In a constantly changing, increasingly demanding environment subject to higher competition, it is crucial for any company seeking to stand out and enhance its efficiency to engage in continuous improvement, at least to stay updated on the changes occurring in the environment in which it operates.
A company is a living system, and the process of continuous improvement allows it to structure this dynamic by defining a model for the necessary actions. This is the purpose of the international standard ISO 9001:15, which specifies the requirements for a quality management system when an organization must demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer requirements, legal requirements, and applicable regulatory requirements, and aims to increase customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for improving the system and ensuring compliance with customer requirements and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
ISO 9001 states that every organization must establish, implement, maintain, and continuously improve its quality management system, and the company’s quality policy should include a commitment to continuous improvement. Every organization must continuously improve the relevance, adequacy, and effectiveness of the quality management system, taking into account the results of audits and management reviews.
In this context, as in many others, there are principles and practices that improve organizational performance and others that minimize results. However, there are no magic formulas because the external and internal challenges that each company faces are often extremely specific.
ISO 9001 is based on 7 principles, which constitute a set of fundamental values, rules, and beliefs that can serve as the foundation for quality management. Among these is continuous improvement.
Improvement is essential for an organization to maintain its performance levels, respond to variations in the internal and external context, and create new opportunities. This constant search for improvement is beneficial at many levels:
- Improving process performance, organizational capability, and customer satisfaction;
- Improving the identification and investigation of root causes of problems and applying corrective and preventive actions;
- Increasing the ability to anticipate and respond to unexpected risks and opportunities;
- Better use of learning;
- Greater efforts toward innovation.
THE ORIGINS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
How did the idea of an environmental management system originate, and what is its purpose? All the environmental issues discussed in recent decades stem from science and research that inform us about the impact humans can have on the environment, from climate change to oil pollution, mercury poisoning of animals, to the burning of rainforests. As scientists help us better understand these complex issues, society expects an active response to these problems and that everyone plays their part. Society, of course, influences businesses, consumers, shareholders, etc.
These pressures, the increasingly stringent legislation on these issues, new regulations, customer and consumer expectations, and all the influences coming from the operational context put your business at risk but also present opportunities.
The certification of an ISO 14001 environmental management system is a statement that your company is capable of managing all these issues responsibly and helps you stand out from competitors who are less environmentally conscious.
The standard explains that the objectives of implementing an ISO 14001 management system are to ensure that the organization manages its obligations, both legal and other types (legislative and regulatory requirements, needs and expectations of stakeholders, etc.), reduce its environmental impact (by implementing processes that help the organization manage its environmental impact), and improve environmental performance.
Regarding this last objective, the following approach can be taken:
- Set milestones to be achieved and monitor progress;
- Monitor environmental performance;
- Take all necessary actions to ensure the achievement of performance-related objectives;
- Keep the system under control;
- Seek continuous improvement of the system.
If you are familiar with the certification process according to other standards, you will already know how ISO 14001 certification works, as it is similar to that of other standards. Before starting, you need to decide whether to ask your certification body for an optional preliminary analysis to identify any gaps in compliance with regulatory requirements.
The first official phase of the certification audit is to agree with the certification body on the scope of the system and share with these professionals some general information, such as the number of employees, the company’s activities, on-site facilities, etc. This allows the certifying body to prepare an estimate for the number of days they will spend auditing all parts of the environmental system.
At this point, the first audit of the system’s documentation will take place to determine if the correct structure for the management system has been established.
At the end of the audit, if something is not satisfactory, the organization will receive a non-conformance notice along with recommendations on the timeframe within which to address them.
The next audit will focus on operational controls carried out at the company’s physical site and the implementation of the environmental system to check whether people are actually following the procedures reviewed in the previous phase of the certification process. At the end of this audit, you will receive one of the following outcomes:
- A recommendation for ISO 14001 certification;
- A recommendation for ISO 14001 certification with one or more minor non-conformities to be resolved before the next audit;
- A conditional recommendation for ISO 14001 certification depending on the closure of major non-conformities (typically any major non-conformities) that must be resolved and verified by another audit or by presenting proof of their resolution;
- No recommendation for ISO 14001 certification. This happens if major non-conformities are found that are considered by the auditors as significant enough to believe the organization is too far from reaching the required level for certification.
The most common result is the second: certification with an indication of non-conformities that must be closed before the next audit.
After the first two audits, if you have been successful in obtaining a recommendation for ISO 14001 certification, you will begin a cycle of periodic audits that will serve to confirm that you continue to operate well and that the environmental certification can be renewed. These audits are known as surveillance audits and may be conducted every six or twelve months.
During surveillance audits, auditors may select specific processes or areas to focus on as part of a sampling process. These checks usually have a shorter duration and include follow-up activities for any non-conformities from previous audits.