Our Management Approach
Responsibility for environmental protection is taken seriously at ENMAX. The Environmental Affairs department's motto “Everyone is Part of It”, expresses the environmental awareness expected of employees in everything they do. Creating this type of culture at ENMAX is an ambitious goal; however, the systems and programs we have created are promoting awareness, changing attitudes and enhancing environmental practices. All are tools that assist us in reducing the impact of our organization's operations on the environment.
How environmental performance is managed at ENMAX is described in the following sections.
Both the successes and shortcomings of environmental management at ENMAX are discussed in the section Our Environmental Performance.
Environment Policy and ISO 14001 EMS Standard
ENMAX’s Environment Policy requires compliance with legal and other requirements, such as our own standards and operating procedures, and must conform to our Environmental Management System (EMS), which is based upon the ISO 14001 EMS Standard.
The main components of our policy commit ENMAX employees and our contractors to:
- P revent pollution
- A wareness of environmental issues
- C ompliance with relevant laws, regulations, policies and procedures
- C ontinual improvement of environmental performance
- T raining of employees to minimize environmental impacts
In so doing, we require employees and contractors to “make a PACCT” with the environment.
The ISO 14001-based EMS provides the framework for managing all environmental aspects of our business. This framework helps to ensure we have the appropriate mitigation measures and programs in place to provide the necessary level of environmental protection. It is further supported by allocating resources, setting goals, providing training and continually improving upon our performance.
We are in the process of registering our power generating facilities to the ISO 14001 EMS Standard. We have begun this process with our wind farms and expect to obtain certification for the Taber and Kettles Hill wind farms in 2010.
Operational Responsibility
ENMAX's Executive Vice President of Regulatory and Legal Services is responsible for our organization's environmental policy, its ongoing interpretation and its integration into day-to-day practices. ENMAX's Environmental Affairs department resides within the Regulatory and Legal Services business unit. This six-member team is responsible for overseeing the environmental management of ENMAX’s operations. Business units and their respective executive team leaders are responsible for implementing environmental policy and conforming to the EMS.
Training and Awareness
A General Environmental Awareness Training module was developed by Environmental Affairs in 2006. Annually, all employees are required to refresh their knowledge, review how ENMAX’s operations interact with the environment and how we mitigate impacts. In 2009, the training was completed by 80% of employees.
Environmental Affairs also delivers training to field staff with respect to waste management, spill response, working around water bodies and other relevant topics as required.
The EcoPledge is an annual initiative and a tool to help facilitate what employees can do to protect the environment both at home and at work. ENMAX uses its internal website to increase environmental awareness with periodic stories and contests related to Environment Week, Earth Hour and meeting our environmental key performance indicators (KPIs).
Monitoring and Continual Improvement
The EMS is audited internally on an annual basis and by a third party every three years, most recently in 2009. Corrective actions are developed and implemented to address any findings from these audits. Management reviews the successes and shortcomings of the EMS annually, improvements are discussed and plans for implementation developed. Other audits are carried out periodically including waste audits, GHG verification audits and compliance audits.