ISO 14001 is the standard and is considered the most widely used environmental management standard in the world.
The Benefits of Implementation
There are many reasons that businesses decide to implement an EMS, not least, the reduced risk of failing to comply with legislation.
The other major benefits include;
- Reducing Waste
- Increasing Efficiency
- Improved working environment
- Minimizing the impact of the organization on the local environment.
The ISO14001 standard has been designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact. With the commitment of your entire business, it can enable you to achieve both objectives.
An EMS requires you to take a systematic view of your environmental impacts and prioritize your actions allowing you to prioritise and focus your time and resources towards the most significant impacts and for you to set up a realistic action plan to improve them.
Taking a systematic approach to your EMS can lead to a whole host of benefits for your business including;
- Creating a framework for continual environmental improvement
- Assuring customers and the public of your commitment to meeting environmental responsibilities
- Improving relations with regulators
- Enhancing your market image or opening up new markets
- Meeting customer criteria for approved supplier lists
- Reducing raw material and utility costs through improved process efficiency
- Reducing the risk of environmental incidents occurring and minimizing their impact Improving staff morale through involvement in environmental improvement initiatives.
ISO14001 is based on five principles which analyses each of the elements which your business is required to implement.
1 - Policy
To ensure full commitment you will need to produce an environmental policy which acts as the foundation of your entire EMS and, as such, the structure of the system should be designed to deliver your businesses aspirations.
In short, the policy should be a documented statement of how your business is committed to the protection of the environment, prevention of pollution, legislative compliance and continual improvement.
2 - Planning
Environmental Aspects
Once the policy has been established, your should identify and evaluate the environmental implications of your activities, products and services to allow you to determine their significance and make informed decisions on how they can be controlled or improved.
You should take into account all the environmental aspects that you can control and those you can influence and take into account planned or new developments, or new or modified activities, products and services.
You must document and keep this information up to date and ensure that the significant environmental aspects are taken into account when you establish and implement your EMS and when you maintain it.
As one of the three core commitments of the environmental policy, your system should be structured to deliver legislative compliance.
To achieve this, procedures should be established to identify and ensure access to relevant laws and regulations and other requirements to which your business adheres that relate to your environmental aspects. You must identify how these requirements apply to your environmental aspects.
After you have an insight into the significant environmental issues and legal implications of your activities, the next step is to set goals for improvement. These objectives and targets should also consider your environmental policy, your commitments to the prevention of pollution, compliance with legal and other requirements and continual improvement.
They should also take into account views of interested parties and other businesses, financial, operational and technical factors. The objectives and targets that you set should be measurable where practicable.
To ensure that policy commitments, objectives and targets are carried out,
realistic and achievable action plans should be established which include the means and time frames by which your objectives and targets are to be achieved.
3 - Implementation and Operation
Resources, Roles, Responsibility and Authority
All management initiatives require an organizational structure - environmental management is no exception. Resources, roles and responsibilities and authority, relevant to the EMS, should be defined, documented and communicated in order to facilitate effective environmental management.
A specific management representative should be appointed by top management. They will ensure that the EMS is established, maintained and implemented in accordance with ISO 14001 and that they report to top management on the performance of the EMS for review including recommendations for improvement.
Competence, Training and Awareness
To ensure that the requirements of the policy and the EMS are carried out as specified, you must ensure that any persons performing tasks for your business or even on behalf of it that have the potential to cause a significant environmental impact are competent.
You need to keep records so that you can demonstrate this competence. You need to identify training needs and establish an appropriate training programme and keep records of training that has been performed.
You need to make sure that people working for or on behalf of your organization are aware of the importance of the environmental policy and the requirements of the EMS.
Communication
Procedures should be established to record and respond to internal and external communications on environmental issues.
Documentation
Standard and consistent application of the system must be applied. This should be achieved through the establishment and maintenance of information describing the core elements of the system and their interaction and provide direction to other related documents.
Control of Documents
All documents required by the EMS need to be controlled. A procedure should be established to ensure that all documents within the system are effectively managed. This should include requirements for approving documents before they are issued, reviewing and updating documents, ensuring the location and revision of documents and their removal and retention once obsolete.
Operational Control
You will need to identify and plan those operations that are associated with your significant aspects (in line with your policy, objectives and targets they should be planned and managed under specified conditions). You can do this by procedures to control situations, laying down operating criteria and having procedures related to your significant aspects and communicating them to suppliers and contractors.
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Despite best-laid plans, accidents and emergency situations can still occur. To prevent and mitigate the environmental implications of such situations, procedures should be established to identify and respond to accident and emergency situations. These must be periodically reviewed and tested.
4 - Checking
Monitoring and Measurement
Check the effectiveness of the system and to ensure that it is still on track you should monitor and measure key activities that have significant impacts upon the environment. You also need to ensure that any equipment that you use is calibrated and retain records to demonstrate this.
Evaluation of compliance
You must periodically review compliance with legislation and other requirements to which your business subscribes.
Non-conformances, Corrective and Preventive Action
A procedure should be established, implemented and maintained for taking corrective and preventive action. You need to identify and correct the non-conformances at the earliest opportunity, investigate and determine their cause and take action to prevent the problem recurring.
Control of Records
Records should be kept to provide evidence that the system is working satisfactorily. Such records should be legible, identifiable and traceable to the activity involved.
Internal Audit
Once the system is in place, it is vital to ensure that the theoretical intentions of procedures and instructions are being implemented in practice. To do this, regular and systematic audits should be conducted to verify that your EMS is operating as intended. An audit programme needs to be set and followed. Auditors that perform this task must be objective and impartial.
5 - Management review
Your management team should review the EMS to assess its continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness. This will allow them to address possible changes to the policy, objectives and targets, and the EMS as a whole, in light of changing circumstances and the commitment to continual improvement.
In essence, the EMS should be viewed as a basic management framework, which enables organizations to coordinate and drive environmental improvements. It should be continually monitored and reviewed to ensure that it is responsive to internal and external environmental factors affecting your business, (e.g. changes in legislation).
Each person in your business should be aware of their role within the EMS and accept personal responsibility for environmental improvements and conformances with the policy and procedures.