ISO 14001 2004

INTRODUCTION

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 over 150 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 ISO 14001

ISO 14001 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 ISO 14001 standard was officially published
on November 15, 2004. It cancels and replaces the old
ISO 14001 1996 standard. ISO 14001 1996 expired on
May 15, 2006.

Since it was first published in 1996, ISO 14001 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.
ISO 14001 applies to all types of organizations. It doesn’t
matter what size they are or what they do.

HOW TO USE ISO 14001

If you don’t already have an environmental management
system (EMS), you can use this ISO 14001 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:

1. You can simply announce to the world
   that your EMS complies with the ISO 14001
   standard (if it actually does).

2. You can ask your customers or other
   interested parties to confirm that your EMS
   complies with the ISO 14001 standard.

3. You can ask an ISO 14001 registrar or
   external auditor to verify that your EMS
   complies with the ISO 14001 standard.

ISO 14001 expects organizations to comply with all of the
requirements that make up the standard. No exceptions.
According to ISO, every ISO 14001 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 ISO 14001 requirements, and
to what extent, depends on many factors, including:

1. The size of your organization.

2. The location of your organization.

3. The scope of your organization’s EMS.

4. The content of your environmental policy.

5. The nature of your activities, products, and services.

6. The environmental impact of your environmental aspects.

7. The legal and other requirements that must be met.

YOUR GENERAL APPROACH

If you don’t already have an EMS, ISO 14001 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 ISO 14001 asks
  you to define the scope of your EMS, it is asking you
  to define its boundary. You can choose to apply
  ISO 14001 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 ISO 14001 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 ISO 14001 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 ISO 14001 2004 standard.

OTHER ISO 14001 WEB PAGES

Overview of ISO 14001 2004 Environmental Management

ISO 14001 2004 versus ISO 14001 1996 Environmental Standards

ISO 14001 2004 Plain English Environmental Management Definitions

ISO 14001 2004 Standard Translated into Plain English

How to Develop an Environmental Management System

ISO 14001 2004 Environmental Gap Analysis Tool

ISO 14001 2004 Internal Audit Program

Our Plain English Approach to ISO 14001

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Updated on September 10, 2009. On the Web since May 25, 1997.