ISO 14001 Environment Management System
IS0 14001 is an internationally accepted standard that sets out how you can go about putting in place an effective Environmental Management System (EMS). The standard is designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact with the commitment of your entire organization and it can enable you to achieve both objectives .Environmental impact is becoming an increasingly important issue across the globe, with pressure to minimize that impact coming from a number of sources e.g local and national governments, regulators, trade associations, customers, employees and shareholders. Social pressures are also building up from the growing array of interested parties, such as consumer, environmental and non-govemmental organizations (NGOs), acacdemia and neighbours.
Benefits
- Providing your company with assurance that you meet, and will continue to meet, your legal and corporate policy requirements.
- Providing potentially fewer surveillance visits from regulatory agencies.
- Showing your business partners, regulatory - agencies, and community that you are environmentally responsible.
- Increasing competitiveness.
- Reducing your environment liability.
- Complying with environmental laws and regulations.
- Improving relationships with regulators - organizations that implement an ISO 14001 EMS often report improved relations with government regulatory agencies, find that regulators are quicker to provide technical support, and find that the regulators are much more supportive in general.
- Streamlining operations - organizations often realize monetary savings as a result of greater operational efficiency and energy conservation.
- Safety benefits - by reviewing the procedures for controlling significant operations, including a review of emergency preparedness and response procedures, organizations are able to identify and implement significant safety improvements.
A new version of the standard,ISO 14001:2015, has been launched,replacing the previous version (ISO 14001:2004).
Why has the standard been revised?
ISO standards are reviewed every five years and revised if needed.This helps ensure they remain useful tools for the marketplace.The challenges faced by business and organizations today are very different from a few decades ago and ISO 14001 has been updated to take this new environment into account.
What are the main changes to the standard?
The key changes relate to:- Increased prominence of environmental management within the organization's strategic planning processes
- Greater focus on leadership
- Addition of proactive initiatives to protect the environment from harm and degradation, such as sustainable resource use and climate change mitigation
- Improving environmental performance added
- Lifecycle thinking when considering environmental aspects
- Addition of a communications strategy
I am certified to ISO 14001:2004.What should I do?
You have a three-year transition period from the date of publication (September 2015) to move to the 2015 version. This means that, after the end of September 2018, a certificate to ISO 14001:2004 will no longer be valid.