Best Practice
Our best practice cases provide you with a selection of our projects. The examples show the topics that we handle and the results that we enable our customers to achieve.
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Section 29b Experts
Through our services as experts in accordance with Section 29b BImSchG, we support the client and their planning offices in ensuring or compliance with safety regulations and technical regulations. This must be taken into account during planning and construction as well as significant changes to the construction concept, system technology and processes in order to take into account and implement the current state of (safety) technology.
- Development and operational implementation of safety management in accordance with Annex III StörfallV and KAS-19
- Integration of the safety management system into existing management systems and thus reduction of the need for revision and targeted reference to existing processes
- Creation of a concept to prevent incidents, highlighting operational organizational issues
- Determination of appropriate safety distances taking into account known conventions, such as KAS 18 as independent reports or as part of safety reports
- Assessment of the construction planning effects of appropriate safety distances in the context of location and environmental planning
- Determination of safety-relevant system components and evaluation of these with regard to their protective functions that prevent or reduce the impact of accidents
- Systematic risk analysis based on the safety-relevant system parts and assessment of their availability of the selected protective functions (HAZOP, PAAG, etc.)
- Safety tests in accordance with Section 29a BImSchG and thus acceleration in the approval/commissioning phase
- Acceleration of approval procedures by involving experts in accordance with Section 29b BImSchG and their assessment of approval-relevant documentation (see Section 13 of the 9th BImSchV)
The involvement of experts in accordance with Section 29b BImSchG results in, in addition to the obviously proven expert knowledge, increased acceptance among representatives of the authorities as well as a significant acceleration in approval procedures and safety-related tests and thus a goal-oriented implementation of the existing plans and binding operator obligations
Your contact persons in our offices
Stefan Hüsemann
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-24
E-Mail: huesemann(at)bfu-ag.de
Marco Kühn
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-14
E-Mail: kuehn(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
Licensing Management
Task
Plants in many industrial sectors are subject to emissions control approval due to legal requirements. In this case, approval applications must be submitted for new construction or system changes for these systems, which are usually accompanied by additional reports or concepts. Tight scheduling is often crucial for the economic success of projects.
A main problem with environmental approval and approval procedures is often that it is difficult for companies to predict which documents have to be submitted and how long it will take until the approval is received.
In order to prevent conflicts of objectives between these approval authorities and system operators in advance of the application and to accelerate the approval process as best as possible, our engineers and lawyers support the approval process by precisely examining the approval requirements and creating a tailor-made approval application with associated reports (e.g. dust - and noise forecasts) in order to clarify issues with the responsible authority in advance. Submitted application documents can be examined and approved by the authorities quickly and without delay.
Our services
The following two examples give you an impression of our services in supporting relevant construction projects.
Example 1: New construction of a facility
- Examination of the basic suitability of the plant location from an environmentally relevant perspective.
- Identification of the need for approval and the necessary administrative requirements in various environmentally relevant areas as the basis for legally compliant operations.
- Coordination of the necessary documents and concrete fulfillment of the requirements with the participation of the responsible approval authority and all specialist authorities
- Development of the complete application documents under emissions control law
- Success factor: Ensuring holistic project support in the interests of the operator through the interdisciplinary know-how of the BfU.
Example 2: Modification of an existing system
The particular challenge with comparatively old operating locations is the large number of different permits and compliance with the requirements of a large number of official notices. The BfU supports the approval process in the following points:
- Check whether old specifications need to be renewed or adapted to the current state of the art - this often leads to operational simplification.
- After a thorough legal review, the effort involved in reports, environmental impact assessments and public participation can be limited to a legally secure minimum.
- Close coordination with the authorities enables cooperative collaboration in the approval process, which ensures that a workable solution is developed.
- Success factor: A practice-oriented solution developed with current and comprehensive expertise and coordinated with the authorities in the interests of the customer.
Your contact persons in our offices
Christoph Franken
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-34
E-Mail: franken(at)bfu-ag.de
Marco Kühn
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-14
E-Mail: kuehn(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
State of the Art
Best Practice Case
To achieve its aims, a company that proceeds in line with best practice deploys innovative and proven systems or processes which also follow a successful model in terms of cost.
