Training Your Personnel: Level 4

Appendix 7.4
Environmental Awareness Training
All staff should have a general understanding of some of the more important global and local environmental issues and be aware that industry does have an effect on the quality of the natural environment. All business activities generate environment impacts in some or all of the areas listed below. Certain organisational activities may have multiple or interactive effects on the environment. For example, toxic substances released onto land may also affect water quality through leaching into watercourses.

The aim of environmental awareness training is to encourage a sense of personal responsibility and to show that everyone can make a positive contribution to environmental protection. Environmental awareness training should seek to identify the issues with which the organisation is closely linked. Employees should be encouraged to debate the issues, both in terms of current problems and potential opportunities for improvement.


Topics which may be covered by environmental awareness training include:

  1. air quality
  2. water quality
  3. land quality
  4. global warming
  5. ozone depletion
  6. transportation
  7. natural resource usage
  8. waste management
  9. packaging
Sample notes for environmental awareness training covering the subjects listed above are provided below. The list is not exhaustive. When introducing these topics, as part of an environmental awareness programme, relevant examples of how the company currently manages, or will manage, its own environmental effects could be used to encourage involvement and ownership.
Air Quality
Air pollution is derived mainly from human activity. The major sources are the result of burning fossil fuels in power stations, emissions from vehicles and the incineration of waste materials releasing toxic substances to the atmosphere. Airborne pollutants can cause respiratory illness and contribute to acid rain which damages crops and buildings.
Water Quality
Air pollution is derived mainly from human activity. Industrial, agricultural and domestic effluents discharged to rivers and coastal waters are harmful to marine life and can affect the health of bathers. Drinking water can also be contaminated by pesticides and other pollutants entering reservoirs and groundwater supplies.
Land Quality
Soil contamination can arise from poorly managed industrial sites. Residues of heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium, aluminium and copper are a common source of contamination. Landscape and natural habitats can also be affected by industrial activities such as mining, quarrying and insensitive industrial development.
Global Warming
Radiation from the sun heats the earth's surface which in turn emits heat back into the atmosphere. Approximately one third is reflected back into space, the rest either heats the oceans and land surfaces or is absorbed by atmospheric gases. Human activity has increased the concentration of some of these gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and low-level ozone, thereby trapping more heat in the earth's atmosphere leading to what is often referred to as the greenhouse effect. Global warming may cause climatic changes resulting in the polar ice caps melting and sea levels rising. It is considered to be one of the most serious threats to the planet's environmental stability.
Ozone Depletion
The layer of ozone gas in the stratosphere shields the earth from ultraviolet radiation. Manufactured gases such as halons and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS) decrease the amount of ozone in this layer allowing more ultraviolet rays to penetrate, leading to damage to crops, natural vegetation and an increase in the number of cases of skin cancer.

CFCs are also powerful greenhouse gases and the international Montreal Protocol has set targets to progressively reduce production of CFCS, leading to a worldwide ban by the mid 1990s.
Transportation
Air pollutants from vehicles can have a detrimental effect on human health. Pollutants from vehicle exhausts include lead, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and particulates. The continuing increase in traffic has lead to the demand for more roads, often in sensitive ecological sites. Other issues include noise nuisance and visual impact.
Natural Resources
The exploitation of non-renewable resources, such as oil, gas and coal, has major implications for long-term energy policies. Other materials are obtained from unique habitats, such as rainforests, moorlands and areas containing special wildlife - if these areas are severely exploited then the balance of sensitive ecosystems could be permanently damaged.
Waste
Industry generates over 1 00 million tonnes of waste every year, most of which ends up in waste disposal sites. These sites often generate pollution both as toxic substances which work their way through the ground into river and groundwaters, and as methane gas released into the atmosphere. There is a shortage of waste disposal sites and the cost of landfilling is rising with the increase in environmental regulations concerning site management and the disposal of waste. Incineration (burning waste) is seen as a viable alternative to landfilling waste, but incinerators generate their own pollution by emitting toxic substances into the atmosphere which may be dangerous to health.
Packaging
Over-packaging of domestic products is seen as wasteful by many consumers. It is estimated that only about one third of packaging is used to protect the product, the remainder is mainly used to improve the product's appearance. Packaging usually requires the consumption of raw materials and energy in its production, Discarded packaging accounts for about 6 million tonnes of waste every year.
Click here to return to the list.