The quality industry is buzzing this week as the International Organization for Standardization released the latest revision of the ISO 14001 environmental management standard.
“ISO 14001:2015 is an internationally agreed standard that sets out the requirements for an environmental management system. It helps organizations improve their environmental performance through more efficient use of resources and reduction of waste, gaining a competitive advantage and the trust of stakeholders”
Notable revisions per the news release include:
- A greater commitment from leadership
- An increased alignment with strategic direction
- Greater protection for the environment, with a focus on proactive initiatives
- More effective communication, driven through a communications strategy
- Life-cycle thinking, considering each stage of a product or service, from development to end-of-life
- Air pollution
- Water & sewage issues
- Waste management
- Soil contamination
- Climate change mitigation & adaption
- Resource use & efficiency
What are the benefits? According to ISO case studies, users of the standard indicate that it helps:
- 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
- Factory (supplier) profile
- Markets, key clients/personnel, QMS, equipment, etc.
- Environmental policy
- Planning – environmental aspects
- Legal and other requirements
- Objectives, targets and programs
- Resources, roles, responsibility and authority
- Competence, training and awareness
- Communication
- Documentation
- Control of documents
- Operational control
- Emergency preparedness and response
- Monitoring and measuring
- Evaluation of compliance
- Nonconformity, corrective action and preventive action
- Control of records
- Internal audit
- Management review
An audit result indicates scores represented as a percentage of the following:
- Complies with the requirements
- Improvement needed
- Non-conformances found
