Updated ISO 14004 provides guidance for credible environmental management systems

The release of the updated ISO 14001 standard in late 2015 helped modernize the International Organization for Standardization's rules for developing an environmental management systems. Specifically, the ISO incorporated modern trends and perspectives related to environmental impacts. The changes and additions included, but weren't limited to, more focus on the supply chain and its impacts on the environment, a higher degree of interaction with stakeholders, an emphasis on product life cycle management and more proactive measures to minimize and prevent negative outcomes.

In addition to these major changes made to ISO 14001, the standards organization also updated ISO 14004. This update centers around helping organizations craft the best EMS possible and provides specific guidelines for implementation.

ISO 14004:2016 calls for more involvement, participation
Business Green said ISO 14004:2016 was specifically developed toreduce the burden of implementing the more comprehensive and wide-ranging ISO 14001:2015 update. Companies that want to create an EMS fully in line with the rules of ISO 14001:2015 can look to ISO 14004:2016 to aid in initial development and subsequent refinement efforts. The British Standards Institution, which helped codify both new ISO standards related to EMS, said providing more thorough information about vital concepts related to ISO 14004:2016 is one of the major focuses of the update in a statement shared with Business Green.

"The revision incorporates changes made to ISO 14001 including more detailed explanation of key concepts such as context, leadership, risks and opportunities and life cycle thinking," BSI said in the statement. "Because ISO 14004 provides detailed guidance, it can provide particular support to those who might have less resources or feel uncertain about how to begin to create an EMS."

,Many of the specific changes included in ISO 14004:2016 were developed to empower businesses to take a more open view of environmental compliance and management, broadening horizons and avoiding too much focus on certain discrete elements of EMS instead of the complete picture.

Compliance with the new standard is a concern for many businesses. While the ISO's standards are generally clear and straightforward, ensuring proper implementation across a company while accounting for the unique factors that make every organization different can be a difficult process. Using the right environmental management software helps businesses ensure a consistent and high level of compliance and sets the stage for a successful adoption of ISO 14004:2016 in advance of the compliance deadline set for late 2018

Proactive vs Reactive: The Key Differences between ISO 45001 and OHSAS 18001

Some of the changes in ISO 45001 vs. OHSAS 18001are induced by the common HLS and some are specific to occupational health and safety. As ISO 45001 is now released, OHSAS 18001 will be withdrawn. ... ISO 45001 is an international standard, ensuring enhanced compatibility with other standards, such as ISO 9001 and 14001.

What is ISO 45001? ISO 45001 is an International Standard that specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, with guidance for its use, to enable an organisation to proactively improve its OH&S performance in preventing injury and ill-health.

ISO 45001, which sets requirements for occupational health and safety management systems, has now reached Committee Draft stage. This draft standard, inspired by the well-known OHSAS 18001, is designed to help companies and organizations around the world ensure the health and safety of the people who work for them.Jul 18, 2014

ISO 45001 aims to help organizations do just that. ... ISO 45001 is the new ISOstandard for occupational health and safety (OH&S). It has become one of the most eagerly awaited standards in the world, and is set to drastically improve levels of workplace safety.

The release of the ISO 45001 Standard is arguably the most significant event for EHS managers in a generation. This new standard, which will replace OHSAS 18001, follows the approach of other management systems such as ISO 14001 and ISO 90001 and has an increased emphasis on management commitment, worker involvement, and risk control.

Adoption of the standard over the next three years will, no doubt, lead to many questions as organizations evaluate their current health and safety processes. Understanding the key differences between ISO 45001 and OHSAS 18001 is an important first step. Below is an overview of ISO 45001 and a list of the key similarities and differences in the two standards.

What is ISO 45001?

• ISO 45001 was published on March 12,2018and is the new international standard for occupational health and safety (OH&S) management
• ISO 45001 specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system and gives guidance for its use to enable organizations to provide safe and healthy workplaces by preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities and by proactively improving OH&S performance
• ISO 45001 is applicable to any organization worldwide regardless of its size, type, or nature
• ISO 45001 replaces OHSAS 18001, the world’s former reference for OH&S management (organizations currently certified under OHSAS 18001 will have until March 12,2021to migrate to ISO 45001)

How is ISO 45001 similar to OHSAS 18001?

