Harnessing the Environmental Professional Expertise of Engineering Students—The Course: “Environmental Management Systems in the Industry”

Abstract

More and more technical universities now advocate integrating sustainability in higher education and including it as a strategic goal for improving education’s quality and relevance to society. This study examines 30 fourth-year chemical engineering students, graduates of a university course designed to combine their terminological domain with sustainability-oriented goals, focusing on topics like corporate sustainability, developing environmental policy, introduction to ISO 14001—Environmental Management Systems (EMS), and environmental legislation. The study explores their perception of industrial-environmental issues and asks—How did the study unit influence the students’ ability to use their preexisting scientific knowledge, while relating to industrial-environmental issues? Our findings indicate that engineering students can develop industrial-environmental awareness, and make use of interdisciplinary knowledge beyond that strictly related to the realm of engineering. Regarding the research’s particular aim—i.e. determining the study unit’s influence on students’ ability to relate industrial-environmental issues to their own field of engineering—the findings indeed show a change in the students’ conceptions of environmental elements related to industry. The course graduates became more attentive to the environmental aspects associated with building and opening a factory, and the concepts they raised in connection with the topic gained in variety.

Appendix: The Students’ Final Exam

(1) The agenda 21 question: Agenda 21 is the guiding document for environmental policy. It influences the setting of environmental goals, environmental policies and development policies of states and cities. State four central principles of sustainable development and how these are expressed in the various chapters of the agenda.

(2) The government policy question: In 2002 the Israeli government declared that its policy will be based on the principles of sustainable development. Suggest three goals for three offices based on those principals.

(3) The sustainability report question: You have been promoted to be the CEO of the “Ways of Peace” bus company. The board directors have asked you to present the company’s “Environmental Vision”. Using the ISO 14001 and the sustainable report principals (according to the GRI guidelines), explain which elements of ISO 14001 will be presented in the “Ways of Peace sustainability report”.

(4) The Deming Cycle question: You are the organization’s environmental consultant. At your request the plant engineer has analyzed the production line using the Deming Cycle (PDCA).You need to evaluate the document. In relation to the Deming Cycle, specify three principals and explain their importance.

(5) International environmental treaties question: The Barcelona treaty was signed in 1995 by 27 nations around the Mediterranean Sea concerned with its preservation. Present four elements in the treaty that express sustainable development principals.

(6) Criteria and auditing EMS question: In relation to the events described below, note and elaborate in an explicit way the non-conformities you identify:

• First scenario: During an audit at the chemical warehouse you have found, in the same secondary containment tank, two barrels of Caustic Soda (NaOH)—200 l each and one barrel of concentrated Sulfuric Acid H₂SO₄. When you ask for the reason it is so, an internal procedure from 1983 is presented. It states that all dangerous chemicals must be positioned at the far end of the warehouse. According to the operator this was the most updated work-order. When you ask about the MSDS for those chemicals the operator says that since they were written in German he did not bother to look at them.

  At a prior conversation, at the documentation center, you were shown a new set of internal procedures from 1988. In the “Read and Sign” table you recognized the warehouse supervisor’s signature.

• Second scenario: During an audit at the organization’s yard a Diesel tanker arrives. The tank farm operator verifies the weight of the Diesel, as stated on the receipt from the weighbridge. He connects the grounding wire, examines the volume-meter of the big upright tank climbed to the top and, putting his head through the top opening examines the tank from the inside. Only then does he allow the tanker driver to start pumping diesel from the tanker to the tank.

  You hold internal procedure # PS22222—“Filling and storing of Diesel”. None of the actions carried out contradicts the procedure but some of them were added.

  After the tanker has left you ask the tank farm operator why did he climb up? He answers: “the meter is broken—I reported it more than two months ago” he explains that he climbed up to estimate the volume of the Diesel in the tank. As for the smell, he adds “one gets used to it after a while.”

(7) Implementation of ISO 14001 question: According to ISO 14001, the following people must be briefed on relevant environmental topics:

• a. The person in charge of safety

• b. The senior managers.

• c. Those employees whose work significantly impacts the environment.

• d. The design and manufacturing engineers.

Suggest, for each of the above, two briefing topics that are relevant to their position and the environmental interaction it entails.

(8) Montreal protocol question: How does the decline of the ozone layer affect Earth’s ability to maintain a life-supporting environment for its biosphere, in which humanity is included? Explain how the Montreal protocol reflects the notion that states must reduce or eradicate non-sustainable production and consumption patterns in order to attain sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all of humanity.

(9) Global warming question: What are the reciprocal relations between Earth’s systems (geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere) that are observable in the phenomenon of global warming. How does this phenomenon impact biochemical cycles such as those of water, oxygen and nitrogen and carbon dioxide?

(10) Environmental communication question: As spokesperson for one of the plants addressed in the notice below, you have been asked to issue a statement to the press based on the principles of environmental communication, according to the guidelines of ISO 14063. Provide, for each principle, sentences to appear in the spokesperson’s statement.

From the website of the office for environmental protection: 13/7/2009; 50% of the production plants assessed in the year 2008 exceed the permissible limits for the emission of air pollutants. In 2008, 466 surprise inspections were carried out in 42 plants and 72 installations. These inspections included the taking and analyzing of air samples from chimneys. 20 of these air-sampled plants were found to be exceeding prescribed limits, and sanctions were enforced against their managers. Most of the plants have taken steps to reduce pollution and uphold the required standards following the disclosure of the results and the proceedings for administrative enforcement.

(11) The sustainability agenda question: As a new CEO in the Chemical global corporation you forced to deal with some unprecedented challenges and uncertainties due to the worldwide economic crisis. Offer a vision in order to create financial value at the same time as addressing environmental, social and governance issues in an integrated manner of sustainability agenda.