ISO 14001: 2015 Environmental Management System

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How could your business benefit from ISO 14001?

ISO 14001 is a quality management system used by businesses, revolving around environmental management... There are a number of drivers for companies which choose to pursue ISO 14001 certification, including cost reduction; improved efficiency; better waste management; energy conservation. Could ISO 14001 certification be of benefit to your company?

Saving money and time

Setting rules and environmental processes in your company could help to increase the company’s profitability. Why? Because in order to build processes, you will have to identify all areas where your company uses more energy than necessary, as well produces too much waste - without disposing of it properly. Identifying these issues will not only save your company money on overheads and perhaps on insurance too, it will also improve the quality of your services and products - making the company much more efficient overall. The company will still be providing the same services, but with less energy output and less waste.

Competition

In the current economic market the majority of companies can’t afford to lose contracts to their competitors. Big companies generally take environmental issues extremely seriously and nowadays are extremely choosy when it comes to the suppliers that they are associated with. Being ISO 14001 certified will show them that you take the environment and your responsibilities seriously. Taking such issues seriously also means that your public image is likely to improve, and this type of achievement will give your company something positive to promote.

Legal awareness

The law is one of the few things that doesn’t stay the same for long; in fact certain elements change every day. However, having an ISO 14001 certification means that your company is up to date with the latest environmental legislation. ISO 14001 effectively also means that all of your processes are fully traceable, and annual audits are more organised and much less stressful.

Safety and morale

This type of certification requires strong relationships between employees throughout the company, because strong communication is essential in order to ensure that the project is implemented successfully. The environment is a topic that is high in many people’s priorities nowadays. Making it a central point of focus for your company could boost employee morale. Having this kind of management system in place also means that your employees can become a lot more responsible; having set procedures will make it a lot easier to identify a problem, as well as make it easier for staff members to come up with environmental procedures of their own.

Management

ISO 14001 certification requires procedures and processes to be implemented, easing certain management aspects, as well as making it clear what should be done (and even clearer when something isn’t being done correctly). With set procedures to follow, communication between employees and management could be more structured, because everything is kept up to date and roles become much clearer.

ISO 14001 provides a system on how to establish policies, procedures, and guidelines, which will deliver your organisation to better environmental compliance and performance. Such system will help you in determining and addressing environmental impacts and legal compliance.

FOR WHOM? 

ISO 14001 can be applied by businesses of all sizes across all sectors make their day to day operations more sustainable.

Environmental issues including climate change, ozone layer depletion, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, soil and water contamination, natural resource depletion, atmospheric pollution, and the disposal of wastes may it be non hazardous or hazardous wastes should be the main concern of the government and the private industries.

WHAT ARE THE INTENDED RESULTS OR OUTCOMES OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM?

  • Influence and control over identified environmental aspects and impacts which are incorporated in the organisation’s activities, products, and services – in consideration to a life cycle perspective.
  • Fulfilment of organisation’s compliance obligations (legal and statutory obligations).
  • Improve organisation’s image and reputation.
  • Enhancement of cost/loss control which includes: prevention of cost of fines, clean-up, and reparations; reducing OPEX in energy and water usage; and control on expenses over input materials required by the organisation’s processes.
  • Employee awareness and competency improvement. Adequate compliance to the requirements of ISO 14001 gives higher assurance of attaining the enumerated benefits above.

CERTIFICATION PROCESS

CERTIFICATION
AUDITING PROCESS

Optional: Pre-assessment audit
We can provide an independant assesment of your management system (MS).

Stage 1 audit
The Certification Body will gain an understanding of your business to assess wether your documented policy, objectives, continual improvement plans and procedures meet the requirements of MS standard. The readiness of your implementation programme is also assessed. 

Stage 2 audit
The Certification Body will audit your MS in action, to check that your declared policy, objectives and targets have been effectively communicated, and that your continual improvement plans and procedures are working in practice. Certification is then awarded after successful closures of any outstanding issues

Surveillance audit
After you have achieved certifcation, we undertake regular ongoing audits of your MS to ensure that it is being maintained and that it continues to meet the objectives of your organisationand the expectation of your customers.

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
CERTIFICATION AUDITING PROCESS