Self Improvement

ISO 14000- An Introduction

By : Harish Yadav	Previous \| Next
Posted on : 16 Jun, 2007	Total Views : 358

Environment is one thing that everyone shares. Most people are aware that environment is an issue that needs to be addressed. A world governed by economy has to realise that environment is the very basis for the economy. There are two problems related to environment.
1. Resource depletion.
Energy (Renewable and non renewable)
Mineral Resources (Non renewable)
Metals (Non renewable)
Biological resources (Forests)
2. Environment impact through pollution.
Greenhouse Effect (Global Warming)
Ozone Depletion
Nitrification and acidification of waterway and soil
Noise Pollution
Pesticide Pollution
Nuclear Radiation
Eco toxicity
Most of these problems have a global impact and have to be addressed worldwide.

A set of international standards brings a worldwide focus to the environment, encouraging a cleaner, safer, healthier world for us all. The existence of standards allows organisations to focus on environmental efforts against internationally accepted criteria.

What is the ISO 14000

After the rapid acceptance of the ISO 9000 standards and the development of environment standards in different countries, the ISO felt the need to develop an international environmental management standard. They formed the Strategic Advisory Group on the Environment (SAGE) in 1991, to consider whether such standards could serve to:

Promote a common approach to environmental standards common to quality standards.

Enhance organisations ability to attain and measure improvements in environmental performance.

Facilitate trade and help remove trade barriers.
The ISO 14000 series is meant to cover

Environmental Management Systems

Environmental Auditing

Environmental Performance Evaluation

Environmental Labelling

Life cycle assessment

Environmental aspects in standard products
Different countries and groups are already setting environmental standards individually. The ISO 14000 should make it possible to set a common standard acceptable internationally.

The ISO 14000 is meant to apply to organisations from all parts of the world with different cultures and social backgrounds. The implementation of the ISO 14000 standard is voluntary, in that it is left to the organisation to embrace and adhere to the ISO standard of legislation and regulations. However, organisations might be interested implementing ISO 14000 for different reasons like improving process efficiency, customer requirements, and pressure from local environmental groups or concern for the environment.

The ISO 14000 can be applied to any area of an organisation like production, services, operations, facilities, and transportation.

The ISO 14000 series of standards is comprised of many guideline standards. Nevertheless, it has only one compliance standard -- ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems. The list of ISO 14000 series of standard is given below.

Standard Title / Description
14000 Guide to Environmental Management Principles, Systems and Supporting Techniques
14001 Environmental Management Systems - Specification with Guidance for Use
14010 Guidelines for Environmental Auditing - General Principles of Environmental Auditing
14011 Guidelines for Environmental Auditing - Audit Procedures-Part 1: Auditing of Environmental Management Systems
14012 Guidelines for Environmental Auditing - Qualification Criteria for Environmental Auditors
14013/15 Guidelines for Environmental Auditing - Audit Programmes, Reviews & Assessments
14020/23 Environmental Labelling
14024 Environmental Labelling - Practitioner Programmes - Guiding Principles, Practices and Certification Procedures of Multiple Criteria Programmes
14031/32 Guidelines on Environmental Performance Evaluation
14040/43 Life Cycle Assessment General Principles and Practices
14050 Glossary
14060 Guide for the Inclusion of Environmental Aspects in Product Standards

How to implement the ISO 14001

The ISO 14001 requires an organisation to have an environmental policy fully supported by the top management. The environmental policy provides the initial direction and guidance for the organisation. The statement should be simple to be understood by all, also well publicised both to the staff and to the public.

The organisation should then make a preliminary review of the organisation's internal process and output at the site. It should involve all issues related to the environment. This may include environmental issues due to past activities e.g. contamination of land or future planned or unplanned activities that can have an environmental impact It will also be useful for the organisation to consider the legislation and the areas where the organisation is not complying with its requirement.

Then the organisation can declare its primary environmental objective that will be most effective in operation. The organisation should set specific goals and targets along the way for it to meet the objective. The Environmental Management System should give detailed procedures, work instructions and controls to ensure the achievement of the targets.

The Environment Management System needs to be audited periodically and comprehensively to ensure that the legislations and regulations are being adhered to and make sure that the goals set are being achieved. In addition there should also be a management audit to check if the objectives set are suitable to the organisation and effective in operation periodically.

The ISO 14000 Environment Management System should be integrated with the other activities of the organisation. An organisation that has integrated the Environment Management System to the other business operations is on the way to efficiency, compliance and continuous improvement and will reap the benefits accompanying it.

Written By : Harish Yadav

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