INTRODUCTION TO ISO
ISO is the International
Organization for Standardization.
It was set up in 1947 and is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
Its purpose is to facilitate and support
international trade
by developing standards that
people everywhere would
recognize and respect. ISO achieves this purpose through
the participation and support of its member bodies.
These member bodies represent standards
organizations from 146 countries.
ISO standards are developed by technical
committees.
The people who serve on these
technical committees
come from many national
standards organizations.
Consequently, ISO standards
tend to have worldwide
support. ISO 14001 was
developed by ISO Technical
Committee 207, subcommittee SC1.
ISO/TC 207, SC1
is responsible for environmental management systems. |
INTRODUCTION TO ISO14001
ISO14001:2004 is an environmental management
standard.
It defines a set of environmental management requirements
for
environmental management
systems. The purpose of
this standard is to help all kinds of organizations to protect
the environment, to prevent pollution, and to improve their
overall environmental performance.
This new ISO14001 standard was officially
published
on November 15, 2004. It cancels and replaces the old
ISO14001:1996 standard. ISO14001:1996 will expire on
May 15, 2006. Therefore, you have until May 15, 2006 to
make the transition to the new ISO14001:2004 standard.
Since it was first published in 1996, ISO14001 has rapidly
become the most important environmental standard in the
world. Thousands of
organizations use it, environmentalists
support it, and
governments actively encourage
its use.
ISO14001 applies to all types of organizations. It doesn’t
matter what size they are or what they do. |
HOW TO USE ISO14001
If you don’t already have an
environmental management
system (EMS), you can use this
ISO14001
standard to
establish one. And once you’ve established your
EMS,
you can use it to manage the
environmental
aspects
of your organization’s activities, products and services,
and to improve its overall
environmental performance.
Environmental performance is all about how well you
manage and control your environmental aspects and
the impact they have on the environment.
You can also use this standard to demonstrate that you
are doing everything you can to protect the
environment
and improve your environmental performance. You can
demonstrate your organization’s commitment in several
ways:
-
You can simply announce to the world
that your EMS complies with the ISO14001
standard (if it actually does).
-
You can ask your customers or other
interested parties to confirm that your EMS
complies with the ISO14001 standard.
-
You
can ask an ISO14001 registrar or
external auditor to verify that your EMS
complies with the ISO14001 standard.
ISO14001 expects organizations to comply with all of
the
requirements that make up the standard. No exceptions.
According to ISO, every ISO14001 requirement must be
built into every EMS. However, the size and complexity
of environmental management systems vary quite a bit.
How far you go is up to you. The size and complexity
of your EMS, the extent of your documentation,
and
the resources allocated to it will depend on many things.
How you meet each of the ISO14001 requirements, and
to what extent, depends on many factors, including:
-
The
size of your organization.
-
The
location of your organization.
-
The
scope of your organization’s EMS.
-
The
content of your environmental policy.
-
The
nature of your activities, products, and services.
-
The
environmental impact of your
environmental
aspects.
-
The
legal and other requirements that must be met.
|
YOUR GENERAL APPROACH
If you don’t already have an EMS, ISO14001 suggests
that
you start with a review of your organization’s environmental
status. Your environmental review
should:
- Identify your organization’s
environmental aspects.
Study normal and abnormal operating conditions,
as well as accidents, disasters, and emergency
situations. Identify the environmental aspects
associated with all operating conditions and
situations.
-
Clarify the legal and other
requirements that apply
to your organization’s environmental aspects. Legal
requirements include national and
international as
well as local and regional laws and
regulations.
Other requirements include agreements that have
been established with governments, customers,
community groups and others as well as
commitments,
guidelines, principles, or codes of practice that
influence how your environmental aspects
ought to be handled.
-
Examine your organization’s
current environmental
management policies, procedures, and practices. Pay
special attention to your organization’s purchasing
and contracting policies, procedures, and practices.
-
Define the scope of
your EMS. When ISO14001 asks
you to define the scope of your EMS, it is asking you
to define its boundary. You can choose
to apply
ISO14001 to the entire organization
or only to a
specific operating unit or facility. Once you’ve made
this decision, you’ve defined the scope or boundary
of your EMS. Henceforth, all activities, products, and
services that fall within this boundary must comply
with the ISO14001 standard.
Once you’ve considered the above factors, you can
begin the development of your organization’s unique
environmental management system.
But if you’ve already established an EMS and you simply
need to update it to meet the new standard, you need to
do a gap analysis. A
gap analysis will compare your
current EMS with ISO’s new ISO14001:2004 standard.
This comparison will pinpoint the areas that fall short
of
the standard (the
gaps). Once you know where to focus
your attention, you can begin to make the changes that are
needed to comply with the new ISO14001:2004 standard. |