• Intent: The overall intent to create a framework for managing the prevention of employee injuries, illnesses, and fatalities is the same for both standards
• Plan-Do-Check-Act: The PDCA cycle remains the fundamental operating principle in both standards
• Other Similarities: Many of the requirements covered in OHSAS 18001, although consolidated, relocated, or expanded on, are found in ISO 45001, including policy requirements; identification of legal and other requirements; improvement objectives; awareness requirements; competency requirements; resources needed to support the system; and requirements for monitoring, measuring, and analyzing OH&S performance and improvement

What are some of the main differences between ISO 45001 and OHSAS 18001?

• Structure: The structure of ISO 45001 is based on Annex SL, which is the framework used in other ISO management system standards, making implementation easier and more efficient
• Management Commitment: ISO 45001 requires the incorporation of health and safety into the overall management system of the organization, requiring management to take a stronger leadership role in OH&S
• Worker Involvement: ISO 45001 requires employee training and education to identify risks and help create a successful safety program, allowing broader employee participation
• Risk v. Hazard: ISO 45001 follows a preventative process, requiring hazard risks to be evaluated and remedied before they cause accidents and injuries, unlike OHSAS 18001, which focused only on hazard control

Local Weather Report and Forecast For: Kakinada Dated :Jan 28, 2019

Local Weather Report and Forecast For: Kakinada    Dated :Jan 28, 2019

Past 24 Hours Weather Data Maximum Temp(oC) (Recorded. on 28/01/19) 25.7 Departure from Normal(oC) -4 Minimum Temp (oC) (Recorded. on 28/01/19) 21.0 Departure from Normal(oC) 0 24 Hours Rainfall (mm) (Recorded from 0830 hrs IST of yesterday to 0830 hrs IST of today) 8.7 Relative Humidity at 0830 hrs (%) 80 Relative Humidity at 1730 hrs (%) (Recorded. on 28/01/19) 62 Todays Sunset (IST) 17:55 Tommorows Sunrise (IST) 06:33 Moonset (IST) 12:06 Moonrise (IST) 00:08

7 Day's Forecast Date Min Temp Max Temp Weather 28-Jan 20.0 28.0 Generally cloudy sky with haze 29-Jan 19.0 28.0 Generally cloudy sky with haze 30-Jan 19.0 29.0 Partly cloudy sky with haze 31-Jan 20.0 29.0 Partly cloudy sky with haze 01-Feb 20.0 29.0 Partly cloudy sky with haze 02-Feb 20.0 30.0 Partly cloudy sky with haze 03-Feb 20.0 30.0 Partly cloudy sky with haze

I congratulate the achievers in #agriculture from across rural India who have been silently transforming #farming and rural #entrepreneurship including encouraging women participation. The bestowing of #PadmaShri is a fitting testament to their outstanding contribution.

Linearity of a Calibration Plot

The essence of a calibration plot is the linear relation between two variables. How do you decide the degree of linearity to rely on interpretations based on the calibration plot. The points on a calibration line will seldom fall on a perfect straight line. Normally you would use your ruler to draw a straight line which passes through most of the points.

Our earlier article Guidelines on generation and interpretation of calibration plots dealt with considerations for establishing reliability of calibration. It also dealt with common mistakes that should be avoided in generation and interpolation or extrapolation of the calibration plots.

Two measures of expressing linearity of relationship between two variables are :

Correlation analysis – which applies to two independent factors X and Y i.e if X increases does Y also increase, decreases or does not change at all, and

Regression analysis – a change in X will have a corresponding change in Y but change in Y will not have change in X.

In a calibration plot where all points do not fall in a straight line the linear regression is applied. Line of regression minimizes the distance of residuals in the Y direction between the line and the individual points and passes through the centroid (mean values of X and Y) of the data.

Regression Analysis of Linear Plot

The linear regression line uses method of least squares to establish the relationship between two variables as the best fit straight-line. Most instruments yield a linear response only over a specific concentration range beyond which the response is nonlinear. Choice of correct region is important to minimize errors due to nonlineraity

Coefficient Correlation, r

Linear coefficient expresses degree of linearity between two variables X and Y. It lies in this range +1 to -1. The positive sign refers to a positive linear relationship between the two variables and negative sign refers to a negative relationship between the variables.

r value close to 1 indicates a strong positive relationship that is an increase in value of X is accompanied by a corresponding increase in Y.

r value close to -1 indicates a strong negative correlation that is an increase in value of X is accompanied by a corresponding decrease in value of Y.

r = 0 indicates that there is no relation between the two variables.

r = -1 indicates perfect negative relation between the variables.

