- For those of you who want to obtain CAT (credit accumulation transfer) points towards a degree, this module is worth 7 points
This module differs from the rest in having only three units. At level 5 it includes a simulated review of a company and a review of your own company.
Unit 1
- The need for an environmental review in ISO14001
- Inputs and outputs of a manufacturing company
- How to conduct an environmental review
- What is needed?
- Use of a protocol
Unit 2
In this unit you will use your protocol to investigate ACME. ACME is a virtual metal finishing company with many examples of bad practice. Enter the company using the mouse and carry out a thorough inspection. (the instructions are included in the company software). Identify the six most important environmental aspects of ACME s operation.
Explain what ACME should do to improve its environmental performance:
- If there is a very limited budget.
- With a modest budget.
Unit 3
Identify the six most important environmental aspects of your own company s operation and write an environmental review of your company.
The purpose of this module is to give you an understanding of how environmental improvements may be achieved within organisations. This is particularly important where a company is planning or engaged in the implementation of an Environmental Management Systems (EMS), which is seeking accreditation / certification to a standard such as ISO 14001.
The module will address the means by which companies can improve their environmental performance and gives a good ISO 14001 compliant framework to do this in. The first units of the module concentrate upon how a company can firstly identify its significant environmental effects and in turn, how it can embark on improving it s environmental performance in areas that are deemed to have a negative significant impact, in a systematic manner. The subsequent parts of the module will then act as a guide in setting environmental objectives and targets and in formulating an improvement programme to deal with these.
The later units of the module focus upon improvement strategies themselves. These are useful to both companies that are not planning to implement a formal EMS, but need guidance in how to approach making environmental improvements in certain areas. This section of the module will also be useful to those wishing to implement an EMS and require guidance and examples on how to implement projects to fulfil environmental objectives and targets set.
In this module we will raise these issues and provide some answers to these questions, although there may be many reasons for each and we can highlight some of the most important.
This course covers the following topics :
- Introduction to Environmental Issues
- The Earth and Mineral Resources
- An Introduction to Pollution and its Effects
- Water Resources
- Groundwater
- Climate Change and Global Warming
- Global Warming
- Biodiversity
- Transport and the Environment
- The Green Economy - Myth or Reality
Sound environmental management practices are now at the heart of standard operating requirements of most companies. Monitoring is an important part of the management of any system, which also includes Environmental Management Systems (EMS ). The environmental performance of a company needs to be monitored and (where possible) measured, in order to cement compliance with the EMS and with any legislation and regulations. It also brings with it business benefits such as identifying process inefficiencies and wastes and potential environmental emergency situations.
This module is structured to help you plan and deliver the environmental training, as part of environmental management systems (EMS) implementation or for the purposes of general environmental improvements. In particular the module will help you to:
- Appreciate the role that environmental training plays in implementing an EMS.
- Learn about the different types of training.
- Understand how to analyse environmental training needs.
- Devise a training strategy.
- Choose the best training methods for you organisation.
For those of you who want to obtain CAT (credit accumulation transfer) points towards a degree, this module is worth 7 points.
If we are considering waste management then we have to look at the whole cycle of waste and how we deal with it. For most of us waste begins at the supermarket and ends by putting the dustbin out for the "bin men" once a week. For the government it has become more and more important as landfill sites fill up, people become more concerned with the pollutants associated with waste disposal and Europe produces more legislation to control what we do with our waste.