Environmental Management Systems (EMS) For Offshore Facilities

Public concern with protecting the environment became a major issue after some recent disasters occurred in North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea waters. Disasters such as the Piper Alpha in the North Sea also focused public attention to the environmental impact of such events and reinforced their concern. An International Standard, ISO 14000 series, has been published that specifies the environmental systems necessary for organizations to achieve and demonstrate sound environmental performance that includes a commitment to continual improvement and prevention of pollution. The standard requires a public declaration of its environmental policies, the identification of potential impacts on the environment, development of environmental objectives and programmes to prevent pollution and the effective implementation by procedures of those programmes. Furthermore, MARPOL protocol resulted from the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships finds some applicability to offshore platform. The paper details the requirements of ISO 14001 and gives examples of how these requirement for offshore installations can be met.