Menu
It seems fairly obvious to identify environmental aspects needed for an audit of an ISO 14001 system in many industries. In chemical plants or construction sites, many aspects are physical and visible. You could see an indication of the environmental impact when you look at fumes being released into the air, or waste flowing into a controlled area. Office manager often believes that they run a safe office and that their effect on our environment is minimal. This should make being accredited to ISO 14001 easy. Looking at the office environment in details however, shows that it’s not that simple.
Hey Quality Leaders! Another whiteboard animation from the best in the business on ISO-Consultancy and Training! With the recent news on Mining Industries fa.
Environmental aspects defined
- Generic ISO 14001 EMS Template LR-01 presents a general framework for your reference to develop the register of legal and other requirements tailored for your business nature and operations. The procedure describes how your company identifies the requirements of these regulations and their applicability.
- According to ISO, environmental aspects are any activities, services or products that relate to our environment. When the environment is changed, this is an environmental impact, whether the change is beneficial or adverse, and whether it results partly.
- In addition to identifying the different ways your organisation interact with the environment (environmental aspects), ISO 14001 also requires you to assess the impact each aspect has on the environment.
According to ISO 14001:2015, environmental aspects are any activities, services or products that relate to our environment. When the environment is changed, this is an environmental impact, whether the change is beneficial or adverse, and whether it results partly or wholly from the environmental aspects of the organization.
Looking at this carefully, we can see that each and all organizations, businesses, and even households have an environmental impact of sorts. ISO 14001 helps to assess, measure, analyze, and improve these aspects, as well as the impacts resulting from them.
Environmental aspects in an office
There will be environmental aspects and impacts everywhere around you. Some will be big and others small. Your own actions and those of your staff already affect the environment even before you get to your office. How are people travelling to work? Are your staff encouraged and given facilities to ride bicycles to work? Many areas encourage staff to do this through tax incentives.
Do your staff know the benefits to the environment when they use public transport? While many individuals drive to get to work, you could look at the possibility and incentives to encourage them to share cars where possible. Maybe you give some staff members company vehicles. Do you select these while being aware of environmental considerations? It might be a good idea to put all these ideas in a policy for transport. Measure the impact now, put the ideas into place, and then measure them again. ISO 14001 uses the “Plan, Do, Check, Act” cycle throughout.
Legal requirements in your office
Each region uses different legal requirements and it is a good idea to create a simple Legal Register. This will enable you to record legislation and show that you understand them and how you comply. There are many aspects to consider: Does your company use air conditioning? Which gas does it use? Do these gasses comply with legislation? Does your company generate noise? Do you eject anything into wastewater? If there is a fire, does the water used to fight the fire go somewhere specific?
These are a few examples of aspects that might be applicable to any office. Setting up a Legal Register would give you a strong foundation to record all legislation and then implement it.
What do I look for in my office?
There are many aspects that need to be looked at in an office. Do you know what your company’s carbon footprint is? Do you utilize conference calls and video conferencing rather than take car journeys and flights unnecessarily? Could you develop a policy for travel to encourage these excellent practices? It is well known that leaving heating and lights on in rooms that are not used is not sound from environmental and financial perspectives.
You might be able to design a policy to manage energy to let your staff know what is desirable and what’s not. Materials are consumed in the office daily – how can you ensure that this is done as efficiently as possible? Maybe you want to create a policy for good office environmental practices – are paper used on both sides for printing, is printing required at all, will a reduction in the number of printers reduce unnecessary paper or energy usage, do we always recycle where possible. As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities where your environmental efficiency in the office can be improved.
Is that all?
No, that’s not all – there is more than you can do. It is likely that you have a policy for purchasing, especially if the company is accredited for ISO 9001. Do you look at environmental aspects in this regard? Is recycled paper used? Do your suppliers subscribe to the same set of values that you do or are they accredited for ISO 14001? Can you improve the environment if you request that the company’s supply chain implement environmental principles the same as you do? You could even reward their inclination to do this with sustained business.
Implementing the items mentioned will certainly help you with getting ISO 14001 accredited. Your enhanced environmental performance won’t stand on its own, but you will also encourage the company’s supply chain to also improve. This will result in positive benefits to everyone’s efficiency and profitability, and in the long-term, it will benefit the planet.
ISO 9001 quality management systems (QMS) are implemented using MyEasyISO software in New Orleans (USA), while ISO 14001 & OHSAS 18001 Health Safety Management Systems (HSE) are implemented with MyEasyISO in Vienna (Austria ).
