- What is ISO 14001 (sometimes mistakenly called ISO 1400)?
- If we already comply with environmental laws, aren't we also compliant with ISO 14001?
- What kinds of environmental performance standards does ISO 14001 prescribe?
- What kinds of organizations implement ISO 14001?
- What are the external benefits of an ISO 14001 system?
- What are the internal benefits of an ISO 14001 system?
- Must quality / environmental / health-safety management systems be separate?
- What is ISO certification / registration all about?
- What support services does Kantner & Company offer for my existing or prospective ISO 14001 system?
What is ISO-14001?
ISO 14001 is the international standard for environmental management. The organization uses its ISO 14001 system to control the way(s) its processes impact, or cause changes to, air, water, land, etc.; comply with laws/regulations, and continually improve its environmental performance.
To comply with and become registered to ISO14001, the organization must:
- Determine all the ways its operations can impact (cause change to) the environment (air, water, land, flora, fauna, etc.);
- Identify environmental laws / regulations pertinent to its operations;
- Identify environmental impacts that are potentially adverse: those that can cause pollution, violate regulations, and/or can give rise to environmental accidents or emergencies;
- Design and implement controls to eliminate or at least manage environmental impacts that are potentially polluting or otherwise adverse;
- Establish improvement programs and set targets, goals, and measurement methods to track the effectiveness of the controls.
The organization must also establish and communicate its environmental policy, maintain records, internally audit its environmental system, ensure affected employees are competent through training or other means, submit the system and its status and results to regular management review, and appropriately document the system.
If we already comply with environmental laws, aren't we also compliant with ISO 14001?
No. ISO 14001 certainly calls for environmental management controls that you doubtless already have in place in compliance with environmental law. But besides those "core processes" for environmental management, ISO 14001 also mandates a number of significant support processes, including employee training, performance measurement, management of documents and records, etc.
Even more significant, while environmental laws/regulations are about maintaining an environmental performance status quo, ISO 14001 goes beyond that to require environmental performance improvement.
What kinds of environmental performance standards does ISO 14001 prescribe?
None. ISO 14001 is way too general and generic for that. Moreover, it is intended to apply to any organization deploying any process anywhere in the world.
Clearly, the benchmark for environmental performance standards are those mandated by environmental regulations. For environmental interactions not subject to law (i.e. energy consumption), you can determine for yourself the appropriate level of control (all the way from strict to none), by taking into account factors such as public opinion, frequency of occurrence, economic benefit, and others.
What kinds of organizations implement ISO 14001?
The majority of organizations implementing ISO 14001 today do so in response to pressure from outsiders, such as key customers. In this, ISO 14001 is similar to quality management standards. Others, not under customer coercion, implement ISO14001 to demonstrate their good citizenship and/or to set themselves apart from competitors.
What are the external benefits of an ISO 14001 system?
- Satisfies the demands of current or prospective customers for registration.
- Improves customer focus. We focus controls on management of the processes that enable us to achieve and improve customer satisfaction.
- Boost international acceptance and credibility. ISO 14001 is recognized, and accepted without question. It is accredited not only by ANAB in the United States, but by accreditation bodies in virtually every country in the world.
- Expand / retain markets.
- In the U. S., certain key industry segments such as automotive, defense, heavy equipment, aerospace, mandate or prefer ISO 14001 registration for their key suppliers.
- In some cases, ISO-14001 regisation is an advantage when seeking licenses to do business in places like India and China.
- Increasingly, other marketplaces may become less and less friendly to unregistered firms as the number of registrations increases. In a recent survey, more than 80 percent of respondents said ISO registration would influence their choice of suppliers.
- Increase acceptance by regulators, the general public, and other interested parties. ISO 14001 is a "good citizen" credential.
- Places you in an elite category of businesses. Registration to ISO 14001 puts your organization on the identical level of excellence shared by organizations of all kinds worldwide.
- Keeps you prepared for external audits and inspections – i.e. regulators, customers, etc.
- Facilitates continual improvement.It sounds like a cliche, but it really is true. In today's intensely competitive global market, there is no such thing as a safe, protected market. Your competitors, out to eat your lunch, are striving to improve. You must do so too.
- Provides competitive advantage. When you're head-to-head with a competitor for a piece of business -- and you're certified but they're not -- who's going to get the nod?
What are the internal benefits of an ISO 14001 system?
- Transforms your operation from detection mode to prevention mode. Prevention is less work and less expense than detection. With an ISO management system, you prevent pollution by addressing the causes.
- Creates consistency throughout the organization built around "best practices".
- Improves business performance. A well designed, well implemented ISO compliant management system can help reduce pollution and exposure to legal / regulatory sanctions.
- Lessens dependency on key individuals. An ISO management system distributes responsibility and accountability across the work force. More people share more information and accountability for key environmental tasks. Result: tasks or processes don't collapse just because one person (i.e. "Alphabet guy" – EPA, ISO, DNR, etc.) leaves or changes jobs. And each person carries his or her small share of the load.
- Provides blueprint for controlled, disciplined growth. Some organizationis see ISO management systems as a way to organize the business, systematize practices, and ensure management accountability as the organization expands.
- Strengthens regulatory compliance. With an ISO system you can demonstrate that you are aware of, and comply with, the laws and regulations that pertain to you: federal, state, and local. You'll also have airtight control of important schedules, filings, records, etc. That can help you prevent getting NOV's because you forgot to send an annual $200 fee in.
- Ensures consistent training. An ISO system is like a collection of road maps. Each road map provides direction from one end of a process to the other. New people to the process are trained using the road map. They refer to the road map while they're learning. Their performance is tested against the road map. And once they know their process, they don't need to refer to the road map anymore. Except when the process changes, in which case the road map changes and people are retrained to it.
- Improves management oversight. An effective ISO management system incorporates monitoring and measurement of key environmental performance indicators. This gives management objective data upon which to base decisions. The required self-auditing function is even more powerful. Internal auditing is an "early warning system" to help you spot potential environmental issues – giving you the chance to address and resolve them before they are detected by others, rather than after. And then management review, closing the loop, provides management with solid data, enabling management to make decisions based on facts and evidence.
Must quality / environmental / health-safety management systems be separate?
No. The related Standards have parallel construction and many significant elements in common. You can implement an integrated business management system -- either all at once or on an incremental basis -- that addresses quality as well as environmental management and even health/safety management -- without redundancy or duplication of effort.
