Course Plan Environmental Management Systems and Certification Prepared for Teacher s Conference in Borki, Poland, June 28 to July 2. Note: This document will be part of a complete Teacher s Guide. 1
Week 1 Introduction to Environmental Management Understanding EMS principles and benefits EMS and other standards Environmental aspects and impacts Environmental Policy In the first week the text book and its different parts will be presented. Chapters 1 to 4 will be discussed both in lectures and in seminars. As a first exercise the students can make an initial environmental review at their university by identifying environmental aspects and impacts. Allow enough time for students to read. Encourage exploring the internet sites presented in the book. Environmental Management Systems and Certification book, chapters 1, 2, 3, 4. Tools 2, 4, 5, 6-xx, 15, 19-25. Review questions. Internet: Links presented in the chapters. Monday Present the book and its different parts. Start with chapter 1. Seminar after the lecture where study questions are discussed. Tuesday Lecture on chapter 2, environmental standards. Finish the day with a seminar on the study questions. Wednesday Lecture on chapter 3. Use tools 2, 4, 5 and 6-xx to explain the different concepts for identification of aspects and impacts. Present the concept of process maps with tool 14 as an example. Instead of a seminar, divide students into groups and have them identify environmental aspects and impacts in certain areas at their university. Document the findings! Homework task until next day: Try to find out what environmental legislation applies to the faculty/institution. Use tool 15 as far as possible as an aid. Thursday Seminar. Collect findings from aspect/impact identification and legal compliance task. Use review questions 3, 4 and 7 from chapter 3 as a thread. Friday Lecture on chapter 4, environmental policy. Use tools 19, 20, 21 as examples or even better, use examples from your country. Discuss the study questions in a seminar. As a conclusion for the week, the aspects and impacts identified earlier could be used to set targets and objectives for the university, using tools 22 to 25. 2
Week 2 Implementing Environmental Management Systems How an is EMS developed How official recognition is achieved What happens after certification The second week is the most technical week in the course. The EMS implementation process is dealt with in detail, discussing all the different steps involved. Each step is illustrated with examples from both the toolkit and real companies. The two films that are part of the course package highlight key concepts. A guest lecture concludes the week. Environmental Management Systems and Certification book, chapters 5, 6, 7, tools. Examples for environmental communication, management handbook, emergency preparedness and response, environmental statements from real companies. EMAS original document (and ISO 14001, if available). Review questions. Internet: Links presented in the chapters. Films: Gera Stadtverkehrsbetriebe and Nina Printhouse Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday Friday Lectures on chapter 5, Developing an EMS. Discuss all development steps in detail, using the EMAS document and if available even ISO 14001. It is important the students understand the requirements of the standards. Working with them directly and taking the book as a help for interpretation is a good way to achieve this. Discuss the study questions after each section and use the tools as an aid. For the communications section a collection of examples of company communication could be a good idea. Showing an internal management handbook from a real company would be a good illustration for the EMS Documentation section. The same goes for the Emergency Preparedness and Response section where a real emergency plan could be shown. Show the movie from Gera when lecturing on Checking and Corrective Action. Development of an Environmental Statement can be illustrated with examples for different environmental statements from real companies. Lecture on chapter 6, How to get Official Recognition. Use the original EMAS-document and the websites to illustrate. Show the movie on Nina Printhouse. Lecture on chapter 7, Beyond Certification. Focus on audits and continuous improvements. IMS can be treated in detail later, but should be mentioned here. If possible invite a guest lecturer who explains how the EMS was built up at her or his organisation, what the benefits were, how certification was achieved and what happened after certification. This would be a good conclusion for the more technical part of the course. Alternatively the students could visit an organisation and be informed on-site. 3