Problem
Operators of installations subject to licensing under the Federal Immission Control Act must always operate their installations in line with the state of the art (cf. section 5) to ensure legally compliant operation. In-house conditions management, the evaluation of new legal sources, including publication of BAT reference documents and BAT conclusions, is becoming increasingly important, not least because of official environmental inspections and the publication of inspection reports.
The concept of "best practice", coined from economic theory, is thus very similar to the technical concept of "state of the art" or the comparable European concept of best available techniques - BAT). In terms of environmental protection, "best" regularly means that an overall high level of protection is to be achieved for the environment through specific precautionary requirements (e.g. through emission limit values). "Available" means that the techniques/operating modes have been developed on a scale that enables application in the relevant industrial sector, taking the cost/benefit ratio into account.
This principle of proportionality regularly calls on the operator of environmentally relevant installations or installations subject to licensing to examine alternatives such as the choice of process technology, input materials or the type of waste water and exhaust air treatment.
Aim
The aim is to render production efficient and cost-effective even when taking environmental legislation criteria into account. At the same time, a legally compliant operation is to be ensured. This is the only way to lead your company to the aimed-for success using "best practice".
Best practice
BfU AG has developed best practice solutions with numerous customers from different industries to meet immission control requirements, which have been given strong impetus through the IE Directive and BAT reference documents/ conclusions. We would like to introduce a number of best practice methods and approaches briefly to you here:
- Evaluation of new legal sources with regard to the state of the art (CertLex)
Following the presentation of draft laws, the publication of new legal sources, BAT reference documents, BAT conclusions, rescission of the binding effect of TA Luft or the publication of recommendations by the LAI (e.g. on formaldehyde) and official edicts, we examine whether changes to the state of the art result for various industries. We inform our customers and provide relevant recommendations as to courses of action.
- Assessing installations and projects in terms of compliance with the state of the art
We inspect installations to determine whether they are operating in compliance with the law (Compliance inspection). We also examine projects and plans in terms of their licensability (including the implementation of legal requirements with regard to the state of the art)
- Developing concepts for implementing the state of the art including variant analysis
- Concepts for implementing the German Solvent Ordinance (31st Federal Immission
Control Ordinance),
- preparing baseline reports (AZBs),
- Preparing a report on exhaust air purification (TA Luft, 13th Federal Immission Control
Ordinance, 17th Federal Immission Control Ordinance)
- Providing assistance with Notifications and licensing procedures
An application must present compliance with legal requirements, particularly in respect of the state of the art, in a complete and comprehensible form to enable the authority to grant the licence more quickly.
- Preparing, and providing assistance with, environmental inspections (particularly in the case of IE installations)
In advance of the environmental inspection, we assess the operation of the installation in accordance with requirements from existing licences and in accordance with legal requirements in respect of the state of the art, in particular, and provide assistance in implementing a legally compliant operation. This enables the publication of inspection reports containing deficiencies to be prevented.
Your contact persons in our offices
Christoph Franken
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-34
E-Mail: franken(at)bfu-ag.de
Marco Kühn
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-14
E-Mail: kuehn(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
Quarrying and Earthworks Expertise
Best Practise Case
Task description
The raw materials industry, particularly the quarrying and earthworks sector, makes an important contribution to the economic significance of Germany as an industrial location. Through exploration, extraction and processing, it enables a close-to-site supply of industry, trade and local authorities. Up to the point at which saleable products are made available, the manufacturing companies need to cope with diverse issues and tasks which relate, in particular, to planning and licensing legislation. Following deposit exploration, spatial planning law-related procedures for designating the deposits must be carried out, followed by procedures under mining, immission control, water, building or nature conservation legislation until such time as the deposit and the downstream processing plants guarantee the supply of raw materials.
The technical issues relating to noise, air quality and smell due to the activities for extracting the raw materials and their impact on the environment should be answered in the special licensing procedure and in any environmental impact assessment that may be required.
