Supporting a Global Luxury Retailer with EHS Aspects and Impacts Assessments

A client who is a large, global luxury retailer, contracted Antea Group to conduct environmental, health, and safety (EHS) Aspects and Impacts (A/I) Assessments for their facilities within the jewelry supply, diamond supply, and distribution/logistics segments. These assessments were the first steps toward developing ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 management system frameworks at their facilities.

Fourteen of the client’s facilities were identified for assessment to obtain an understanding of the client’s general A/I status globally. Antea Group developed the approach collaboratively with the client and the assessments included specific activities categorized into health, safety, or environmental aspects, compliance actions (including regulatory references), associated impacts, and anything of note that was observed by our assessment team during the site visit.

A portion of the deliverable included a risk assessment component that defined associated risks broken down by health, safety, environmental, risks to the organization’s reputation, risks to operations, and financial risks.

The aspects to be inspected included (but were not limited to) the following:

• 3D printing operations, chemical usage, and waste generated
• Air emissions
• Battery use and storage
• Chemical storage areas
• Chemical use and disposal
• Contaminated personal protective equipment
• Contractor operations
• Electronic waste
• Electroplating operations, chemical usage, and waste generated
• Energy consumption (natural gas, heating oil, etc.)
• Fluorescent lightbulbs
• Hazardous waste
• HVAC refrigerants
• Packing and shipping operations
• Recycling and trash disposal
• Supply chain operations, interested and other parties
• Water usage & discharges
• Wooden pallet usage
• Confined spaces
• Contractor operations
• Electrical safety
• Employee exposure
• Ergonomics and material handling
• Hand tool usage
• Laser safety
• Lockout/tagout
• Machine guarding and machine safety
• Manufacturing lines and associated operations
• Nitrogen and hydrogen safety considerations
• Polishing, grinding, and cutting operations
• Powered industrial trucks
• Ventilation
• Working at heights/fall protection

Before the assessment of the facilities, Antea Group and the client conducted a project kickoff to discuss the assessment schedule, develop a risk ranking and scoring framework, and agree on the overall approach for the A/I deliverable template and feedback system.

Once the governance procedures of the project were agreed upon, Antea Group leveraged our internal team of health, safety, and environmental experts to conduct A/I assessments at the identified facilities globally. This process took 16 months total and included pre-visit calls for each assessment, the completion of pre-visit questionnaires at each facility, conducting the assessments, drafting and internal reviews, and the implementation of client comments to the draft reports before finalization.

At the completion of the project, Antea Group conducted 14 facility A/I assessments, which yielded a summary report for each site visit. 

The flexibility and expertise our team was able to provide to our client during this project allowed them to quantify the aspects and impacts that affect their business globally and work towards mitigating these risks. This project also provided the client with the foundation to implement a management system with ISO framework.

Thanks to Antea Group’s high-quality deliverables and understanding of their business, the client has awarded Antea Group additional assessments, including a purchase order for ongoing Aspect and Impact Assessments at additional facilities.