1.1 概述- 本指南为行业、监管机构、审计师、顾问和公众提供了一系列有组织的信息和选项，旨在根据既定基准衡量环境绩效标准的遵守情况。其重点是遵守美国设施的空气、水、废物预防、废物管理和有毒物质减少标准。虽然该指南不建议具体的行动方案，但它建立了一个基本组成部分的分层框架，从偏离会带来最大潜在公共健康、环境和商业风险的标准开始。在每个已确定的途径中，在分析的每个层次或步骤中，该指南概述了确定合规选项并在迭代步骤中减少污染的方法。 使用本指南的目的是通过评估本指南中所述的绩效标准，将环境、公共健康和业务风险从第1级和第2级降低到第3级和第4级。虽然本指南为用户提供了明确步骤的简化框架，但合格的专业人员应进行详细的现场特定风险分析。本指南可作为在系统环境评估方面经验有限的组织的起点。随着设施制定其具体的计划框架，他们会发现风险的权重不仅仅是几个参数。对于每个设施而言，风险是位置、规模、历史、周围社区和生态区之间的复杂相互作用。 1.2 标准之间的差异- 本指南侧重于遵守美国的环境绩效标准。因此，它包括一种独特的、基于风险的方法来分析特定的法律要求组，以及风险降低技术，有时称为“污染预防” 1.2.1本指南的使用提供了一个评估合规和污染预防活动相对优先级的系统。与环境管理系统不同，它提供了一个框架，根据对公共健康和环境危害的实际风险的考虑，对关键问题进行分类。 1.2.2美国的环境监管要求主要由美国环境保护局（USEPA）以及具有类似监管机构的平行州和地方机构管理。 某些其他联邦监管机构以及州和地方反部门也可能有与环境绩效标准相关的法律要求。例如交通部（DOT）、农业部（USDA）和职业安全与健康管理局（OSHA）。与某些国际标准不同，本指南使用美国空气和水质、废物管理、防止释放和减少有毒物质使用的主要环境监管标准，以组织合规性分析框架。 1.2.3本指南从联邦、州和地方计划的共同要素中获取有关监管要求的一般信息，包括法规、条例、指南和政策。 由于机构可能有重叠的权限和对特定问题（如废物管理）的不同强调，用户应咨询适用程序，以详细解释特定管辖区的具体要求。 1.2.4污染预防是美国环境合规管理计划中使用的一个特定术语。该术语通常指源头削减行动。与某些国际环境管理标准中使用的“防止污染”一词不同，污染预防通常不包括末端或烟囱顶部控制行动。 1.3 本指南的局限性- 考虑到可能希望使用本指南的不同类型设施的多样性，以及州和地方法规的存在，这些法规可能会施加比美国环保局要求更高的要求，因此不可能解决可能适用于特定设施的所有相关标准。 本指南使用通用语言和示例来指导用户。如果用户不清楚如何将标准应用于其特定情况，建议用户寻求合格专业人员的帮助。环境法规合规性审计，如规程E2107，可帮助设施处理不合规领域和潜在责任。这可以作为制定设施特定环境合规管理计划的起点。 ====意义和用途====== 4.1本指南可用于美国各种应用中的环境合规性绩效评估，尤其不限于一种类型的用户。 以下用户群体可能会发现本指南特别有用: 4.1.1小企业或企业； 4.1.2服务业； 4.1.3联邦、州或地方设施和监管机构，包括卫生部门和消防部门； 4.1.4金融和保险机构； 4.1.5废物管理人员，包括液体和固体废物运输、处理、回收、处置和转移； 4.1.6顾问、审计师、检查员和合规协助人员； 4.1.7教育设施； 4.1.8财产、建筑物和场地管理，包括景观美化； 4.1.9非监管政府机构，如军方；和 4.1.10特定工业部门，如干洗店、打印机、光处理器、实验室、医疗保健和车辆加油、维护和交付。 4.2本指南旨在作为制定简化管理目标的第一步，以评估对各种多媒体环境性能标准的遵守情况。该框架描述了一个过程，用户可以通过该过程对当前的废物管理、空气质量、水和排放预防实践进行分类，以管理与不合规相关的风险。该技术根据对人类健康、环境和商业运营的相对风险，将常见的环境绩效标准分为多个层次。本指南中的等级分类反映了州、联邦和地方合规和执法计划的一般要求。 这些机构通常根据每组标准中任何不符合项的重要性对类似环境绩效标准进行分类。 4.3本指南帮助用户实现环境合规的好处。这些好处可能包括但不限于: 4.3.1为环境管理活动设定优先级的能力； 4.3.2营销环境意识和敏感性； 4.3.3评估是否符合许可证和其他要求； 4.3.4风险管理、承销；损失控制和历史；保费和索赔； 4.3.5债务评估和贷款资格； 4.3.6设施特定评估的标准化、一致性和认证； 4.3.7教育员工、客户和客户； 4.3.8生成多媒体和跨媒体信息； 4.3.9评估供应商；和 4.3.10降低成本和防止污染。 4.4用户可以考虑环境合规性能评估的各种好处。 4.4.1本指南是环境合规性的基本入门，可用于向不熟悉要求的组织介绍该主题。 4.4.2许多政府执法机构、受托人和商业组织通过互联网发布环境合规记录。公众很快将有系统地获得个体企业的环境合规信息。 因此，企业需要关于如何评估环境不合规的性质和潜在风险的指导，以及通过污染预防和其他主动管理系统减少或消除这些风险的方案方法。 4.4.3通过对环境合规性和污染预防机会进行分层评估，可以降低运营和维护成本以及文书工作。 4.4.4合规可以简化，以便组织中的所有级别都可以参与环境管理。 4.4.5通过改进环境合规计划，一些企业可能在市场上更具竞争力。 4.4.6设置优先级可以允许规划和评估新的环境要求。 4.5本指南建立了美国常见环境风险管理要求的框架，并允许用户评估不符合要求的潜在风险水平。然后，将评估合规要求以获得污染预防机会，以不断降低不合规风险。 4.6不遵守一级环境绩效标准的风险最高，因为一级标准可以预防、减轻或应对对人类健康或环境的迫在眉睫的危害。二级标准涉及重大风险领域，在这些领域中，不遵守可能会导致处罚，主要是因为未能获得对环境的发布或修改所需的批准。 Tier 3标准要求对环境的释放或修改操作和维护经批准的控制，其中重复不符合可能代表风险。四级标准代表了不符合规定的最低直接风险；然而，它们对于记录环境管理、合规记录的细节、环境合规成本和污染预防措施仍然很重要。

1.1 Overview— This guide is an organized collection of information and series of options for industry, regulators, auditors, consultants and the public, intended to measure compliance with environmental performance standards against established benchmarks. It focuses on compliance with air, water, waste prevention, waste management, and toxic reduction standards for facilities in the United States. While the guide does not recommend a specific course of action, it establishes a tiered framework of essential components, beginning with those standards where a deviation presents the greatest potential public health, environmental, and business risks. In each identified pathway, at each tier or step of analysis, the guide outlines ways to identify compliance options and reduce pollution in iterative steps. The goal in using the guide is to lower environmental, public health and business risks from Tiers 1 and 2 to Tiers 3 and 4, by evaluating the performance standards described in this guide. While this guide provides a simplified framework of explicit steps for users, a qualified professional should conduct detailed, site-specific risk analysis. This guide may act as a starting point for organizations with limited experience in systematic environmental assessment. As facilities develop their specific plan framework, they will find that risk is weighted by more than just a few parameters. For each facility risk is the complex interaction among location, size, history, surrounding community and ecological zones. 