Today we live in a newly dangerous world where it is impossible to predict when and how acts of chemical and biological terrorism may occur. Preparing our organizations and communities to address these threats is vital, of course, for the consequences of not being unprepared can be devastating.
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
The forces that govern the way environmental due diligence is conducted are changing; significantly, in some respects. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now in the final stages of drafting the first rule for "all appropriate inquiry" (AAI), a term for the investigation into a property's potential for environmental contamination prior to purchase.
- By Anthony J. Buonicore, Dianne Crocker
This article originally appeared in the 05/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Readers of this publication are typically highly trained and credentialed professionals; many have graduate degrees in technical fields. Whatever your field or job function, you can count on one more thing in addition to death and taxes: something will go wrong. We all followed the extensive, painful analysis after the blackout in 2003; the finger-pointing and bad publicity continues. If your company suffers a spill, emission, explosion, contamination, fatality or any one of a number other incidents, are you ready? Most people think crisis preparation and crisis communication are someone else's job.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Has your stormwater pollution prevention plan been shelved along with the best intentions of your best management practices? If so, you are not alone. Leaner environmental, health and safety (EHS) staffs may appear more productive to management, but oftentimes these lean staffs inadvertently ignore aspects of their jobs, completing the activities with reporting deadlines and letting less-defined requirements gather dust in notebooks on the shelf.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Some companies have done horrific damage to Mother Nature out of greed and ignorance. Relatively few individuals have gotten extremely rich on the profits from businesses that passed-off the true costs of their operations to communities, workers and future generations who will be stuck with cleaning up the human and environmental wreckage.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
A primerThose who don't learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat mistakes of the past. You'd think everyone would know that by now; but, in truth, the ranks of the condemned continue to swell. Regrettably, many of them are environmental project managers who all wind up in the same dreadful spot: snared in the barbs of litigation.on how to select an environmental consultant
- By Scott Vierke, John P. Bachner
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Getting the most from your EMS
Certification may be a requirement for entry into some markets, but aside from the public relations value, what else does a certified environmental management system offer? Not much, according to the results of recent research studies of conformance-based environmental management systems (EMS) such as ISO 14001 and Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).
This article originally appeared in the 03/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
The winter meeting of the Auditing Roundtable was a wakeup call to environmental auditors. The keynote speaker did not mince words: Conformance-base environmental management systems, such as International Standardization Organization (ISO) 14001, are "fundamentally flawed." What is the point of auditing systems that don't bring value? If certification is not on management's must-do checklist to enable entry into certain markets, why are these systems needed? ... and who needs these auditors?
This article originally appeared in the 02/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
Many skilled senior professionals are finding themselves on their own, seeking employment for the first time after being forced to leave the "safe womb" of an organization that delivered their paycheck each month like clockwork.
This article originally appeared in the 01/01/2004 issue of Environmental Protection.
The task does seem Herculean. Nowadays, our profession is trying to guard the environment from the traditional sources of pollution along with the newly added burden of dealing with threats of terrorism. In order to deal with such challenges it helps to be prepared by looking toward the future.
This article originally appeared in the 01/01/2003 issue of Environmental Protection.