Current standards on environmental technology
Caring for the environment
Avoiding waste, protecting water – those are two key themes of environmental standardisation, but Austrian experts can be proud of numerous other achievements in this relatively young discipline: they address ever new concerns before other countries “discover” them.
Austrian standardisation experts discussed environmental issues even before environmental legislation started. In 1975, the first waste standards were adopted to define specifications and standards for test methods.
Today, environmental protection is a pan-European topic that, time and again draws on new ideas and fresh impulses from Austria. More than half the environmental standards applying in Austria are national standards and not European ones. Europe often takes over what Austria takes up today.
- Credit: www.sxc.hu
Healthy living
The Austrian Standards Institute already offers 1,000 standards on environmental engineering. Their specifications – be it in the field of waste, water, soil, air, radiation protection or even acoustics – go hand in hand with legislation.
As a basis for national as well as regional legislation, they lay down limit values and define how these are to be monitored. As a framework for developers and builders, they draw up requirements for waste incineration plants. The answer to the question on what benefits health and the environment can be found in standards.
Specifications for the environment (selection):
ÖNORM EN 13725: Air quality – odour concentration
ÖNORM EN ISO 17624: Acoustics – guidelines
ÖNORM M 9470: Emission inventory for air pollutants
ÖNORM M 6110: Study and assessment of rivers
- Credit: ASI prm
Waste
Waste is a crucial issue for environmental protection. When the strategy of “avoiding instead of producing waste” reaches its limits, the motto is “separate and recycle waste as far as possible”.
The Austrian Waste Management Act, water legislation and the Air Pollution Control Act rely on specifications laid down in standards. Waste sampling is still under intensive discussion.
Waste (selection):
ÖNORM S 2100: List of wastes
ÖNORM S 2070 – S 2083: Waste disposal facilities
ÖNORM S 2088: Contaminated sites - groundwater, soil and air
ÖNORM S 2201: Compostable waste – quality requirements
- Credit: ASI prm
Environmental management
Environmental issues have to be “managed” like so many other fields. In line with the management standard ISO 9000, specialised standards were developed for environmental management.
In this context, risk management also has to play its role. The Austrian Standards Institute regularly offers training for risk managers.
Environmental management:
ONR 49000: Risk management
ÖNORM EN ISO 14001: Environmental management systems – requirements with guidance for use
ÖNORM ISO 14063: Environmental management – environmental communication
- Credit: ASI prm
Acoustics and vibrations
Noise and vibrations are new areas of standardisation. While European standardisation only started to prepare standards, Austria already has them in place.
Acoustics and vibrations:
ÖNORM S 9012: Exposure to vibrations caused by traffic in buildings
ÖNORM S 5004: Noise immission measurement
- Credit: ASI prm
Pioneering work
As the environment is a very broad field, new subjects crop up on the international agenda every year that have already been addressed in Austria. At the European level, for example, work is under way on the Soil Framework Directive to which Austria can already contribute a wealth of experiences.
How to protect trees and green areas during major events, such as concerts or football matches, forms part of the environmental domain just like the sordid question of how to destroy safely documents or data on a computer.
Pioneering standards (selection):
ÖNORM L 1050: Soil – definitions and test methods
ÖNORM L 1124: Protection of groves during events
ONR 192102: Sustainability mark for electric and electronic appliances
ÖNORM S 2109: Destruction of documents and data – data carriers
The environment is high on the agenda in Austria. Experts continuously make great efforts to protect our living environment – to make sure that life stays worth living.
