Browsing by Author "Foli Gordon"

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    Effectiveness of planning and implementation stages of the ISO 14001 standards EMS at the Obuasi gold mine, Ghana
    (Academic Journals, 2010) Antwi- Agyei Philip; Foli Gordon; Hogarh N. Jonathan; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8599-474X
    This paper evaluated the effectiveness of the planning and implementation stages of the ISO 14001 Standards Environmental Management System (EMS) at the Obuasi gold mine in Ghana. The purpose was to identify growth factors, challenges and opportunities for improving process efficiencies through ISO 14001 Standards EMS implementation. A modified ISO 14031 Standards criterion for performance evaluation at the Plan-Do stages was adopted. In all, planning and implementation at eighteen business units were evaluated over a two-year period. Nine out of ten systems procedures evaluated scored above certification audit pass mark of 90%. Environmental Aspect and Impact Identification, and Competence training improved in performance over the study period by average values of 151% and 104%, respectively, while significance rating and environmental observations respectively dropped by 12% and 64%. Environmental training and awareness creation, good aspect and significance rating schemes, establishment of performance reward system for meeting environmental objectives, among others, could serve as key factors that can sustain the ISO 14001 standards EMS. Notable challenges of the EMS were: lack of guide tools, apathetic attitudes, group certification concept, cost constrains, legacy issues and complexity of company’s operations.