ERMS (Environmental Risk Management System) is a 3-year research program initiated by the oil industry. The overall objective of this program is:

• to develop an environmental risk-based decision supporting tool, in order for the oil industry to establish cost-effective mitigation measures for reducing potential harmful discharges to the marine environment

In order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to:

• establish international, scientific acceptance and recognition of the existing risk-based system and it's further development
• be able to, document, in a convincing, transparent and objective manner, the strength, and eventual development potentials of the system
• proactively and strategically communicate the usefulness, results and developments of the system to important stakeholders 

The offshore operating companies are facing the challenge of "zero harmful discharges" within 2005. This challenge, which is based on the Norwegian government's White Paper no. 58, demonstrate the need for a quantitative discharge management tool enabling the industry to document the strategy and actions to meet this request.

The program consists of major activities to develop an EIF-based concept for seafloor sediments based on a comprehensive literature study on effects from drilling discharges both in the water column as well as in seafloor sediments. The concept will be validated towards field experiments with discharges from drilling operations.