Basic Meaning Editor
Environmental factors are those elements of an organization's activities, products, or services that can interact with the environment, including those that cause actual and potential, adverse and beneficial environmental impacts. [2] We live in an environment that is influenced by a variety of factors, and the main elements associated with it are temporal and spatial.
Environmental factors are family environment, living environment, occupational environment, economic factors. Environmental factors such as buildings, office locations, furniture, etc. can also convey messages. A special office, a picture of a famous person, a set of brand-name clothes, an expensive diamond, a Rolex watch, a Mercedes-Benz car may remind the visitor that the person in charge of the company is a successful person, and it is reliable to deal with such a person. Therefore, the message conveyed by environmental factors should be fully noted in communication.
Identification Methodology Editor
From:ISO 14001 Initial Environmental Review Training Package
①Steps in Identifying Environmental Factors
Selecting an Organization's Process (Activity, Product, or Service)
Determining Environmental Factors Accompanying Processes
Determining the Environmental Impacts
②Classification of Environmental Factors
l Water, gas, sound, slag and other pollutants discharged or disposed of
l Energy, resources, raw material consumption
l Environmental issues and requirements of the relevant parties
l Other
③ Determination of the basis of environmental factors
l Objectively have or may have an environmental impact
l Laws, regulations, and requirements have clearly defined
l Positive or negative
l Requirements from related parties
l Others
⑤ Classification of methods for identifying environmental factors
l Material balance method
l Product life cycle analysis
l Questionnaire survey
l Expert consultation
l On-site survey and interview
l Brainstorming
l Storming
l Brainstorming
l Review of documents and records
l Measurement
l Horizontal comparisons - internally, in the same industry, or in other industries
l Vertical comparisons - present and past comparisons of an organization
l Comparisons of an organization
l Comparisons of an organization's present and Comparison of the past
The above methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, the specific implementation of the identification, it is necessary to use a combination of methods, the following part of the method is described:
Questionnaire review
- Factor Identification
Questionnaire review is a pre-prepared series of questions by going to the site visits and talking to personnel to obtain information about environmental factors. The design of the questionnaire should be based on the principles of comprehensiveness and the combination of qualitative and quantitative. The questionnaire should cover, as far as possible, all the environmental aspects of the organization's activities, products, and related upstream and downstream environmental issues, and the same designed questionnaire can be used for different departments within an organization, although this is not practical for one department, although it may be less targeted to a certain extent. Typical questions in a questionnaire might include the following:
l What air pollutants are generated? What are the pollutant concentrations and totals?
l What water pollutants are generated? What are the concentrations and total quantities of these pollutants?
l What toxic and hazardous chemicals are used? What are the quantities?
l How are environmental issues considered in product design?
l What are the emergencies? What precautions are taken?
l How much water, electricity, coal and oil are used? How do the results compare with the industry and previous years?
l What are the environmental protection equipment? What is the maintenance status?
l What are the toxic and hazardous solid wastes generated? How is it disposed of?
l What are the main noise sources? Does the plant boundary meet the standard?
l Are there any complaints from residents? Did you do any investigation?
The above is only part of the questionnaire, the organization can develop a complete questionnaire outline according to the actual situation.
On-Site Review (I)
-Observation Interviews and Identification of Environmental Factors
On-site observation and interviews are the most effective ways to quickly and directly identify environmental factors at a site. These environmental factors may be those that already have significant environmental impacts, or those that have potentially significant environmental impacts, and in some cases, environmental risks. For example:
Observing traces of large-scale waste engine oil flowing outside the plant; Asking employees at the site, they answered, "We don't use toxic substances here," but found highly toxic substances in the corner of the site; Employees didn't know if the organization had an environmental management system, but the organization did have some; Black smoke was found in the chimney of the boiler room; Harsh noise was heard coming from the plant; All kinds of wastes were mixed in the garbage dump, including metal, linoleum, bottles of chemical packages, a large number of boxes, and household wastes, etc.;On-site interviews and observations can also be used to find out the other status of the organization's environmental management, such as the deficiencies in environmental protection awareness, training, information exchange, and operation and control, and, on the other hand, can also reveal some of the organization's competitiveness. On the other hand, they can also identify some opportunities for the organization to enhance its competitiveness. In the case of an initial environmental review, the reviewer can also make effective recommendations to the site manager for the establishment or operation of the system in the future.
On-Site Review (II)
-Written Documentation and Identification of Environmental Factors
A typical organization has valuable environmental management information and documents that should be reviewed by the reviewer. Documents and information to look for include:
l Discharge permits, licenses, and authorizations;
l Waste disposal, transportation records, and cost information;
l Records of monitoring and analyses;
l Facility operating protocols and procedures;
l Past site use surveys and reviews;
l Records of interactions with law enforcement authorities;< /p>
l Internal documents and information that may be of value to the organization.
l Records of internal and external complaints;
l Maintenance records, site plans;
l Safety parameters for toxic and hazardous chemicals;
l Records of material use and production processes, accident reports;
l Water, discharge and sewer charges;
l Prices of energy, resources, parts, etc.
Evaluations Guidelines Editor
Based on the systematic identification of all environmental factors of an organization, it is necessary to evaluate them according to the magnitude of their impact on the environment and to determine important environmental factors so that the organization can give them priority in formulating its environmental policy and target indicators. However, due to the limitations imposed by the level of scientific and technological development and human awareness of environmental issues, environmental issues that are relatively "important" now may become "unimportant" in a few years' time, and therefore there is no absolute criterion for evaluating important environmental factors. For a specific organization, there should be a relatively stable evaluation standard and methodology over a certain period of time. The general evaluation is based on the possibility, degree, scope, probability of occurrence, duration, etc. of environmental impacts and the requirements of environmental laws and regulations on the environmental side, and on the technical difficulty of changing the environmental impacts, economic affordability, the size of the risk to the organization due to environmental problems, the organization's public **** image, and the interests of the parties concerned on the business side. When making a specific evaluation, it is necessary to integrate the environmental impacts of the above aspects and reflect the idea of "continuous improvement".