Coefficient of Variance, 

Often instead of r the coefficient of variance  is used. It indicates the percentage of variation in Y associated with variation in X

 lies between 0 and 1

For example if r= 0.98 then  is 0.96 which means that 96% of the total variation in Y can be explained by the linear relationship between X and Y. The remaining 4% of variation in Y remains unexplained

 is a measure of how well the regression line represents

OCTOBER 5, 2018 BY DR. DEEPAK BHANOT

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Standard calibration weights for Analytical Balances- Traceability, Handling and Care

All of you would be familiar with standard weight boxes used for calibration of analytical balances from your school days. Such weights are supplied in wooden boxes and are placed in individual slots inside the box along with a pair of tweezers for handling purpose. The weights provided meet weighing requirements of most analytical laboratories and include following weights: 10mg(0.01gm),20mg(0.02gm),100mg(0.1gm),200mg(0.2gm),  500mg(0.5gm),0.10gm,0.20gm,0.50gm, 1.00gm, 2.00gm,5.00gm,10.00gm,20.00gm,50gm and 100gm.

The observed balance reading should be within +/- 0.1% of market value of standard weight as per USP 41 requirements. As per the mandatory requirements, a weighing balance should be calibrated on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Box containing standard weights

Traceability of calibration weight standards

Calibration weight standards are accompanied by a certificate of traceability. Such certificates are issued by national or international laboratories accredited by global bodies such as NIST, ASTM or OIMIL. Such certificates contain information such as the type of weight, weight class, material density, limit of uncertainty and environmental controls at the time of calibration. The traceability reports also give acceptable tolerance and uncertainty limits. During regular use, the standard weights should be calibrated periodically at assigned intervals and should be sent to a national accredited calibration laboratory and the issued certifications should be preserved for records purpose.

Handling & care

All standard weights comprise of a single piece of metal or alloy with no air cavities or foreign adjusting materials for mass stability. However, the weight readings can vary over time due to mishandling and lack of care. The commonly observed changes are the appearance of scratches or corrosion at microscopic levels due to contact with humid air or fingerprint impressions. Persons handling standard weights should take precautions like wearing gloves to avoid contamination from hands or fingerprint impressions and hair net covers to prevent fall of hair and dandruff. Further weights should be lifted only with ivory-tipped forceps to prevent scratches. Wearing face masks also prevents disturbance due to breath air drafts.

 It is also essential to keep standard weight boxes under controlled temperature and humidity even when not in use to preserve their certified characteristic parameters.

Local Weather Report and Forecast For: Kakinada Dated :Jan 26, 2019

Local Weather Report and Forecast For: Kakinada    Dated :Jan 26, 2019

Past 24 Hours Weather Data Maximum Temp(oC) (Recorded on 25/01/19) 29.6 Departure from Normal(oC) 0 Minimum Temp (oC) (Recorded. on 26/01/19) 22.6 Departure from Normal(oC) 2 24 Hours Rainfall (mm) (Recorded from 0830 hrs IST of yesterday to 0830 hrs IST of today) NIL Relative Humidity at 0830 hrs (%) 78 Relative Humidity at 1730 hrs (%) (Recorded on 25/01/19) 67 Todays Sunset (IST) 17:54 Tommorows Sunrise (IST) 06:33 Moonset (IST) 10:41 Moonrise (IST) 23:13

7 Day's Forecast Date Min Temp Max Temp Weather 26-Jan 23.0 30.0 Rain or thundershowers would occur towards evening or night 27-Jan 23.0 29.0 Rain or thundershowers would occur towards evening or night 28-Jan 22.0 30.0 Rain or thundershowers would occur towards evening or night 29-Jan 21.0 30.0 Generally cloudy sky with Light Rain or Drizzle 30-Jan 19.0 31.0 Partly cloudy sky 31-Jan 18.0 31.0 Partly cloudy sky with haze 01-Feb 18.0 31.0 Partly cloudy sky with haze

Republic Day Celebrations – January 26, 2019

Dear All,

In continuation to the trailing mail, 
This year security is going to include some more interesting events followed by our regular march past.  Details are as follows: 

Event :  01.  Dog Show 
(a)  Sniffing of articles hidden by any one 
(b)  Various types of commands executed by the dog 
(c)  Crossing of various types of obstacles.   

Event  : 02  Tableau show 
(a) Showing the cultivation land spraying our Nagarjuna Urea on paddy crop by farmer. 