EU legislation means that the raw materials industry has also recently had to deal with issues of nature conservation, e.g. through the designation of FFH areas and bird sanctuaries. In some cases, complex issues relating to species protection need to be resolved in connection with the deposits.
This has resulted in application processing under licensing law being transformed, over the past few years, into complex licensing management, in which issues relating to waste, soil protection and occupational safety legislation need to be dealt with.
Our services
Since 1976, we have offered our customers assistance and advice ranging from the filing of applications to strategy consultancy.
We provide support to our customers here in all issues ranging from deposit exploration to spatial planning designation through to operating licences.
This relates, in particular, to preparing and conducting:
- Spatial planning procedures
- Licensing procedures in accordance with the Bundes-Berggesetz (Federal Mining Act) / Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz (Federal Immission Control Act)/ Kreislaufwirtschafts- und Abfallgesetz (Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act)
- Environmental impact studies
- Noise and dust forecasts
- Mining and recultivation planning
- Interference and offset analyses and assessment of their costs
- Expert statements of opinion on nature conservation
- Safety management
- Examination of decisions and orders
The interdisciplinary orientation of our team of employees, consisting of natural scientists, engineers and lawyers, ensures that our customers are offered comprehensive advice. We see ourselves as a partner of the raw materials industry and as its lobbyist and interest mediator. The aim is always to provide comprehensive project support so as to achieve a legally compliant solution that the operator also considers viable and reasonably priced.
Your contact persons in our offices
Andreas Baumgart
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-44
E-Mail: baumgart(at)bfu-ag.de
Marco Kühn
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-14
E-Mail: kuehn(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
Product Compliance
Best Practice Case
Task description
A host of European and German regulations, such as the REACH Regulation, the RoHS Directive, the Eco-Design Directive, the Energiebetriebene-Produkte-Gesetz (Energy-Using Products Act) etc., require producers to ensure, in addition to product and user safety, that no banned substances are used in their products and substance restrictions are observed. It is becoming more and more frequent for customers to require suppliers and upstream producers to make declarations to the effect that their products are free of harmful substances or comply with the currently allowable limit values and are energy-efficient.
In the past, it was sufficient to provide general answers to customer enquiries regarding harmful substance content and substance requirements. Nowadays, the market demands a detailed analysis of these enquiries, and even reference to environmental certification (Eco Audit/ISO 14001, etc.) is no longer considered sufficient by industry and commerce, as they face the threat of being held liable for issuing hazardous substance/ product guarantees. Producers must therefore answer such enquiries conscientiously, and purchasing and sales must constantly adapt to the new requirements of such regulations in order not to lose customers or market share.
Our services
BfU supports the client in formulating a product compliance management system that enables him to ensure that his products comply with environmental protection and occupational health and safety regulations as well as requirements under product legislation at both European and German levels. The above-mentioned regulations constitute a part of the producers' need for action regarding the issuance of declarations in respect of substance requirements and the energy/product safety relevance of their products. These and, if applicable, other regulations through to relevant DIN standards are identified together with the client and form the basis of an examination of product components in terms of the declarations of the absence of harmful substances to be issued to third parties.
Objective
The objective is to support the customer in his endeavours to establish an in-house set of tools that can be presented to his customers and suppliers and any monitoring organizations to satisfy the above-mentioned German and European or global substance and product safety requirements.
- Providing assistance with correspondence, particularly with answering customer enquiries in respect of product requirements in terms of material and energy
- Formulating expert appraisals and statements of opinion when evaluating product and substance requirements
- Conducting supplier audits
- Providing continual support in respect of regulation monitoring
- Training the client's personnel
Result for our customers
- Assurance that only legally compliant products enter the market, that harmful substance restrictions and substance bans are respected
- Risk of recall campaigns is minimized
- In-house personnel's lack of certainty in respect of dealing with new European or German product compliance requirements is minimized
- The public image of the company's expertise is strengthened, as customers and clients receive professional answers to their product compliance questions.
