EMS assist leading door manufacturer with environmental monitoring and legal compliance
Is reaching environmental compliance taking too long for your business? Read how we helped Premdor with our complete range of services.
Premdor, a leading door manufacturer based in Barnsley, benefitted from our Industrial Water experts who provided water and trade effluent monitoring and sampling solutions, complemented by CEMS improvements from our Air and Emissions experts, along with a Legal Compliance Audit.
Whether it’s emissions monitoring, auditing, environmental permit compliance, water monitoring, or providing the necessary equipment and maintenance, EMS has the depth of expertise and resources to assist a business anywhere on its compliance journey. See below how you could benefit from EMS’ full offering.
The Client
EMS recently worked with Premdor, guiding them through a number of environmental aspects related to their manufacturing site, providing opportunities to improve and maintain environmental compliance.
Premdor aims to provide innovative, easy-to-apply product solutions, enabling architects, specifiers and homeowners to make inspired and confident choices.
Client Benefits
Premdor received:
- A full audit by an experienced environmental expert
- Reassurance that the business will remain legally compliant, avoiding fines or prosecution, or even damage to reputation
- A review of business processes and practices
- Live readings from eDAS to local operatives with clear visual and audible alarms to warn in the event of emissions breaches
- Recommendations for required changes to improve environmental performance – enhancing green credentials
- A comprehensive service, calibration, and maintenance agreement for the new CEMS
- Reassurance that any pollutants relating to trade effluent will be identified – saving time, worry and hassle
The Challenges
Improvements to Continuous Emissions Monitoring systems
At Premdor’s manufacturing facility in Barnsley, a waste wood boiler is used to provide heat to their manufacturing plant. To comply with their permit issued by their local authority, they must measure specific emissions to ensure any stipulated limits are not breached.
Premdor approached EMS with a requirement to improve their existing continuous emissions monitoring system (CEMS). Their existing system was made up of a CO & O2 gas analyser, a dust analyser, and a data logger that stored emissions data locally. The environmental data was manually downloaded using an SD card. Our experts worked with Premdor to determine how to improve Premdor’s CEMS systems.
Premdor’s manufacturing processes also create particulate matter. This particulate matter is managed using site-wide Local Exhaust and Ventilation (LEV) systems. Here EMS spotted the opportunity to place an additional safety provision.
Questions around trade effluent
Premdor also wanted to investigate potential water pollution. In addition to their usual trade effluent treatment and discharge system, Premdor also has a pond on site that discharges to a water course at the edge of the property. The pond takes water that runs onto the site from adjacent land via a series of ditches and pipes but does not contain any process or surface water from the Premdor site itself.
In 2022, the pond water changed colour and had a build-up of foam on the surface. The changes were transient, and the pond soon returned to normal. However, Premdor was concerned about potential pollution to the downstream watercourse and the effect of any pollution on their site.
The Solution
More reliable emissions monitoring
Following a review of the permit and an audit of their existing system, Premdor decided to replace their dust probe with the more reliable Sintrol S304 Emissions Monitor. The existing gas analyser was found to be in good working order, so it was integrated into the new CEMS system.
EMS supplied the Environmental Data Acquisition System – eDAS. The new CEMS system supplied now logs and records live CEMS readings through eDAS. The data is automatically stored on the client’s network, and the local HMI display provides live readings to local operatives with clear visual and audible alarms to warn in the event of emissions breaches. The advantage of this new system is that the client’s data can be accessed from any PC or laptop so employees no longer have to physically go to their plant to take readings – saving time and money. This means they can be confident of remaining in compliance with their environmental permit.
EMS will also provide a comprehensive service, calibration, and maintenance agreement for the new CEMS. Premdor’s environmental permit also stipulates that alongside their CEMS they must have regular stack emissions testing, to be carried out by UKAS and MCERTS-accredited stack testing experts using standard reference methods. This work will be carried out by our sister company, Envirocare, and the results will be used to calibrate the CEMS.
Tackling fugitive particulate matter and dust
As an additional safety provision, Premdor were supplied with the Sintrol Dumo. The Dumo is a continuous dust monitor that detects levels of fugitive particulate matter in ambient air. By integrating Dumo monitors into eDAS, Premdor can now continuously monitor fugitive particulate levels and act when dust levels exceed typical amounts
Legal Compliance Audit
For full peace of mind, EMS conducted a legal compliance audit, which covered all UK environmental legislation relevant to Premdor’s operations, ranging from the segregation and disposal of waste, to how chemicals are stored on-site, as well as aspects such as how contractors and staff are trained and made to be aware of the environmental aspects of their jobs, and how they would need to implement necessary control measures.
The Environment, Health & Safety Manager worked with EMS and toured Premdor’s site to observe daily working practices. After this, they worked through a list of questions, reviewing the relevant documents and paperwork to identify anything missing or requiring amendments.
EMS quickly drafted the report for the audit and issued it with a bespoke legal register, which is included within our Legal Compliance Service package. The bespoke legal register provides the customer with a simple format to view all relevant UK environmental legislation, as well as whether or not they are compliant, and the current measures they have in place to provide evidence of this. The register summarises each piece of legislation and provides explanatory remarks to show why they are relevant.
The Environment, Health & Safety manager worked with EMS constructively and was receptive to explanations about why non-conformities can arise. They wanted to enhance their understanding so that improvements could be made.
Permit EMS received positive feedback for conducting a thorough audit and having a keen eye for small details.
Permit Training
EMS provided tailored support to help Premdor understand their permit and what it required of the business.
Our highly experienced practicing environmental consultant carried out permit training to the senior leadership team with an environmental lawyer to give a high-level understanding of the permit and consequences if it wasn’t adhered to. Operatives were also trained on the permit, so they understood their responsibilities around making sure the permit is being complied with.
The training covered various aspects around permitting such as Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016, environmental permit conditions and requirements, Directors’ and Senior Management roles and responsibilities, and regulatory body powers and enforcement.
Analysing trade effluent
Premdor decided to install two auto-samplers, one on the inlet and one on the outlet from the pond. These will take continuous samples from the pond on a timed basis so that there is always a sample of the water entering and leaving the pond available for analysis. If water conditions change again, a sample can be taken and analysed, and any pollutant identified.