1.2 Differences Among Standards— This guide focuses on compliance with environmental performance standards in the United States. As such it includes a unique, risk-based method to analyze specific groups of legal requirements, as well as risk reduction techniques, sometimes called “pollution prevention.” 1.2.1 Use of this guide provides a system to evaluate the relative priority of compliance and pollution prevention activities. Unlike environmental management systems, it provides a framework to triage critical issues, based on consideration of actual risk of harm to public health and the environment. 1.2.2 Environmental regulatory requirements in the United States are administered primarily by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the parallel State and Local Agencies with similar regulatory authority. Certain other Federal regulatory agencies and State and local counter parts may also have legal requirements relating to environmental performance standards. Examples include the Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Agriculture (USDA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Unlike certain international standards, this guide uses the major groups of environmental regulatory standards in the United States for air and water quality, waste management, release prevention, and toxic materials use reduction, in order to organize the compliance analysis framework. 1.2.3 This guide derives general information about regulatory requirements from common elements of Federal, State and local programs, including statutes, regulations, guidance and policies. Since agencies may have overlapping authorities and different emphasis for particular issues such as waste management, the user should consult the applicable program for detailed interpretation of specific requirements in a particular jurisdiction. 1.2.4 Pollution prevention is a specific term used in United States environmental compliance management programs. The term usually refers to source reduction actions. Unlike the term “prevention of pollution,” which is used in certain international environmental management standards, pollution prevention does not generally include end-of-pipe or top-of-stack control actions. 1.3 Limitations of this Guide— Given the variability of the different types of facilities that may wish to use this guide, and the existence of State and Local regulations that may impose requirements greater than those required by USEPA, it is not possible to address all the relevant standards that might apply to a particular facility. This guide uses generalized language and examples to guide the user. If it is not clear to the user how to apply standards to their specific circumstances, it is recommended that users seek assistance from qualified professionals. An Environmental Regulatory Compliance Audit, such as Practice E2107, may assist a facility with areas of non-compliance and potential liabilities. This can be a starting point for development of facility specific environmental compliance management programs. ====== Significance And Use ====== 4.1 This guide may be used for environmental compliance performance assessment in the United States in a wide variety of applications and is not particularly limited to one type of user. The following groups of users may find the guide particularly helpful: 4.1.1 Small businesses or enterprises; 4.1.2 Service industries; 4.1.3 Federal, state or local facilities and regulators, including departments of health and fire departments; 4.1.4 Financial and insurance institutions; 4.1.5 Waste managers, including liquid and solid waste haulers, treatment, recycling, disposal and transfer; 4.1.6 Consultants, auditors, inspectors and compliance assistance personnel; 4.1.7 Educational facilities; 4.1.8 Property, buildings and grounds management, including landscaping; 4.1.9 Non-regulatory government agencies, such as the military; and 4.1.10 Specific industrial sectors such as dry cleaners, printers, photo processors, laboratories, health care, and vehicle fueling, maintenance and delivery. 