ISO 14001 Consulting Service

ISO 14001 sets out the criteria for an environmental management system and can be certified to. It maps out a framework that a company or organization can follow to set up an effective environmental management system.

Designed for any type of organization, regardless of its activity or sector, it can provide assurance to company management and employees as well as external stakeholders that environmental impact is being measured and improved

The main purpose of an EMS is to systematically control adverse environmental impacts and ensure that established objectives and targets are met. It helps in scrutinizing environmental performance and operations particularly when regularly revised and verified toward continuous improvement . The ISO 14001 is a process standard: it articulates the characteristics of the components of a management system. In particular, it requires organizations to formulate an environmental policy, set objectives and targets, develop an implementation plan, monitor and measure the system’s effectiveness, correct problems, and conduct reviews aimed at improving the system . 

• Demonstrate compliance with current and future statutory and regulatory requirements

• Increase leadership involvement and engagement of employees

• Improve company reputation and the confidence of stakeholders through strategic communication

• Achieve strategic business aims by incorporating environmental issues into business management

• Provide a competitive and financial advantage through improved efficiencies and reduced costs

• Encourage better environmental performance of suppliers by integrating them into the 

organization’s business systems

Improve your environmental performance with this family of standards.

 General guidelines on implementation 

 Guidelines for a flexible approach to phased implementation 

 The ISO 14001 structure is split into ten sections. The first three are introductory, with the last seven containing the requirements for the environmental management system. Here is what the seven main sections are about:

Section 4: Context of the organization – This section talks about requirements for understanding your organization in order to implement an EMS. It includes the requirements for identifying internal and external issues, identifying interested parties and their expectations, defining the scope of the EMS and identifying the processes required for the EMS.

Section 5: Leadership – The leadership requirements cover the need for top management to be instrumental in the implementation of the EMS. Top management needs to demonstrate commitment to the EMS by ensuring environmental commitment, defining and communicating the environmental policy and assigning roles and responsibilities throughout the organization.

Section 6: Planning – Top management must also plan for the ongoing function of the EMS. Risks and opportunities of the EMS in the organization need to be assessed, and environmental objectives for improvement need to be identified and plans made to accomplish these objectives. Additionally, it is necessary for the organization to assess all the ways in which the organizational processes interact and affect the environment as well as the legal and other commitments that are required for the organization.

Section 7: Support – The support section deals with management of all resources for the EMS, and also includes requirements around competence, awareness, communication and controlling documented information (the documents and records required for your processes).

Section 8: Operation – The operation requirements deal with all aspects of the environmental controls needed by the organizational processes, as well as the need to identify potential emergency situations and plan responses so that you are prepared to respond should an emergency occur.

Section 9: Performance evaluation – This section includes the requirements needed to make sure that you can monitor whether your EMS is functioning well. It includes monitoring and measuring your processes, assessing environmental compliance, internal audits, and ongoing management review of the EMS.

Section 10: Improvement – This last section includes the requirements needed to make your EMS better over time. This includes the need to assess process nonconformity and taking corrective actions for processes.

These sections are based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, which uses these elements to implement change within the processes of the organization in order to drive and maintain improvements within the processes

After finishing all your documentation and implementing it, your organization also needs to perform these steps to ensure a successful certification:

Internal audit – The internal audit is in place for you to check your Environmental Management System processes. The goal is to ensure that records are in place to confirm compliance of the processes and to find problems and weaknesses that would otherwise stay hidden.

Management review – A formal review by your management to evaluate the relevant facts about the management system processes in order to make appropriate decisions and assign resources.

Corrective actions – Following the internal audit and management review, you need to correct the root cause of any identified problems and document how they were resolved.

The company certification process is divided into two stages:

Stage One (documentation review) – The auditors from your chosen certification body will check to ensure your documentation meets the requirements of ISO 14001.

Stage Two (main audit) – Here, the certification body auditors will check whether your actual activities are compliant with both ISO 14001 and your own documentation by reviewing documents, records, and company practices.