The global environmental challenge has led to renewed world interest in moving towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production. The concepts of sustainable development, which include economic development, ecological balance, and social justice, need to be taken into account while making policies and plans to meet human needs at home and abroad, without damaging the environment or jeopardizing the future. The global phenomenon of innovative environmental protection management ideas and practices has led to the development of a standard for environmental management systems, called ISO 14001. The broad aim of ISO 14001 is to support environmental protection and pollution prevention, to upgrade environmental performance, and to enable an organization to achieve compliance with laws and regulations. Throughout the world, increasing concern about the environment is causing societies to include issues like sustainable development, pollution control, waste management, and resource management in the formulation of national policies. Organizations are under increasing pressure from a plethora of stakeholders to adopt greener and more sustainable patterns of behavior with the aim of reducing environmental impact. The ISO 14001 certification includes environmental management systems, as well as environmental auditing and environmental labeling. This certification was published in 1996 and is based upon the fundamental environmental message of continuous improvement, as well as the new concept of pollution prevention.
Key Principles of ISO 14001 Certificate
The key principles of an ISO 14001 certificate are based on the active involvement and compliance model, which has become a general guide for environmental management systems in businesses and a management tool to drive continuous improvement at all levels of a company. To achieve registration, companies must meet dozens of specific requirements. While specific environmental procedures will vary from one company to the next, ISO 14001 requires the establishment of an environmental policy, which is to be implemented and maintained. This is typically summarized in a written policy statement intended for distribution to all employees and is often accompanied by the establishment of environmental objectives and targets. These objectives and targets are translated into a series of company programs that allow the company to either comply with or exceed new or existing environmental standards and regulations.
Also, the company must create an environmental management system based on an identified series of organizational and procedural controls and must identify environmental aspects that it has previously produced or does produce. Then, the company must identify how it controls those aspects and assemble the information as objective evidence of competence for those things. Additionally, the company must identify any planned or emergency responses when those controls are inadequate to prevent unintended emissions of hazardous materials from occurring and must put other mechanisms into place to maintain or demonstrate compliance with those controls. These include mechanisms by which the company will periodically self-evaluate its own performance, and the evaluations must be made available to the public or employees.
Benefits of Obtaining ISO 14001 Certification
An organization that has been audited and certified to be in conformance with the requirements of ISO 14001 has obtained a significant competitive edge with respect to market access, image, and performance. Core benefits of certification to ISO 14001 are as follows: Evidence of environmental credentials. Certification demonstrates that the organization's environmental management system has been assessed by a third party, that it meets the requirements of the standard, and that it is regularly reviewed. This demonstrates that the organization has an established, systematic approach to environmental management. Adds competitive edge. ISO 14001 certification gives potential customers assurance that the organization is committed to producing products to very high, documented standards, and that it sees through agreed targets. This assurance can be an enabler for a public or private organization to secure more business and compete more effectively, able to work with suppliers and subcontractors not previously available because the potential for under-delivery and the risk of poor quality has reduced. Makes incorporation into larger projects more likely. ISO 14001 certification is a prerequisite for some major purchasing decisions; for example, an organization commits to only using ISO 14001 registered companies in its supply chain. The need for certified companies to demonstrate the formulation and implementation of good procedures is a real issue. This potentially paves the way for an increase in willingness to participate in the tender process. May reduce insurance costs. Insurance underwriters have used ISO 14001 as an indication of the seriousness of the company in containing potential liabilities and other risks. This can equate to lower premiums, subject to underwriter inspection. May reduce regulatory compliance costs. ISO 14001 certified companies understand and are able to meet stringent targets that may have been too set were they not under instruction to do so. When the certified company has shown in the process of making them operational that they are achievable, as a result, contacts can gain a reputation for soundness and adherence to the principles. In turn, the regulators can relax a little, confident that the real risks have been outweighed. This is not without penalty; if the company does not meet the agreed targets, then the penalties are all the greater. Ensure that the EMS addresses the wider agenda. ISO 14001 will help to demonstrate compliance with external environmental issues. Organizations are increasingly being asked to demonstrate a responsible approach in areas including transport management, surface water run-off, artificial lighting, private aircraft owners' clubs, outdoor entertainment events, traffic management, and/or noise. Organizations large and small can benefit from an improved level of attention to environmental risk; this might ease tensions with local community pressure groups and environmental organizations.
Steps to Achieve ISO 14001 Certification
ISO 14001 is a standard that sets forth the requirements to establish and operate an Environmental Management System (EMS). These requirements are general and can be applied to organizations of various types and sizes. ISO 14001 adoption breaks down into six major steps that are common to all organizations. The steps shown here are transposed to the general nature of an ISO 14001 project and are stated in the form of tasks. The standard's language is reflected in the task names to facilitate showing the relationship of the project task to the requirements of the standard.
