CONTACTS
 |
May 09 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine Goal: Establish excellence in environmental stewardshipCaring for the environment
The Laboratory is committed to preserving and maintaining the environment, and the recent recertification of the Lab’s Environmental Management System (EMS) to the ISO 14001 standard demonstrates this commitment. An Environmental Management System is a systematic method for assessing mission activities, determining the environmental impacts of those activities, prioritizing improvements, and measuring results. The Lab’s EMS motto is “Safety for You, Security for the Nation, Environment for the Future.” Five goals were established as part of the Lab’s EMS: compliance, waste reduction, energy and fuel conservation, disposition of unneeded equipment and materials, and achieving zero liquid discharge by 2012. These multiyear goals drive continuous improvement, according to Denny Hjeresen of the Risk Reduction Office, the Lab’s EMS program manager. Hjeresen noted that efforts are under way to incorporate EMS with the Lab’s Integrated Work Management System. Last year, the Laboratory won a Department of Energy Environmental Stewardship Award titled “Integrating Safety and Security into the Environment Management System Lifecycle: A Body-contact Sport.” “The EMS is really a grassroots system that asks workers to evaluate environmental, safety, and security risks in their workplace and take steps to reduce those risks,” said Hjeresen. Training inspections and efforts have improved compliance, especially with regard to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and stormwater protection. The Laboratory had its first violation-free New Mexico Environment Department RCRA inspection in 2008. In the area of waste reduction, the Lab’s pollution-prevention program conducts outreach, provides technical assistance, and funds 20 pollution-prevention projects through the Generator Set Aside Fund Program. Additionally, 200 employees working on 40 projects received a Laboratory Pollution Prevention award last month. Hjeresen also noted efforts to promote zero liquid discharge, explaining that the Lab is in the design and engineering phase with first activities focusing on the Sanitary Effluent Recycle Facility. The goal is to reduce outfalls while conserving water and meeting strict new compliance standards for water discharge. “The Energy Management Plan addresses the life cycle of energy and fuel use at Los Alamos,” said Hjeresen. “Energy availability, cost, and conservation have a direct impact on our ability to perform existing and possible new missions.” Other Headlines
|
Issues
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
