International standard for environmental management benefits BP

Tom Hall

PNA Staff Writer

If you have ever purchased a roll of film, you may have noticed that next to the film speed is the abbreviation ISO. That indicates a product quality standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization in Geneva, Switzerland. So what does that have to do with the price of oil?

ISO standards are now in place for environmental management systems and are designated ISO 14001. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.’s Endicott/Badami field manager and environmental management systems leader, Norm Ingram, told the Alaska Support Industry Alliance March 19 that the voluntary program appealed to BP Amoco’s management because it’s an equal, consistent worldwide standard.

While the standard does not set specific environmental performance criteria, it does require a company to establish and maintain an environmental management system that satisfies five broad conditions.

“It’s as simple as — have a policy, plan how you are going to implement that policy, implement it with all the controls necessary to make it happen, and have a checking process which allows you to take corrective action if you are not meeting it (your policy objective),” Ingram explained. Finally, he said that you should have a process in place that allows you to make overall adjustments in the system.

Why adopt an international standard?

First, the standard is consistent with BP Amoco’s worldwide goals of pollution prevention, continual improvement and compliance with laws and regulations. Second, the standard is the same worldwide, so people who move around within a global organization have the same quality standard. Last, the standard enables external verification that, at first glance, might seem questionable, but Ingram strongly believes that external validation “benefits us, it sharpens the focus.”

Successes in Alaska during 1998 included a study of scale inhibitor that resulted in reduced spills (three of five spills — less than two or three gallons each), elimination of the use of scale inhibitor and an annual saving of $100,000. They also eliminated the use of styrene food containers and reduced bulk waste by 50 percent. Another success cut flare volumes by 22 percent just by conversing with the gas board operators.

Adhering to the standard has had its benefits, Ingram believes. “Our environmental performance was good to begin with, and it has improved with this process,” he said. He also believes that top management feels more assured about their compliance than they did before. “Thirdly,” Ingram added, “it has saved us a bunch of money.”

BP Amoco thinks so highly of the standard that in 1999, “We would like to encourage our partners and contractors to conform their environmental management systems to the ISO standard,” said Ingram. Pursuing certification is up to the individual company, but the “power and benefit of us all getting on one sheet of music ... is a tremendously powerful tool where we can share things that are appropriate for sharing,” he said. Toward that end, BP Amoco is prepared to provide to any interested partners and contractors the appropriate information technology, training materials, some videos and formatting for posters.