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32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Environmental aspect
- An element of an organization's activities, products, or services that interacts or can interact with the environment, such as emissions, waste, or resource use.
- Significant environmental aspect
- An aspect that has or can have a significant environmental impact, determined using established criteria such as severity, frequency, and legal requirements.
- Compliance obligations
- Legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, such as permits, regulations, and voluntary commitments like ISO 14001.
- Corrective action
- Action taken to eliminate the cause of a nonconformity and prevent recurrence, as opposed to containment of the immediate effect.
- Waste hierarchy
- A preferred order of waste management: prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery (including energy recovery), and disposal as the least preferred option.
- Chain of custody
- A documented record tracking sample possession, transfer, and analysis to ensure integrity and admissibility of environmental monitoring data.
- BOD5
- Biochemical oxygen demand measured over five days at 20 °C, indicating the amount of oxygen consumed by microorganisms decomposing organic matter in water.
- COD
- Chemical oxygen demand, a measure of the oxygen equivalent of all oxidizable matter in a water sample, typically higher than BOD.
- Global warming potential
- A factor that converts the mass of a greenhouse gas to CO2 equivalent over a specified time horizon, e.g., CH4 = 28 over 100 years (IPCC AR5).
- Activated sludge
- A secondary biological wastewater treatment process in which microorganisms oxidize organic matter in an aerated tank, followed by settling.
- Electrostatic precipitator
- An air pollution control device that charges particles and collects them on oppositely charged plates, effective for fine particulate matter.
- Soil vapor extraction
- An in-situ remediation technology that applies vacuum to the vadose zone to remove volatile organic compounds from soil.
- Decibel scale
- A logarithmic unit for sound pressure; a 3 dB increase doubles sound energy, and a 10 dB increase is perceived as about twice as loud.
- Precautionary principle
- The principle that lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.
- Polluter pays principle
- The principle that the party responsible for pollution should bear the cost of preventing, controlling, and remediating it.
- Strict liability
- A legal standard under which a party can be held liable for environmental harm without proof of intent or negligence.
- Environmental impact assessment
- A process of screening, scoping, predicting impacts, and consulting the public before approval of a proposed project or activity.
- Permit limit
- A numerical or narrative restriction in an environmental permit that is legally enforceable; exceeding it constitutes a violation.
- Due diligence defense
- A defense in some jurisdictions showing that the accused took all reasonable steps to avoid the offense, available for certain environmental offenses.
- Discharge monitoring report
- A periodic report submitted to a regulator documenting effluent monitoring results and compliance with permit limits.
- Plan-Do-Check-Act
- A continual improvement cycle used in ISO 14001: Plan objectives and processes, Do implementation, Check monitoring, Act for improvement.
- Environmental policy
- Top management's documented commitments including protection of the environment, fulfillment of compliance obligations, and continual improvement.
- Internal audit
- A systematic, independent, and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively against audit criteria.
- Management review
- Top management's periodic evaluation of the environmental management system's suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness, with decisions on improvement.
- Documented information
- Information required to be controlled and maintained by the organization, including procedures, records, and evidence of results.
- Continual improvement
- Recurring activity to enhance performance, which can be achieved through corrective action, innovation, breakthrough projects, or reorganization.
- Conflict of interest
- A situation where personal, financial, or other interests could improperly influence professional judgment; must be disclosed and managed.
- Confidentiality
- The ethical obligation to protect information obtained during professional work from unauthorized disclosure, except where legal reporting is required.
- Objectivity in auditing
- The requirement that auditors be independent and impartial, and not audit their own work, to ensure credible findings.
- Nonconformity
- A failure to meet a requirement, such as a permit limit, procedure, or management system standard, which triggers corrective action.
- Greenhouse gas inventory
- A quantified list of greenhouse gas emissions and removals for a defined boundary and time period, used for reporting and management.
- Environmental monitoring
- Systematic observation and measurement of environmental parameters to assess compliance, trends, and the effectiveness of controls.