The Use of 'Fuzzy Logic' for the Identification of Significant Environmental Aspects

摘要

It is a major challenge to assess environmental, health and safety risks in the mostly non-quantitative world of environmental management. It is an even greater challenge to communicate these risks to stakeholders. Given the imprecise methods currently available to rank risk, there is a fundamental need to formalize human judgment and perception when identifying significant environmental aspects to be included in an ISO14001 environmental management system. This paper presents an approach for using "fuzzy logic," an artificial intelligence technique, as an alternative to numerical methods. Instead of providing black-and-white answers based on "gray" data that are subject to human judgment or perception, fuzzy logic allows for the mathematical modeling of qualitative data and provides answers that more are consistent with the real world. Therefore, fuzzy logic makes it possible to model the descriptive and simplistic measures often used in audit reports and can help environmental managers identify significant environmental aspects with greater company-wide consistency and control.