Your contact persons in our offices
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag.de
Marco Kühn
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-14
E-Mail: kuehn(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
Risk-Oriented Fire Protection
Our services
BfU AG develops risk-oriented operating standards for the effective operational implementation of fire protection requirements. The aim is to define appropriate, uniform company specifications for structural, technical, organizational and defensive fire protection. Only through uniform operating standards can operational fire protection in companies with multiple locations be specifically monitored and improved.
The operating standards are developed taking compliance aspects, preventative fire protection, fire risks and the consequential effects on people and the environment into account.
- Identification of requirements
Requirements for fire protection arise in particular from the approval situation, the regulations of property insurers (e.g. according to VdS guidelines or FM Global) and the legal regulations.
Only with knowledge of these requirements can appropriate operational fire protection measures be sensibly implemented.
Further requirements, e.g. the storage of hazardous substances or the processing of flammable materials, are identified through on-site fire risk analyses
- Implementation of technical and organizational fire protection measures
Taking into account the identified requirements, the necessary technical and organizational fire protection measures are determined. BfU AG offers support at all levels of operational fire protection:
- Structural fire protection
- Creation of fire protection concepts and fire protection certificates
- Design of measures for extinguishing water retention
- Fire safety risk assessments
- Creation of storage concepts for hazardous substances, e.g. according to TRGS 510
- Explosion protection concepts for machines and systems
- Technical fire protection
- Creation of fire detection and alarm concepts according to DIN 14675
- Basics for extinguishing system concepts according to VdS and FM Global
- Basics of security lighting
- Organizational fire protection
- Establishment of fire protection regulations according to DIN 14096 parts 1 to 3
- Creation of fire brigade plans and escape and rescue plans
- Development of alarm plans
- Defensive fire protection
- Monitoring concepts
- Establishment of a suitable testing organization for building and security technology
The control of the implementation of developed operating standards (e.g. uniform specifications for plant-related storage of hazardous substances or processing of flammable substances) is monitored by BfU AG specialists as part of regular audits.
Your contact persons in our offices
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag.de
Christian Schmidt
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-15
E-Mail: schmidt(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
CertLex Licensing Module
Best Practice Case
Problem:
Conditions and collateral provisions in licensing decisions, permits or orders give rise to obligations for companies, which must be given at least as much consideration as requirements arising from national environmental legislation. Particularly operators of installations subject to licensing with a long operating history face the challenge of analysing the entire licence history and identifying relevant obligations from it.
Numerous decisions and associated documents may be accumulated over a period of decades. It is almost impossible to keep on top of all these without a suitable system. New decisions may replace old provisions wholly or partly, which means that a constant alignment needs to be carried out. At the same time, existing duties need to be delegated and tracked.
Goal:
The corporate aim here is to have a systematic command of conditions and collateral provisions arising from licences, permits or official orders, to define and monitor responsibilities and thereby facilitate a legally compliant plant operation.
Best-Practice:
CertLex offers intelligent and convenient support here. In addition to the law module, the individual legal register for the ongoing monitoring of changes to legislation, the licensing module enables you to structure and track all official documents.
Our experts can also assist you in this matter, providing the following services:
- On-site inventory-taking with a view to providing a systematisation of installations,
- document upload,
- setting up a core register of licences as a service (including entering collateral provisions, where applicable),
- ongoing entry of new licences as a service (including entering collateral provisions, where applicable),
- self-management of the platform,
- providing the possibility of handling collateral provisions and delegation of duties.
This will enable you to keep track of all your obligations and provide evidence of legally compliant implementation to the authority at any time!
Further information is available at www.certlex.de.
Your contact persons in our offices
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag.de
Marco Kühn
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-14
E-Mail: kuehn(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
Reduction of Energy Costs
Best Practice Case
Energy costs frequently make up a large part of a company's expenses. These expenses, however, are not fixed costs, as is frequently calculated. Energy costs can be significantly reduced, for example, through the use of state-of-the-art installations, efficient consumer behaviour, energy management and corresponding support options.