4.2 This guide is intended as a first step in crafting simplified management goals for assessing compliance with a wide variety of multimedia environmental performance standards. The framework describes a process by which the user may categorize current waste management, air quality, water, and release prevention practices in order to manage the risks associated with noncompliance. The technique classifies common environmental performance standards into tiers based on relative risks to human health, the environment and business operations. The tier classifications found in this guide reflect the general requirements of State, Federal and local compliance and enforcement programs. These authorities generally classify groups of similar environmental performance standards according to the significance of any noncompliance within each group of standards. 4.3 The guide helps the user to realize the benefits of environmental compliance. These benefits may include but not be limited to: 4.3.1 Ability to set priorities for environmental management activities; 4.3.2 Marketing environmental awareness and sensitivity; 4.3.3 Assessing compliance with permits and other requirements; 4.3.4 Risk management, underwriting; loss control and history; premiums and claims; 4.3.5 Liability assessment and qualifications for loans; 4.3.6 Standardization, consistency and certification of facility specific evaluations; 4.3.7 Educating employees, clients and customers; 4.3.8 Generating multi media and cross medium information; 4.3.9 Evaluating vendors; and 4.3.10 Reducing costs and preventing pollution. 4.4 Users may consider various benefits of environmental compliance performance assessment. 4.4.1 This guide is a basic primer on environmental compliance and may serve to introduce the subject for organizations unfamiliar with requirements. 4.4.2 Many government enforcement agencies, fiduciaries and business organizations publish environmental compliance records over the internet. The public will soon have the systematic ability to access environmental compliance information on individual businesses. Therefore, businesses need guidance on how to assess the nature and potential risks of environmental non-compliance, and a programmatic approach for reducing or eliminating those risks through pollution prevention and other proactive management systems. 4.4.3 Reduced operation and maintenance costs and paperwork may be realized through a tiered evaluation of environmental compliance and pollution prevention opportunities. 4.4.4 Compliance may be streamlined and simplified so that all levels in an organization may participate in environmental management. 4.4.5 Some enterprises may be more competitive in the marketplace with improved environmental compliance programs. 4.4.6 Setting priorities can allow planning and evaluation of new environmental requirements. 4.5 This guide establishes a framework of common, environmental risk management requirements in the United States and will allow the user to evaluate the potential level of risk from non-compliance. Compliance requirements would then be evaluated for pollution prevention opportunities in order to continually reduce the risks from non-compliance. 4.6 Noncompliance with Tier 1 Environmental Performance Standards represents the highest risk because Tier 1 Standards prevent, mitigate or respond to imminent hazards for human health or the environment. Tier 2 Standards address areas of significant risk, where noncompliance could result in penalties, primarily for failure to obtain required approval for releases or modifications to the environment. Tier 3 Standards require operation and maintenance of approved controls on releases or modifications to the environment, where repeat noncompliance could represent a risk. Tier 4 Standards represent the lowest direct risk from noncompliance; however, they are still important for documenting environmental management, the details of the compliance record, environmental compliance costs and pollution prevention measurements.