Environmental Management Systems for Pork Producers

4.3.1 Environmental Aspects cont.

Step 3

• Using the criteria and ranking system you developed in Step 2, score each aspect and related impacts. 
  

• Add the scores of all criteria to get a total score for each impact. This number indicates the relative priority of the impact compared to the other impacts. Generally, the higher the total score is the higher the priority will be. 
  

• Review the prioritized impacts to determine which you will designate as significant. You may choose a total score and determine that all impacts with that score and greater will be designated as significant.  For example:  all impacts and associated aspects are significant if the total score is greater then 15. You may also take other factors into consideration when determining significant impacts.  For example:  all impacts and associated aspects are significant if the total score is greater than 15 or has a rating of 5 (high) for legal requirements.  
  
  Identification of the significant impacts of your operations is an important building block for the remainder of your EMS. This prioritization is important in identifying the areas (activities) of farm production where you will need to focus improvement efforts. 
  
  View the following link for an example of a significant ranking procedure and form.

  • Significance Form

(This procedure can be downloaded and customized by replacing the red highlighted areas with the specifics for your farm. You can incorporate your procedure for this element within your EMS manual or maintain it as a separate document. A small farm may decide to incorporate language within the manual that addresses this element as opposed to having separate documents). 

See the following links for examples of completed aspect/impact identifications:

• Aspects & Impacts Example #1

• Aspects & Impacts Example #2

• Aspects & Impacts Example #3

Step 4 

• Develop an aspects and impacts procedure that documents the following: 

  • How aspects and impacts are determined.

  • Responsibility for identifying environmental impacts and ranking their significance (the responsible parties within this procedure is often the EMS coordinator or management).

  • Development of a system to rank aspects for significance.

  • Development of a process for keeping this information up-to-date.

See the link below for an example of an aspect and impacts procedure.

• Aspect and Impacts Procedure

(This procedure can be downloaded and customized by replacing the red highlighted areas with the specifics for your farm. You can incorporate your procedure for this element within your EMS manual or maintain it as a separate document. A small farm may decide to incorporate language within the manual that addresses this element as opposed to having separate documents.)

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