ISO 14001 – Environmental Management Standard

What is ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard (EMS)?

Environmental protection has become a mainstream political and business issue since the introduction of radical legislation on pollution and the recent global climate change issues. With an increasing amount of legislation emerging from Europe and the introduction of the voluntary standards (ISO 14001 and the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)), environmental management has never been so important.

ISO 14001:2015 is an internationally recognised standard for Environmental Management, which is a system that helps you reduce your environmental impact as well as grow your business.

It takes a pro-active approach, and allows business to consider environmental issues before they become a problem, rather than reacting to them afterwards.

What are the benefits of Implementing ISO 14001?

“More than a certificate on the wall”

ISO 14001 exists to allow businesses to establish those operations that have a negative impact on the environment and to minimise their unwanted effects as determined necessary.
So these standards can be a powerful tool for businesses to both improve their environmental performance, and enhance their business efficiency.

Some of the many benefits of implementing ISO14001 include:

COST REDUCTION
Reduces utility bills and waste streams which helps the bottom line profit
RISK REDUCTION
Higher control of risk and better planning
COMPLIANCE
Ensures compliance with environmental legislation
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Promotes a culture of continuous improvement
EMPLOYEE AWARENESS
Builds awareness among employees of the impact that processes have on the environment and how to control those impacts

BRAND STRENGTHENING
Improved corporate image with customers and the public
ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITY REDUCTION
Reduces environmental liability
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
Feedback of waste and recycling statistics improves production process control and quality control
SALES EDGE
Removes a barrier to working with government bodies, local authorities and larger commercial businesses that often prefer their suppliers to be ISO14001 registered.

What's involved with implementing ISO 14001?

Environmental standards make good business sense and gaining certification requires commitment. Companies must describe what they intend to do, adhere to their procedures and record their efforts to demonstrate compliance and improvement.

An environmental management system (EMS) may be structured in a similar way to a quality management system or as part of existing management systems.

The focus of the EMS is prevention of pollution, compliance with legislation and continual improvement of your environmental performance. It focuses on controlling your environmental aspects or the way that your activities products and services interact with the environment; for example, emissions to air land or water.

You will set objectives, targets and implement a programme to improve your environmental performance, which often leads to financial benefits.

QualityCERT will help you design, document, implement and operate an environmental management system that meets all the requirements of ISO 14001. We will design the system around your existing business and environmental practices and establish the necessary controls to ensure you are in compliance with relevant legislation, and help you identify and solve the areas of your business that do not comply to the ISO 14001 standard.

Using the QualityCERT approach to ISO 14001, the following key areas will be covered:

Defining the scope of the EMS
Understanding the business
Establishing the EMS
Embedding environmental awareness in your business
Implementing and operating the EMS
Monitoring and reviewing the EMS
Auditing the EMS
Management reviews of the EMS
Continuous improvement of the EMS

The key to gaining certification is by focusing on simplicity, and our unique ability to align the overall business strategy with the overall project work flow has resulted in a 100% certification success rate. We achieve this through our ability to get people working together as a TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More).

To help with the road ahead, we have simplified the regulation into five steps:

5 HASSLE FREE STEPS TO BECOMING CERTIFIED

STEP 1

INITIAL REVIEW

Undertake a review of the existing operational and management processes with directors and key staff which will give a clear understanding where you stand versus the conformity to the standard as well as the identification of the company’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement.

STEP 2

Development of the QMS

Develop and document the Environmental Policy, Environmental Objectives, Environmental Procedures and Associated Documentation in relation to the Company’s Business Objectives, Legal Requirements and the requirements of ISO 14001: 2015. Our consultants will liaise very closely with directors and staff throughout this stage so that they have the opportunity to review draft documents and make suggestions for revision if required. This will ensure that everyone takes ownership of the EMS.

The system development includes the following module:

Leadership education
Planning including Change Management
Process Development
Documentation Management
Resource Management

STEP 3

Training & Implementation

During this phase of the project we work alongside senior management and staff implementing and monitoring the performance of the relevant sections of the standard by gathering documentary evidence in readiness for the assessment.

STEP 4

Internal Audit & Management Review

During this phase a complete cycle of internal audits of the various business processes shall be performed and the results covered subsequently in a formal management review in order to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of the EMS. Further actions if required will be agreed and implemented in readiness for the external assessment.

STEP 5

Assessment by Certification Body

Firstly the Auditor will conduct a desk study of the documented system to make sure that it complies with the requirements of the Standard and then will gather further evidence to verify that the EMS has been fully implemented and is effective, by carrying out a series of audits of processes against the documented procedures.

Usually, even when certification is recommended, the auditor will raise a number of Corrective Action Requests and/or Observations and ‘Opportunities for Improvement’.

Beyond Certification

Certification for most organisations is the initial goal. This is the beginning and not the end of the journey toward building excellence in management systems. Post certification, QualityCERT consultants assist in several ways:

Help the organisation document its success, review the maturity level of the organisation’s management system
Review and where necessary re-define the new roadmap to excellence
Identify the most appropriate excellence models and tools to implement the new roadmap
Help identify the resources they may need to maintain what they have achieved
Build the new vision for the organisation in relation to management system performance

WHY QualityCERT is 1st Choice for ISO14001

“Fully qualified professionals with a wealth of practical experience”

Practical Solutions

We work in the real world and implement solutions that are practical, which will help, and not hinder your operations.

FULLY QUALIFIED CONSULTANTS

Our Consultants are qualified in a range of quality and governance standards including CIPP/E, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, BS OHSAS 18001, AS 9100D, and PAS 2030.

Extensive commercial experience.

Our Directors have over 20 years experience in implementing business systems in commercial and industrial environments

Professional Service

We can advise, train and implement GDPR best practices within your organisation.