What is environmental aspects and impacts

Environmental; surroundings in which an organization operates, including air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans, and their interrelation.
Environmental Aspects; element of an organization’s activities or products or services that can interact with the environment.
Environmental Impacts; any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting form an organization’s environmental aspects.

All the activities we do will affect the environment surrounding us such as, one of the environmental aspects of using a fume cupboard [activity] in a laboratory is the emission of vapours [environmental aspect]. The reason this is an environmental aspect is because fumes cause air pollution [environmental impact] however small they may be. At the other end of the scale, gas consumption from boiler operation is an environmental aspect because its use in heating [activity] results in a reduction of a non-renewable resource
[environmental impact].

Example of Environmental Aspects

• emission to air (smoke, dust, odor, fumes, etc.)
• waste water discharge to water stream or land
• waste discharge to land
• use of material, energy and resources
• noise generation
• vibration
• radiation

Example of Environmental Impacts

• air pollution
• water pollution
• land pollution
• noise pollution
• natural resources/conservation
• nuisance
• ozone depletion
• global warming

The relationship between Environmental Aspects and Environmental Impacts can be best described as “CAUSE” and “EFFECT”. One “CAUSE” could have one or multiple “EFFECT”.

The environmental aspects of the organisation must be identified and assessed to determine those that are the most significant. This then enables resources to be focused on addressing specific aspects. ISO 14001 requires this to be an on-going process. Therefore the aspects must be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that all current aspects have been identified and that they are correctly prioritised.