Event : 03. Walkathon with 100 mtrs tri color National Flag. 
(a) 23 security guards displaying 100 mtrs National Flag with back ground song  of Vandemataram 

Hence, all associates are hereby  requested to kindly attend the event and make the program a grand success.                            
With warm wishes :  Security Team

Thanks and regards,
SDVM Seshu,

                                                                                                                                            

NFCL
KAKINADA        


January 21, 2019

CIRCULAR 

                                                                                  

Republic Day Celebrations – January 26, 2019

We are pleased to announce the following schedule for Republic day Celebrations for January 26, 2019


Venue                        :        Technical Building
Time                                :        09.00 A.M.


Programme:

09.00 hrs – 09.03 hrs        :        Flag hoisting and National Anthem
09.03 hrs – 09.10 hrs        :        Inspection of Parade
09.10 hrs – 09.20 hrs        :        March-Past by Security
09.20 hrs – 09.25 hrs        :        Message by Sri G V S Anand
                                        Sr General Manager (Operations)
09.25 hrs – 09.50 hrs        :        Distribution of Awards
10.00 hrs – 10.30 hrs        :        Refreshments at Canteen

All the associates are requested to attend the Republic Day Celebrations along with their family members to express our patriotism towards the Nation.


All the associates are requested to be available near Technical Building sharp by 8.55 a.m.           



P HARE RAM
GENERAL MANAGER - HPD 

I have retired from the Board of Directors of NFCL as Chairman

Written by our beloved Shri KS RAJU SIR,
Dear All 

You would have by now heard that I have retired from the Board of Directors of NFCL as Chairman. And that Shri U S Jha, an Independent Director on the Board, has been elected as the Non Executive Chairman in my place. 

As you all are aware, for many years now Rahul, Managing Director, has been managing the affairs of the company along with the other senior management. And through the years the resultant performance of the company bears testimony to the excellent work done until 2013/2014 when the company grew top and bottom lines, expanded Urea Capacity, diversified into other related businesses of MI, Trading and Distribution, ITES, Industrial Services etc . When we were ready for a major expansion including Kakinada 3, NPK production in Oman, MI expansion etc.. we faced new challenges with the Gas Pipeline accident and consequent setback in the company's fortunes including the recent plant shutdown. 

Since the shut down one of the plants has restarted, the second will also come online soon and the company is in the process of getting its financial restructuring approved and I am confident it will put the company in a stable and sustainable trajectory into a new and glorious future. I can assure you that Rahul and all of us are putting in all necessary efforts to ensure this happens. 

Shri U S Jha served as the CMD of RCF and was the Chairman of FAI when I was the Co Chair the last time around, some ten years ago. My retirement will provide me time which I can put to very good use in furthering the interests of NFCL in policy and administrative matters with GOI. 

My current role as Chairman of FAI takes up quite a bit of my time. I believe that much more needs to be done at the policy level with the Government for the Industry in general and NFCL in particular. The challenges for the industry are many. I ,therefore, intend to put more quality time into this. 

The Board of Directors honored me with the title of Chairman Emeritus of NFCL. I will be always be available for NFCL, in any manner required of me. NFCL is and will always be close to my heart. As are all of you. 

With my warmest wishes 

K S Raju 

Local Weather Report and Forecast For: Kakinada Dated :Jan 23, 2019

Local Weather Report and Forecast For: Kakinada    Dated :Jan 23, 2019

Past 24 Hours Weather Data Maximum Temp(oC) (Recorded. on 23/01/19) 29.1 Departure from Normal(oC) -1 Minimum Temp (oC) (Recorded. on 23/01/19) 20.2 Departure from Normal(oC) -1 24 Hours Rainfall (mm) (Recorded from 0830 hrs IST of yesterday to 0830 hrs IST of today) NIL Relative Humidity at 0830 hrs (%) 84 Relative Humidity at 1730 hrs (%) (Recorded. on 23/01/19) 63 Todays Sunset (IST) 17:52 Tommorows Sunrise (IST) 06:34 Moonset (IST) 08:21 Moonrise (IST) 20:17

7 Day's Forecast Date Min Temp Max Temp Weather 23-Jan 20.0 29.0 Fog/mist in the morning and partly cloudy sky later 24-Jan 20.0 29.0 Fog/mist in the morning and partly cloudy sky later 25-Jan 20.0 29.0 Fog/mist in the morning and partly cloudy sky later 26-Jan 20.0 29.0 Fog/mist in the morning and partly cloudy sky later 27-Jan 20.0 29.0 Generally cloudy sky with Light rain 28-Jan 20.0 29.0 Partly cloudy sky with possibility of rain or Thunderstorm 29-Jan 20.0 29.0 Partly cloudy sky with possibility of rain or Thunderstorm