Understanding the new ISO 14001 requirements can be time-consuming.
The ISO 14001 standard isn’t exactly a page turner, either, ranking somewhere between your health insurance policy and TV user manual.
But it’s critical that you understand the ISO 14001 requirements in order to comply with the new standard.
In this post, we’ll break down the main requirements — at a high level and in plain English.
Getting to know the ISO 14001 requirements
The new South park episode 200 and 201 torrent. ISO 14001 revision was published in 2015. The standard outlines requirements for an environmental management system (EMS), with a new emphasis on sustainability.
>>> To learn more about the standard, check out our ISO 14001 resource page.
ISO 14001 is broken down into 10 sections, or clauses. For this post, we’ll be focusing on clauses 4-10, which provide a framework for an EMS.
While you read, keep in mind that ISO 14001 doesn’t lay out any specific requirements for environmental performance. Instead, you’ll identify your own goals and areas of improvement within the framework established by the standard.
ISO 14001 requirements
Clause 4. Context of the organization:
As we’ve mentioned before, ISO 14001:2015 isn’t a “one size fits all” standard.
Naturally, the environmental issues and considerations that are relevant to, say, a transportation company are going to be very different from those of a utility company.
That’s why the standard requires each organization to explicitly evaluate who you are, what you do, who cares about you, and how you will respond. You’ll consider:
- What issues and conditions are relevant?
- What are our compliance obligations?
- What external issues affect our business?
- What internal issues affect our business and management system?
One of the most significant changes in 14001:2015 is that companies must evaluate the needs and expectations of their stakeholders.
Just like you’d consider what your customers want in a new product, you’ll have to consider what needs they want met in terms of your environmental performance.
All these considerations go into determining the scope of your EMS and the structure of the management system itself.
Clause 5. Leadership:
ISO 14001:2015, like the previous 2004 standard, requires you to develop an environmental policy that outlines roles, responsibilities, and authorities throughout the company.
But unlike the old standard, ISO 14001:2015 underlines the importance of leadership involvement.
Instead of one person wearing the “environmental management representative” hat, top management will be held responsible for the effectiveness of the EMS.
In order to comply with ISO 14001's leadership requirement, you’ll need to demonstrate that your leaders know your environmental objectives and are working to create a culture of continual environmental improvement.
Clause 6. Planning:
Under ISO 14001, companies must identify and plan for any activity that could impact the environment.
To meet this requirement, you’ll need to identify significant environmental aspects and impacts like:
- energy usage
- air emissions
- GHG emissions
- water pollution
- waste management
You’ll also need to identify your compliance obligations, like state and local regulations.
After you’ve identified potential risks and opportunities, you’ll need to determine your environmental objectives and plan specific actions to achieve those targets.
Clause 7. Support:
Support is the largest section in the new ISO 14001 requirement. This clause looks at your resources, communication, and documentation for your EMS.
Under the new standard, it’s up to individual companies to determine what documentation is necessary for an effective management system, like how you’ll measure training effectiveness and demonstrate competence.
With the rise in technology and big data, the new standard emphasizes the use of digital documentation as a way to manage this information.
Finally, you’ll need to define how you’re going to communicate with stakeholders.
Clause 8. Operation:
This clause requires you to identify which of your activities might impact the environment, and define operational controls to minimize that impact.
To meet this requirement, you’ll need to create documented procedures like work instructions and preventive maintenance programs.
You’ll also need to have a documented emergency preparedness and response plan for potential accidents that could affect the environment, like a chemical spill.
Clause 9. Performance evaluation:
This clause requires you to determine how you’ll monitor, measure, analyze, and evaluate your EMS.
To meet this requirement, you’ll need to evaluate both your environmental performance, as well as ways to improve your management system.
This includes creating a system of internal audits and management review to ensure your EMS is working properly.
Iso 14001 Legal Requirements
Clause 10. Improvement:
One of the most prominent themes in ISO 14001:2015 is a commitment to continual improvement.
To that end, the last clause requires you to determine how you’ll deal with nonconformity, including corrective actions, as well as actions for continual improvement actions.
Next steps
Iso 14001 Requirements Checklist
Clearly, there’s a lot to think about when you’re working toward compliance with the new ISO 14001 standard.
Iso 14001 Requirements
We’ve developed a free checklist to help you make sure you don’t miss any steps in your ISO 14001 implementation.
>>> For more information on ISO 14001, check out our resource page “The Definitive Guide to ISO 14001 Environmental Management”.