Grant Will Allow Tri-County Instructor to Help Industries
To Develop, Implement an Environmental Management System

CONTACT: RICHARD PARKER, EXT. 1718

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4/14/2003
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- Later this year, Richard Parker will become the first continuing education instructor in the tri-counties to be certified as a lead environmental auditor of IS0 14000 environmental management systems. This credential will allow Parker, an instructor in Tri-County Technical College's World Class Training Center, to help area industries to develop and implement an environmental management system and to train their associates to reduce the industry's impact on the environment.

The ISO 14000 standards are a series of international, voluntary environmental management standards. These standards deal with a company's system for managing its day-to-day operations to control processes that have an impact on the environment.

Through the S.C. Sustainable Universities Initiative, Tri-County was awarded a $2,300 grant which will pay for Parker's training and give him the credentials to teach business and industry, faculty, staff and students about environmental issues and ways to manage processes to reduce environmental impacts.

"Industries use the system to take care of environmental impacts ranging from power used to waste generated," said Parker, who wrote the grant with Carrie Morningstar, director of grants and proposals at Tri-County.

"Most of our area industries either have the management system or are looking at it. It will be the price of doing business in years to come," he added.

He hopes to partner with the S.C. Manufacturers Extension Partnership to work to bring the class to Tri-County so others may become certified, also.

"In the past, we had to bring someone in to teach the class. Certification will allow me to conduct training on campus as well as in-plant," he said.
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