A systematic approach to identifying, assessing and improving environmental impacts
The Environmental Hazard Assessment (EHA) transfers the well-established methodology of occupational risk assessment to environmental protection and climate protection.
For decades, occupational health and safety has relied on systematic hazard assessments to identify risks, evaluate their significance and define appropriate preventive measures. The same structured thinking can also be applied to environmental management.
Rather than focusing solely on legal compliance, the Environmental Hazard Assessment provides a practical framework for identifying, evaluating and continuously improving environmental impacts.
It is intended as a practical enhancement of existing environmental management systems such as EN ISO 14001 and EMAS, not as a replacement.
Objectives
The Environmental Hazard Assessment supports organizations in
- identifying relevant environmental aspects,
- recognizing environmental risks and opportunities,
- understanding interactions between different environmental factors,
- prioritizing improvement measures,
- documenting decisions transparently,
- supporting the continual improvement process (PDCA / Continual Improvement).
The assessment may cover the complete life cycle of products and services—from procurement and production to use, transport, recycling and final disposal.
Methodology
The Environmental Hazard Assessment follows a structured process:
- Define the activity, process or product.
- Identify relevant environmental aspects.
- Assess their environmental significance.
- Develop improvement measures.
- Implement appropriate actions.
- Verify effectiveness.
- Review and update regularly.
This creates a transparent and reproducible decision-making process.
Environmental Aspects
Depending on the activity, different environmental aspects may be relevant.
Examples include:
- Waste and recycling potential
- Air emissions
- Waste heat
- Wastewater and discharges
- Albedo and surface reflection
- Lightning and atmospheric electrical phenomena
- Procurement and supply chains
- Biological agents and invasive species
- Soil quality
- Soil temperature
- Chemical substances
- Pressure differences
- Electrical factors and electromagnetic fields
- Energy demand
- Transport distances
- Disposal routes
- Erosion
- Dust emissions
- Land use and soil sealing
- Hazardous substances
- Process and transport speeds
- Climate and weather influences
- Groundwater and hydrology
- Greenhouse gases
- Cooling water demand
- Customer and supplier behaviour
- Noise
- Light emissions
- Humidity, water vapour and fog
- Microclimate
- Resource scarcity
- Mass and transport intensity
- Mechanical factors
- Human behaviour and environmental awareness
- Multifactor interactions
- Rainfall and snow cover
- Topography
- Raw material consumption
- Salinity
- Emerging environmental aspects
- Site sensitivity
- Accident, fire and emergency risks
- Radiation
- Animals and long-term resource demand
- Traffic and logistics
- Loss of vegetation and biomass
- Vibrations
- Water resources
- Wind and air flow
Not every aspect is relevant for every organization. The objective is to identify those that are significant and evaluate them systematically.
From Theory to Practical Application
The greatest benefit of the Environmental Hazard Assessment becomes visible when applied to real-world situations.
The DUGV portal therefore provides practical examples demonstrating how the methodology can be used to evaluate buildings, products, transport systems, energy technologies and many other environmental topics.
Each example illustrates how environmental aspects can be assessed in a structured and transparent way.
Continuous Development
The Environmental Hazard Assessment presented here is an evolving concept.
Constructive comments from environmental professionals, ISO 14001 practitioners, EMAS experts, researchers and public authorities are highly appreciated.
The long-term objective is to establish a practical and internationally applicable methodology for systematically assessing environmental impacts and supporting better environmental decision-making.
Because effective environmental protection always begins with one simple question:
What environmental impacts occur—and how can they be systematically improved?
Note
The interactive Environmental Hazard Assessment matrix is currently available only in German. An English version is planned for a future update.