Food for thought - ISO 14001 and Lubrication

By Martin Williamson & Hugh Lundin

Whilst this is a website with global access, and much of lubricant technology is now truly global, there are still specific issues relating to individual legislation within various countries. In this short article, I hope to convey some of the European specific issues of not just machinery lubrication needs, but also some of the environmental constraints under which maintenance is now required to operate.

Whilst the general theme in this article will focus on the global impact of ISO 14001, and what you, as a maintenance professional, can do to expand your scope of audit, I will also mention the relevance of the Climate Change Levy and the new storage regulations being applied within Europe. Indeed the new storage regulations as applied could be fundamentally entwined within the scope of ISO 14001, as it shows awareness of the need to minimise leakage risk and premature wastage of lubricants that then pose a disposal concern.

What is ISO 14001?

A wide range of environmental risk is basic to many industries these days; readers will be familiar with phasing out of ozone depleting gases under the Montreal Protocol and similar initiatives. Over the past few years tougher targets, set by evolving environmental legislation to be met on a global scale, has placed greater emphasis on effectively managing these risks, thus International Environmental Standard ISO 14001 was born.

If standards did not exist we would soon discover chaos. Standards have a huge impact on many aspects of our lives - although very often that contribution may be invisible. It is when there is an absence of standards that their importance is brought home. For example, as purchasers or users of products, we soon notice when they turn out to be of poor quality, are unreliable or even dangerous but when products meet our expectations we tend to take it for granted.

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) is the world's largest developer of standards, which although principally of a technical nature also have an important economic and social impact.

ISO 14001 is a generic environmental management system developed through an international consensus process and is the only standard intended for certification. What it is not is a performance or product standard. ISO 14001 represents a shift towards proactive management and employee involvement in defining roles from the bottom up as they relate to the environmental policy of an organisation and which requires top management backing, resources and visibility. Comparable to the ISO 9001 quality system standard of a decade ago, ISO 14001 is a comprehensive framework that contains core elements for managing a company's processes and activities to identify significant environmental aspects the organisation can control and over which it can be expected to have an influence. This standard essentially requires a company to state what it does in environmental management, and to do what it states.

Whilst the issue of ISO 14001 as discussed is a framework for implementing and auditing compliance, many companies we have seen do not necessarily incorporate their maintenance philosophy within this framework. Whilst the issue of recycling of packaging as an example is equally important in today's conservation society, so too, is the issue of lubrication.

A company that decides to incorporate maintenance within this strategy has a number of options with respect to the lubrication. For example, setting new goals in extending lubricant life, or, the recycling and disposal of these lubricants under controlled and environmental best practice methods. Many businesses have arrangements for the disposal of their lubricants, but how many actually audit that disposal trail? Currently, one of my projects is the research of environmentally friendly alternative lubricants as possible replacements to the client's existing mineral based products. Much progress has actually been made in the area of bio-degradable lubricants, particularly greases. However, the environmental aspect should go beyond merely seeking safer lubricants, and should, in fact, address the issue of power consumption reduction, part of the goal of the Climate Change Levy.

The Climate Change Levy and ISO 14001 environmental standards demonstrate the European Governments' serious approach to climate change and other environmental concerns. It is vital therefore, that industry begins to consider the value of best practice lubrication management as a means to reducing power demand and reducing their environmental impact.

The detrimental impact of lubricants on the environment is often under-estimated. Lubricants are consumed at an uncontrolled rate, they leak from systems and after use require disposal. It is a widely held misconception that environmental maintenance is expensive. Effective environmental maintenance programmes and practicing good lubrication management will reap significant cost and process benefits for an organisation. Typically these can include:

Reductions of at least 80% in lubricant consumption
Reductions of at least 50% in planned and unplanned downtime
Life extension of at least two fold on capital plant
An overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) rise to more than 90%
More competitive pricing yet with increased profits
Reductions of 40% in maintenance budgets
Overall reduction in cost of lubricant per litre

Steps towards best practice

Regularly documenting figures for total system sump capacity, annual lubricant consumption and leakage will help when planning the reduction of leakage problems and extending the useful life of lubricant.

Setting lubricant specifications requires expert input. Companies purchasing lubricants based on equipment manufacturer's specification should be aware this is derived as a baseline for an average user. Your site is unique so make sure standards are set according to your needs. It is you, not the equipment manufacturer, who pays the price of failure.

Taking responsibility on site for oil management and running an oil analysis programme will help to understand the root cause of problems and practice proactive maintenance.

Reducing lubricant disposal

Apart from obvious financial gain, using lubricants more effectively reduces demand on resources. Fuels and lubricants are derived from the same source and reducing the consumption of both is critical to achieving meaningful cost/process benefits. Lubricants, when exhausted, remain in liquid form and must be disposed correctly or recycled. Severely exhausted lubricants are not necessarily suitable for reclamation; better management of the lubricants in service ensures that they remain fit for further use.

Management of leakage is another key area, especially outdoor or mobile plant. Consider a small drop of oil the size of a small coin leaking at the rate of one drop per minute, that is about two litres of oil lost per day. Multiply that by the number of affected systems across Europe and the end result is devastating, and expensive.

Conclusion

In short, the key to best practice and effective environmental maintenance is training and guiding your staff to think in a proactive way with the maintenance strategy and ensuring they have the right tools and enough time scheduled to do the job properly.

The ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families are among ISO's most widely known and successful standards ever, ISO 9000 has become an international reference for quality requirements in business to business dealings, and ISO 14000 looks set to achieve at least as much, if not more, in helping organisations in meeting their environmental challenges. Will you take on the maintenance challenge within ISO 14001?

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