PANGLAO – The provincial government of Bohol is pushing for the formulation of Bohol Environment Risk Assessment (BERA) in a collective effort of renewing its Environmental Management System (EMS) accreditation with the International Standard Organization (ISO) 14001:2004. To realize the goal of renewing the said accreditation, the province thru the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) conducted the BERA workshop on June 22-23, 2011 at Bohol Divers Club, Alona Beach of this town. The provincial government “is committed to fast track the documentation processes on the implementation of the EMS in the entire province, including the hospitals,” said the project paper approved by Gov. Edgar M. Chatto. It said that EMS is a tool and guide to identify the aspects and impacts of its programs and activities in local governance. It is also a process by which documentation ïs a pre-requisite to the ISO 14001:2004 certification, “a recognition given to organizations that implement EMS and comply (with) the requirements of the ISO in the delivery of their programs and activities,” the paper said.

The province has been named as the only and first local government unit to have been certified with the ISO14001:1996 in 2002. The certification expired in 2006, hence, upgrading of ISO 14001:1996 to ISO 14001:2004 is necessary, said the BEMO. BERA is one of the many documents needed for such accreditation. Included in the BERA documents are the objectives, targets and programs (OTP). Accomplishing the BERA is the main function of the EMS Implementation Committee members who are employees from different departments of the provincial government. Risk assessment include the significant environmental impacts, such as, soil and water contamination, air pollution, human resource, mineral usage in accordance with the applicable environmental laws and policies. Environment Management Representative (EMR) Liza M. Quirog stressed the need for the BERA formulation so the province may be able to renew its accreditation with the ISO 14001:2004. Quirog led the BERA formulators in the workshop. Internal auditor Ma. Socorro Trinidad of BEMO facilitated the workshop with EMS secretariat head Jovencia Ganub, document control officer Moises Canete, Jr., and other staff members assisting the activity. (RVO)