ISO 14001:2015 is the standard that underlies the Environmental Management System. The ISO 14000 family of standards provides practical tools for organizations of all categories, enabling them to manage their environmental responsibilities.
ISO 14001, in particular, requires a company to consider all environmental aspects critical to its daily activities such as waste management, possible soil contamination, air pollution, water and wastewater issues, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, etc.
A certified environmental management system helps companies identify, manage, monitor and control their environmental concerns in a completely comprehensive way.
ISO 14001, in fact, is based on the application of systems and strategies for continuous improvement and has been updated in recent years by making those crucial improvements that allow the company to demonstrate a more solid responsibility towards positive initiatives that increase environmental efficiency. The new concepts included, such as the pre-eminent importance of environmental management within the tactical planning processes of the organization, a greater contribution from leadership, and a more solid responsibility towards positive initiatives that increase environmental efficiency, have been fundamental to making the standard what it is today: the right tool to be able to manage one's corporate impact without too many complications.
The advantages that derive from the application of ISO 14001 are many. For example, by adhering to the environmental standard we will have an advantage in terms of advertising towards those customers who are attentive to these issues, we will reduce the organization's expenses by reducing the use of resources and the production of waste and we will also promote a positive impression with interested parties, such as - for example - the staff members and the community in which we work, we will have a competitive advantage in the more intelligent design of the supply chain, we will manage environmental obligations consistently and saving resources.
Moreover, in today's world, it is impossible to disregard the environmental impact. It is necessary to know how the surrounding environment can influence our business, customers, and supply chain.
The organization that decides to adopt an environmental management system must determine upstream all the issues that are appropriate with respect to its purpose and that affect its ability to achieve the expected results. The internal problems that could arise are, for example, noise pollution, poor air quality or problems related to waste transportation and related costs.
The external problems could, instead, include issues related to customers or legal requirements. But other interested parties could also influence, be influenced or perceive themselves as being influenced by the decisions or activities of your organization. We are talking about those who live near your company, suppliers, regulatory bodies, investors, unions, etc. A system that allows a correct and serene management of environmental issues is based on the design of the necessary processes so that the organization has sustainable success in the long term, also thanks to its environmental approach.
Let's now see in detail the repercussions that the adoption of a system for environmental management has on the various areas of an organization. Top management must show a constant commitment to supporting the development and implementation of the environmental management system because it has a fundamental role in ensuring that the objectives of the system are clear to everyone and consistent with the other organizational objectives. The commitment that management decides to take on in this regard should be communicated to the entire organization.
It is important, of course, that those who will commit operationally to embarking on this path have the necessary authority to be able to follow it easily and a solid understanding of the organization to understand exactly which processes it will be necessary to act on. It is also important that they have the necessary time to engage in the process of building the environmental management system and all the necessary support from management. In this work, you can safely decide to involve any contractors, suppliers, or other external interested parties who could become part of the system design team.
In any case, great attention must be paid to the planning process which must guarantee that the organization can achieve, through the management system, the expected results and obtain continuous improvement. Regarding risks and opportunities, we see that in ISO 14001:2015 they are defined as potential negative effects (risks/threats) and possible beneficial effects (opportunities).
An environmental system developed according to the standard requires that documented information be maintained on the risks and opportunities and on the processes necessary to ensure that the process meets expectations. It might be a good practice to generate an official risk register where it is possible to record the identification, the discussion, the actions, the results, and the monitoring and evaluate the results. An example of a possible risk could be non-compliance with legislation which could lead to a sanction and a loss of customers due to negative advertising.
An example, instead, of an opportunity is that of an organization that is capitalizing on energy efficiency measures that reduce production costs, leading to an increase in competitiveness. To support the environmental management system, resources are needed, competence that applies to people who work under the control of the organization and that can influence its environmental performance, awareness that means that people should be aware of the existence of a system for environmental management, of its purpose and of their role in achieving the commitments and compliance obligations, good internal and external communication that is understandable to all truthful interested parties and includes all relevant information.
Regarding documentary support, the company must create and maintain updated all the documented information necessary to guarantee the good functioning of the suitable environmental management system. Coming to external suppliers, it will be necessary to implement a control of outsourced processes and that the company begins to consider external suppliers and outsourced activities as something capable of influencing its ability to manage environmental aspects and the fulfillment of its compliance obligations.
For this reason, the necessary operational controls must be established which could be in the form of documented procedures, contracts or agreements with suppliers or instructions for the end user, contractors, etc., as the case may be. In general, effective planning and basic work can help reduce injuries, protect employees and people who live nearby, reduce resource losses and cut production downtime.
An effective emergency preparedness and response program should include requirements for the assessment of potential incidents and emergencies and for the prevention of incidents and related environmental impacts. To be sure that everything proceeds as planned, it will be necessary to think of a monitoring process that is able to verify if something different is happening compared to what was expected or planned and a measurement process capable of measuring, calculating or estimating the size or scale of an event (for example, the weighing of waste sent to the landfill, the quantity of gas or electricity consumed each week, noise levels, etc.)
Finally, for an environmental management system, the concept of continuous improvement is extremely important, which means conducting internal audits, examining the objectives and evaluating the progress made towards their achievement, carrying out management reviews, analyzing the data and implementing the necessary corrective actions, etc. Adopting an environmental management system if you are already certified ISO 9001 (quality system), ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety) or ISO 27001 (information security) is simple because there are many requirements that are common between these standards that have been designed and written precisely to be integrated with each other and managed through a single system.
The part of document control, that of the management review, the requirements relating to corrective actions and the request for competent personnel are, for example, all common traits between the different standards. Integrated management systems will have a positive impact on the overall results of the management systems because they will be able to align the common parts of the standards such as, for example, policies, objectives, processes and resource management.
Furthermore, you can think of having a single procedure for document control, for management reviews, for training, for internal audits and for the supervision of improvements. The entire maintenance of the integrated system will become simpler, therefore there will be greater attention to achieving the objectives that are central to the organization.
Companies will be able to have a systemic approach to changes, therefore the decision-making process will be simpler and more immediate. Organizations will be able to conduct integrated audits and therefore optimize processes and resources and this will translate into fewer interruptions and a reduction in costs. Resources will be able to focus more on process implementation and adding value rather than on superfluous system maintenance.
All this was made possible by Annex SL which is a new high-level structure for all management system standards. Annex SL is a guide to help organizations implement multiple / integrated management system standards. Over the years, in fact, ISO has published several standards relating to management systems for the areas of quality, environment, information security, health and safety, etc. and these standards share foundations that are common. However, they are not sufficiently aligned, so they were difficult to integrate in the implementation phase.
The most significant disadvantage was represented by the duplication of the work required. The guidelines of Annex SL were designed precisely to create a system that requires less maintenance and resources, for example to produce a document or a process. The publication of Annex SL outlines the structure for a generic management system. All new ISO management systems will follow this model and all current ones are migrated to this structure or will do so at the next revision. We at ACQS believe that certification must add value to your organization.
We are not simply offering you a compliance audit of your environmental or integrated management system but, maintaining our commitment to impartiality, we will dedicate our experience to your business, so that, at the end of the ISO 14001 certification process, you are convinced that achieving it means something for your business and does not only correspond to a certificate hanging on the wall.
For this reason, we are committed to setting daily rates without hidden costs and we calculate the number of days based on the guidelines specified that depend on the scope in which the company operates and on the size of the organization (for example, the number of employees and the number of shifts and sites). Call us to set up a meeting and start this journey in the best possible way!