“We now officially announce that Tamkang University has passed the ISO14001 certification,” declared the good news by Messrs Lu Jing-shing and Hsien Jen-cheng, the external inspectors from SGS Taiwan to President Chang Horng-jinh, Hung Ching-jen, the dean of the Office of General Affairs and staff from related offices at the closing of the certification meeting last Tuesday, Oct 14. All members present applauded and congratulated one another for the achievement. The certification will be verified in the U.K. and is expected to be returned in time for an awards ceremony scheduled on Nov. 8, TKU’s 53rd anniversary.
Both inspectors agreed unanimously that the award of the certification was apparently the result of the discerning effort of TKU’s leadership who integrated human and material resources adequately. Lu Jing-shing added that another key to this success is the unified participation of everyone concerned. He pointed out that it was not easy for an extensive academic institution such as TKU to manage its environmental systems. Ensuring environmental policy to be thoroughly applied to campuses and staff was indeed difficult and challenging, he said. He reckoned that such a degree of difficulty was not comparable with that of smaller and less-staffed business institutions.
Despite the solid foundation Tamkang is equipped with to build an environmentally healthy campus, both inspectors advised on the necessity of implementing a total management system, as the university is still vulnerable to other environmental influences. It is vital for the university to carry on its effort in systematic maintenance and staff training so as to uphold a high standard of environmental management and continued improvement year by year for further inspection.
Upon hearing this advice, President Chang Horng-jinh has appointed several officials concerned to organize a committee in accordance with regulations for poisonous materials control. He emphasised that as we have already entered the era of ISO14001, every staff member should be aware of his/her role and responsibilities in such a system. There should always be clear signs on materials that threaten the sanitation and safety of the campus and an effective reporting channel. In this way, through the concerted effort of every staff member and student, a beautiful and healthy campus in terms of visual, olfactory and audio senses is reachable.
After a two-day assessment, both inspectors put forward some points for improvement, which they believe, should be implemented horizontally. The university is required to present a written proposal on measures of improvement in 3 months. The points for improvement include the followings: a unified understanding regarding the goal of environmental protection among the staff; separating the drains for rain water and waste water from non-metal laboratories; establishing appropriate documentation of air pollution, repair and inspection; installing a reliable regulating system for measuring the large energy consumption of the Library in order to take effective measures to curb any wastage; documenting the disposal of wastage from general business on the intranet; displaying clear labels and signs in laboratories for poisonous chemicals; thorough record-keeping of the releases of exhaust fumes, for example, the Department of Electrical Engineering violated the regulation and did not provide necessary records; reducing the noise emitted at night by the water pump in the Shao-mo Memorial Natatorium Complex, which may affect the nearby residents; displaying warning signs along the diesel supply line and the fuel reservoir of the boiler; ensuring everyone can operate fire safety equipment; installing extra fire fighting facilities in the darkroom of the Department of Mass Communication due to the flammable materials stored there; ensuring that fire fighting measures are applied to the Business Building and all dormitories; and finally replacing old manuals with the most up-dated ones in all offices.
Dean of the Office of General Affairs, Hung Ching-jen, who is also the Director of the Center for Environmental Protection, Safety and Health, valued the suggestions provided by the auditors. He reminded all his colleagues at the meeting, “ We should not fear knowing our shortcomings; we should fear not knowing them. We are very grateful for any suggestions and will seek to make improvements in the best possible way we can.” He concluded that it was an affirmation of our effort when we passed the certification; yet, we should persist in our effort of ensuring continued improvement of the environment on the campus year by year.
UPDATE： 2010/09/27
CLICKS： 1152
DOWNLOADS：