Week 3 Strengths and Weaknesses, Integrated Management Systems EMS strengths EMS weaknesses Integration with other management systems Simplified management systems The third week is about critically assessing EMS strengths and weaknesses. The standards are analysed from what the students have learned so far. A home assignment will deepen the students insights on advantages and disadvantages of EMS and it will put EMS into a larger context. Furthermore, integrated management systems (IMS) and simplified management systems will be discussed and concluded with an expert guest lecture. Environmental Management Systems and Certification book, chapters 8 and 9. Review questions. Internet: Links presented in the chapters. Films: For example The Corporation, depending on availability. Monday Chapter 8, Strengths and Weaknesses. This is a very important chapter. Start with a preparatory group work where the students collect strengths and weaknesses for both EMAS and ISO 14001 from what they have learned. Then a lecture on the chapter. Conclude with a seminar where the students present their findings and where some of the study questions are discussed. A home assignment could be to write an essay about whether EMS introduction actually helps the environment. Can global environmental problems be reduced with EMS? How do environmental standards affect the relations between the developed and the developing world? What moral implications do EMS have? What are other interests than environmental ones for introducing EMS? Does the existing way of having one very general standard for the entire world need to be improved? In what way? Possible sources could be the internet sites listed in the book, environmental reports/statements from different companies among many others. Tuesday Time for writing the home assignment. Wednesday, Lectures on chapter 9. Describe the different systems that EMS Thursday can be integrated with. Explain how the standards are structured and in which way they are compatible with ISO 14001 and each other. Discuss advantages and disadvantages for IMS. Discuss simplified management systems. Conclude with a guest lecture/field trip on IMS and/or simplified management systems. Friday Time for writing home assignment. Divide students into six groups. Ask students to prepare for next week by reading their case study (group 1, case study 1; group 2, case study 2 etc.). 4
Week 4 Environmental Management in Practice How environmental management is done in practice Week 4 involves more work from the students. The home assignment from week 3 is handed in and concluded with a seminar, a workshop on the case studies is conducted and the project work initiated. Environmental Management Systems and Certification book and Case Studies. Monday Group work on Case Studies. What were the environmental benefits from the introduction of the EMS? What economic implications did the introduction have? Were there any other benefits? What can be said about the way the EMS was introduced? Collect findings and prepare presentation within groups. Time for writing home assignment. Tuesday Hand in for home assignment. Present findings from Case Study assignment in concluding seminar. Wednesday Introduction to project work (in groups). Thursday Project. Friday Return home assignments. Concluding seminar on home assignment. Project. Possible project assignments: Interview environmental managers at different companies. What are the characteristics of the company? Why did they want to introduce an EMS? Which aspects were identified, how did the identification process work? What legal requirements applied to the company? What were difficulties in the implementation process? How were employees involved? Why did they choose ISO 14001 or EMAS? Was it easy to get registration/certification? What benefits came with registration? What are future plans? Does an IMS exist? Is the environment better protected through the system? Sketch the introduction of an EMS at your university or part of your university. Use the aspects and impacts you collected earlier. Rank them and set environmental targets and objectives. Identify legal requirements. Write an environmental policy. Identify stakeholders. What would be needed to be communicated? What documents would be required? Write an emergency plan. Which standard would you choose and why? What difficulties did you encounter in the implementation process? What would be the benefits of an EMS at the university? How could everyone s participation be achieved? If there already is an EMS in existence at your university, work with the EMS. How is the EMS structured? What are significant environmental aspects? Are they still up to date? What legal requirements have been identified? Has there been any change in legislation? Is the environmental policy up to date? Have objectives been achieved? If not, what are reasons for failure? Is stakeholder participation working? If not, how could it be improved? Conduct an environmental audit! 5
Week 5 Practicing Environmental Management Do environmental management in practice The last week of the course is the most practical one. The students apply the knowledge thy acquired in the course and conclude the learning process in that way. The entire week is reserved for project work, which is concluded on the last with a presentation and a seminar. All. Monday Project. Guidance for students if requested. Tuesday Project. Guidance for students if requested. Wednesday Hand in preliminary results from project. Thursday Return project with comments. Finalize project. Friday Project presentation. Course Conclusion. 6