subject: Essence Of Iso 14001 [print this page] ISO 14001 Certification is an environmental standard that companies need to comply. Each company creates an impact on the environment. ISO 14001 Certification requires companies to control its impact on the environment.
Few examples show that our knowledge on environment is limited. Companies comply with environmental standards based on this limited knowledge. For example the use of CFC was not an environmental issue. But we now know that it has a significant impact on the environment, nor the use of asbestos was considered an environment issue. Thus, knowledge gets upgraded and tougher environmental standards come into picture.
There is also a temptation to compare two organizations manufacturing the same product. But, the environmental impact of both the organizations is different. One of the organizations will have a higher impact on environment than the other. But, both the organizations have similar commitment towards the standards and will comply with the same standards. The land fill and energy use of each company is different as they both dont use the same technology and one of them might have access to more capital than the other.
Environmental Management System does not compare. It only observes that each organization is committed towards taking appropriate steps to lessen and control the environmental impact. When the organization shows this commitment, the certification body will provide the ISO 14001 Certification. This is the concept of Environmental Management System. It is an improvement process which is continuous, rather than concluding that one organization is performing better than the other on Environmental standards at one point of time. This is a continuous process.
The clauses of the standards come from simple investigations based on common sense, with some improvements. The requirements of ISO 14001 are as follows:
Framing and developing the environmental policy
Indentify different aspects about environment and analyze the impact on the environment
Ascertain the appropriate legal and regulatory requirements
Develop and maintain objectives and targets concerning environment
Implement a document system which includes fundamentals of training, controlling operations, and tackling emergencies.
Internal environmental auditing
The essence of ISO 14001 Certification is to make companies aware and responsible for the environmental impact resulting from their business. It is a standard that make companies responsible for a better environment and future.