Environmental Factors of Alcoholism Editor
In recent years, the number of people drinking in China has been on the rise, as early as five years ago, China's alcoholics have exceeded 500 million people, and every year there are 4 million cases related to alcohol-related incidents, of which at least 100,000 people died. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2012, there were about 3.3 million people around the world who died of accidents or illnesses caused by excessive drinking, which is more than the number of deaths due to tuberculosis, violence and AIDS, accounting for 5.9% of the total number of deaths, equivalent to an average of one person dying every ten seconds due to drinking. Thus, it is clear that the social problems caused by alcohol abuse are becoming more and more prominent, with many negative effects on individuals, families and society.
Family environment
The proportion of drinkers among the whole social group is as follows: industrialists and businessmen are the highest, accounting for 63.9%; farmers, 45.9%; workers, 43.1%; and intellectuals, the lowest, 22.4%. Among the different levels of education, secondary school education is the highest, at 420%, and among those who are divorced or widowed in terms of marital status, 649% of them drink alcohol, while the proportion of heavy drinkers among industrial and commercial operators is the highest, at 47.1%, and the proportion of intellectuals is the lowest, at 25.6%. Children and relatives in a family that has a drinking habit or does not object to drinking are more likely to accept drinking because it is seen as a natural thing to do in such a family and is often taken as a pleasure. What is more, in such families, some children are encouraged to drink. As a result, the proportion of children drinking in such families is much higher than in the average family.
There are also cases where people who drink themselves, for different reasons, strictly forbid their children to drink, but as a result the children often become potential drinkers anyway. About 60 percent of alcoholics have a family history of alcoholism. Genetically, children of families with a drinking habit have a higher tolerance for alcohol and are more likely to accept it and eventually become alcoholics.
Living environment
The survey found that alcohol consumption is characterized by a clear geographical distribution. For example, in China's Northeast, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang and other high-cold areas, drinking is one of the important means of people against the cold, Daxing'anling is the lowest temperature in the country, and the Oroqen people living in this drinking ratio is the highest in the country. Some scholars on the Tibetan Plateau region alcohol dependence demographic survey found that the altitude of 2500-200 meters in the state and county, the incidence of alcohol dependence increased significantly. These prefectures and counties are in areas of high altitude and lack of oxygen, and people often drink alcohol to protect themselves from the cold. Due to the influence of national customs and habits, the ritual way of treating people is to get drunk with booze. Drinking in a monotonous manner, with alcohol as the main ingredient and diet as a supplement, leads to a higher concentration of alcohol in the body. In addition, there is a relative lack of culture and entertainment in the plateau region, and people often drink alcohol for recreation and to find stimulation, which can easily lead to alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. The consumption of alcohol is often higher in places that produce a lot of wine than in other regions. For example, France produces globally famous wines, and the per capita consumption of wine by the French is the highest in the world; Shaoxing yellow wine in Zhejiang has been famous since ancient times, and the consumption of yellow wine in Zhejiang also ranks first in the country.
Occupational environment
Surveys show that different occupations have different effects on alcohol consumption. The first is the brewing industry, with the highest percentage of brewery workers drinking alcohol; then there are farmers, coal miners, geologists, oilfielders, and field and heavy laborers, who also drink a high percentage of alcohol. These patients generally believe that drinking alcohol can dispel wind and dampness, soothe tendons and invigorate blood circulation, sedate and hypnotize, heal injuries and relieve fatigue. As a result, they become habitual drinkers and eventually develop alcohol dependence. The corroboration of this is that Islam strictly prohibits the consumption of alcohol, so in Islamic society, there are few alcohol-dependent people. In recent years, with the smooth implementation of reform and opening up, a new occupational group has become the "dark horse" of alcohol consumption - industrial and commercial operators. In the survey, the proportion of drinkers in this occupation was as high as 63.9 percent, which has already exceeded the proportion of drinkers among farmers and heavy manual laborers.
Economic factors
There is no doubt that economic factors play an important role in the formation of alcohol dependence. A set of survey data from Japan illustrates the problem well. Before World War II, Japan's per capita alcohol consumption was equivalent to 2.3 liters of pure alcohol; after the end of World War II, Japan's economy withered, the people were not happy, per capita alcohol consumption fell to 0.43 liters. By 1955, as the economy recovered, per capita alcohol consumption returned to pre-World War II levels. With the rapid development of Japan's economy, by the 1980s, Japan's per capita alcohol consumption was close to the level of Europe and the United States, and in 1989 it was 65 liters. As far as our country is concerned, before the reform and opening up, people could only satisfy the most basic consumption of life, and the consumption of alcohol was very low. after 1980, with the development of the economy, the consumption of alcohol began to increase, and according to the statistical data, in the 26 years from 1952 to 1978, the average annual increase of the consumption of alcohol was only 53%; in the seven years from 1982 to 1989, the consumption of alcohol increased by only 53%; in the seven years from 1982 to 1989, the consumption of alcohol increased by only 53%. -1989 seven-year period, the average annual increase in alcohol consumption was 13.3%. From 1990-1995, the average annual increase in consumption of 13.1%, to 2000 after China's per capita consumption of pure alcohol has been about 6 liters per year, close to the level of developed countries in the West.