An example is a company that requires large and constant quantities of steam for its production. Many companies currently generate the required quantities of steam by using several gas boilers, while sourcing their electricity requirements from the electricity grid.
A company that operates according to "best practice" in order to lower its energy costs would be better served by technical optimisation of the energy supply. The use of a backpressure steam turbine provides one possibility here. A part of the steam generated in the boilers is channelled via this turbine. The turbine is linked to a generator, thereby enabling electrical energy to be generated. The steam is withdrawn in the overpressure range and is overheated, which means that the steam continues to be available as process steam. As a result of the electricity generation, electricity requirements can be covered, depending on size, and excess electricity fed into the electricity grid.
A payment under the KWKG is possible for this electricity that is fed into the grid, which means that electricity costs fall due to in-house generation as opposed to external purchase. It is also possible to achieve tax relief as fuels used in combined heat and power plants receive preferential tax treatment.
This optimisation means that the company's own, sustainable energy supply is secure and it achieves additional earnings as an energy supplier, as well as availing itself of statutory payments and tax relief.
Your contact persons in our offices
Stefan Hüsemann
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-24
E-Mail: huesemann(at)bfu-ag.de
Marco Kühn
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-14
E-Mail: kuehn(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
Suitability assessment according to § 63 WHG in conjunction with §§ 41, 42 AwSV
Task:
A company would like to build a facility for storing water-polluting substances in one of the production halls. For this purpose, according to Section 63 WHG, it must be officially determined that the planned storage facility and the associated parts of the facility are designed in such a way that the water law requirements of Sections 62 and 63 WHG are taken into account and there is therefore no need to worry about any adverse changes to water properties.
Goal
Obtaining the official suitability assessment notice and thus legal conformity with the provisions of the WHG and the AwSV Planning security for the customer with regard to costs and construction effort
Best practices
Preliminary review, approval by authorities
The BfU Dr. Poppe AG prepares its customers an initial assessment of which legal regulations apply to the system and which structural measures are necessary for legal compliance. At the same time, the BfU provides Dr. Poppe AG establishes contact with the responsible authority at an early stage in order to clarify their legal interpretations and technical requirements. In this way, possible pitfalls can be identified early and the process of determining suitability can be made efficient.
Compilation of application documents and in-house report
The BfU Dr. Once you have been commissioned, Poppe AG will put together the application documents necessary to determine your suitability. This requires system-specific information, which is provided by the customer. After completion, the BfU hands over to Dr. Poppe AG sends the customer a completed application for inspection and approval.
In addition, the BfU offers Dr. Poppe AG provides the report from an expert required for the suitability assessment application in accordance with Section 42 AwSV. The BfU Dr. Poppe AG employs several AwSV experts, so that the person who was not previously involved in preparing the application is commissioned to prepare the report. In this way, we ensure the necessary independence and ensure that an objective technical opinion is created.
Certificate of suitability
Through proactive planning and close cooperation with the authorities, a suitability assessment can be obtained quickly and extensive additional provisions can be avoided. This means that the planned storage facility can be built as soon as possible.
Result for the customer:
- Efficient process handling
- Optimal customer support
- Legal conformity through suitability assessment notice
Your contact persons in our offices
Stefan Hüsemann
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-24
E-Mail: huesemann(at)bfu-ag.de
Marco Kühn
Telefon: +49 (0)345 686977-14
E-Mail: kuehn(at)bfu-ag.de
Dr. Antonia Goldner
Telefon: +49 (0)40 30238698-3
E-Mail: goldner(at)bfu-ag.de
Hans-Ulrich Terme
Telefon: +49 (0)561 96996-14
E-Mail: terme(at)bfu-ag..de
Stefan Bender
Tel: +49 (0)6441 96305-12
E-Mail: bender(at)bfu-ag.de
Axel Dreyer
Telefon: +49 (0)202 3171-3274
E-Mail: dreyer(at)bfu-ag.de
Any further questions?
E-Mail: info(at)bfu-ag.de
Tel.: +49 (0)561 96996-0