|
Our Environmental, Health and Safety program is decentralized, with primary responsibility for complying with EHS requirements resting with the leaders and frontline employees at our various facilities. Departments such as Corporate EHS and Corporate Law are available to assist and support the operating areas with technical, strategic, regulatory and legal EHS issues. They also provide strategic direction and leadership on issues such as EHS risk analysis and companywide issues such as Superfund. Throughout the company, each employee shares responsibility for EHS compliance and has an obligation to bring issues and concerns forward for resolution. This obligation is clearly identified in our EHS Policy and in our Corporate Ethics Policy.
APS’ EHS strategic direction and leadership on company-wide safety, health and environmental issues is determined by a hierarchy of cross-departmental committees and teams, as shown in the Figure below. The EHS management team consists of two committees: the Environmental Advisory Team and the Safety and Health Advisory Team.
These teams make recommendations to EHS Vice President Edward Z. Fox on matters requiring executive oversight. The teams are also responsible for developing and updating the EHS Policy and EHS Management Plan, and ensuring integrated implementation of these and other critical documents into the company’s operations. These teams have various issues teams reporting to them. The issues teams are responsible for more detailed work on important cross-company issues.
Fox provides primary executive oversight for our EHS efforts, and makes periodic reports to the Board of Directors regarding EHS issues and compliance status. Frontline EHS professionals handle issues that arise in the field and at company facilities. These professionals provide daily, on-the-spot attention to EHS issues. They are the backbone of the company’s EHS program and work hard to keep things operating smoothly and safely.
EHS Management Systems
Our EHS Management System (EMS) is a systematic framework for managing our EHS practices and ensuring we meet our goals and objectives. Our EMS is modeled upon the general format of the ISO 14000 standard for Environmental Management Systems, though we have not pursued formal certification since all of Pinnacle West's operations are based within the United States. The EMS is based on APS’ EHS Policy, which sets the vision and operating foundation for our EHS efforts. In addition to the EHS policy, APS has several policies, standards and plans that underscore the importance of our commitment to excellence and ethical business practices, including protection of our environment.
- The APS EHS Management Plan augments the EHS policy, and outlines our EHS organization and responsibilities for meeting federal, state, county, municipal and tribal environmental, health and safety laws and regulations under which we operate.
- The APS Accident Prevention Manual details the Safety Policy, Responsibilities, and APM rules for employees across the company.
- Our Ethics Policy helps us comply with policies, laws and regulations.
- Our Standards of Business Practices focuses on meeting company standards and legal requirements.
- The APS Code of Conduct outlines the relationship between our traditional energy delivery corporation, APS, and our competitive retail company, APS Energy Services.
In 2005, APS participated in an Environmental Compliance and Management Systems Benchmarking Study of electric utilities sponsored by the Electric Utility Benchmarking Association. In that study, APS was identified as a "Top 5" performer among participating utilities, and components of our EMS were included in the best practices final report from that study. As a participant in the study, APS received a copy of the report for use in reviewing national best practices for further improvement of our EMS.
We believe that the foundation of sound environmental, health and safety management is not only compliance with the regulations that apply to our business, but being an EHS leader. We believe that environmental stewardship and sustainable business practices are a sound business strategy.
In this respect, APS’ EHS programs go beyond basic compliance, where activities are consistent with good business practices and goals. The results of these efforts are documented in this report as well as our other EHS annual reports dating back to 1994.
To evaluate and strengthen our compliance management systems we have an EHS Compliance Assurance Program. This program has a four-tier assessment process which includes ongoing facility self-assessments, formal focused self-assessments, an aggressive EHS audit program and periodic extensive compliance reviews. EHS professionals across the company are also active in many professional and industry groups which monitor regulatory changes, evolving EHS and sustainability issues, and other critical EHS matters affecting our industry. APS also has a Public Affairs department that monitors and participates in federal and state legislative processes that may impact the company. All of these efforts are coordinated within the EMS to ensure ongoing compliance and continuous improvement.
Organizational Changes
In 2006, APS created a new department, Eco-efficiency/Technology Innovations, whose charge is to develop sustainabilty programs through every level of the enterprise.
According to Bill Wiley, senior manager, Eco-efficiency/Technology Innovations (EETI), sustainability is about the long term.
“Sustainability means meeting our business needs today while implementing the strategies, business practices and policies that support a vibrant economy, healthy environment and strong community for future generations,” Wiley said. “It is about our actions today supporting a smarter and better tomorrow.”
The department's charge is to plan and make decisions that integrate consideration of the long-term economy, environment and community.
At Pinnacle West, sustainability is not a question of how to minimize potential negative impacts of decisions already made, but instead is a set of questions about long-term impacts that must be addressed before business decisions are made.
The new department is comprised of:
- An internal working group
- An advisory committee comprised of individuals from inside and outside the company
- Arizona Businesses Advancing Sustainability (ABAS) – an APS/Intel partnership to encourage and work with other businesses (For more on this partnership, please see our Pinnacle West's Approach to Sustainability section)
- Technology partnerships, and
- The EETI organization
|
|
