Industrial environmental control: types and objects
Industrial environmental control (abbreviated as IEC) is an integral part of the environmental management system.
IEC is a process that allows an enterprise to manage hazardous emissions, discharges and wastes generated in the course of its activities.
IEC is carried out in accordance with the industrial environmental control programme, which is developed by the enterprise for a certain period of time (a year/from 1 to 10 years).
The programme of industrial environmental control establishes a mandatory list of parameters monitored in the process of industrial environmental control (atmospheric air, soil cover, groundwater, etc.), criteria for determining its periodicity, duration and frequency of measurements, instrumental or calculation methods used.
The types of industrial environmental control include:
➤ cameral (documentary) – inspection of documents, the need for which is established by the environmental legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
➤ analytical – selection and analysis of samples of industrial emissions, discharges and wastes, their quantitative chemical analysis, biotesting.
The objects of industrial environmental control include:
✓ sources of pollutant emissions into the atmospheric air;
✓ sources of pollutant discharges input objects;
✓ waste gas purification systems;
✓ wastewater treatment systems;
✓ waste accumulation and disposal facilities;
✓ technological processes and equipment related to the production activities of the enterprise;
✓ systems for prevention, localisation and elimination of consequences of man-made accidents;
✓ environmental objects located within the industrial sites and on the border of the sanitary protection zone of the enterprise;
✓ territory/aquatorium, located within the industrial sites and on the border of the sanitary protection zone of the enterprise.
Organisation and procedure of control
IEC may be carried out both on a scheduled and unscheduled basis. The organisation of control activities includes their planning and preparation. Industrial control activities for the protection of atmospheric air, water bodies and waste management are carried out in a targeted manner and as part of comprehensive IEC programmes, including verification of compliance with the requirements of legislation in the field of environmental protection in general.
As a result of the control, an inspection report is drawn up, which specifies:
➤ compliance with the requirements of environmental legislation, environmental safety norms and standards of the organisation;
➤ compliance with legislative requirements in the field of air and water protection, waste handling, environmental, sanitary and epidemiological norms and rules established by local and regulatory technical documents of the company;
➤ proposals for the implementation of necessary measures and deadlines for their fulfilment;
➤ results of environmental-analytical control – sampling certificates and protocols of the results of the performed research.
The results of the IEC are to be recorded, analysed and summarised for further use in the implementation of industrial environmental control.
The results of the analysis of identified violations after the industrial environmental control, the measures taken and their environmental effect are reported to the head of the enterprise to analyse the functioning of the environmental management system, to make decisions on the environmental efficiency of the environmental management system and to take measures to improve the level of compliance of the enterprise with environmental requirements.