Perform a Gap Analysis. A gap analysis is the comparison of the current performance of an organization's management system with the standard's clauses. The gap analysis uses questionnaires filled out by management to get an overall view of the status of the existing management system. The result is a list of shortcomings that are included in a corrective plan specifying the deadlines for implementation. The corrective plan also lists the positive features of the system, even if they are not yet present in written form, in such a way as to avoid making any drastic changes completely unsupported by the existing management system. Results from this step should be summarized in a report, with data organizations have generated in order to track the rate, in addition to the specific tasks taken to correct any nonconformity. In this way, the company has material that can be included in order to open the door to exemption lists.
Gap Analysis
Before starting the EMA, the organization shall perform a gap analysis, aiming at the identification of relevant aspects that are in conflict or disagreement with specifications. Such aspects can be connected to the environmental management system consolidation, the interface with other areas of the organization, the definition of roles and functions, the importance of human resources, environmental technology, the communication system, preventive and corrective controls, inspections and tests, among others. The most frequent situation occurs when the organization has already implemented several management system models and the EMA guidance is not perceived as a system issue, but as an environmental or exclusively technical issue.
Policy Development
We already know about the concept of policy. How policy gets developed, and the development process of the policy has already been explained. The same concept applies to the development of the environmental policy as well. It is recommended that the policy shall cover minimizing effects, streamlining the business to comply with legal and statutory requirements, and also concerns the interaction of the business's environmental management system. The statement shall also give an obligation to the document. By this, all the documents and records that offer for purchasing and others are followed by the requirements of the system procedures and policy. It also refers to the needs that fulfill the requirements, which are also subject to the current audit system, proper organization, and management treated with the official document.
Once the kind of organization is understood, the description of the organization and the conceptual policies is known. It is necessary to direct the policy aspects and reach their customer results in all the necessary set. Such identification and performance review considerations include all the suitable aspects and the necessary standards, and can include the awareness of needs to distinguish the meaningful removal and apply to all the objectives and targets to achieve. Each target has been planned to check and review and continue the customer maintenance of the documentation. The organization aims to implement its overall plan of the environmental management system and minimize the environmental impacts by offering the present and future objectives. It uses the process of estimation to check the upcoming advances and adjustments of policy.
Implementation and Monitoring
Implementation of the EMS (Environmental Management System) also involves several elements. The standard recognizes that the EMS must both be properly resourced and well documented. It also requires that senior management carry out specific activities, including direct involvement in key elements such as policy and objectives and by ensuring that the EMS adequately addresses the environmental aspects of the organization's activities. In preparing documented procedures and processes, the organization must plan for the following elements of the EMS: communications; operational control; monitoring and measurement of operations that could have a significant impact, e.g., routine discharge, spill, or release of substances; and investigation of all environmental accidents and implications. Organizations will also need to develop procedures for periodically evaluating compliance with environmental legislation, planning for the environmental impact of new or modified processes, activities, or products (including emergency preparedness and response), and monitoring success against its environmental objectives and targets.
Internal Audit
This was formerly known as an environmental audit. Independent auditing is widely recognized as an effective means of ensuring that the systems are indeed in operation. This is particularly the case when the result of the independently conducted audit is capable of being communicated to the person responsible for its operation, through the established management structure. The auditing team should be drawn from people who were not directly involved in the operation of the management systems under review. It is introducing a particular scheme of internal audit in which each part of the system is audited by someone competent in the techniques being used. The scheme should take into account the organizational structure and contiguity, distinguishing "Environmental Audit" from "Quality Auditing," which demand different skill sets. The internal audit should consider the requirements of this "standard" and should take account of the views of interested parties.
Certification Audit
This audit is defined as a process for assessing the adequacy of the "certification" period. Generally, this audit will be conducted before, during, and after the certification by the certification body. However, as a rule, you do not have to conduct all the activities of the certification. It determines the scope of the surveillance procedure to be applied. However, preparation for certification audits or certification audits is highly recommended, as it can provide valuable information to the customers regarding the status of the EnMS before the certificate and familiarize employees with the audit process.
Surveillance can be applied by the ECs, witnesses, or a combination accepted by the CB. It can work as a team from different organizations, or a person with ignorance of previous verification results can do all verification. An internal audit is usually used for any surveillance. However, additional verification methods are also possible.
Pre-certification audit
If EMS meets the requirements, the following applies: a pre-certification audit can be performed. Over the last few years, a third-party certification body may or may not give a permit to do so. The pre-certification audit allows for the identification of potential nonconformances and provides an opportunity for the regulator to correct them. It should be noted that any nonconformity identified during the pre-certification audit must be corrected.
