What is the ISO 14001 standard?
ISO 14001 was developed primarily to assist companies with a framework for better management control to reduce their environmental impacts. It applies to various industries, including aerospace and defense, automotive, consumer packaged goods, general manufacturing, hi-tech, and life sciences. It can be used by any organization that wants to improve resource efficiency, reduce waste, and drive down costs. ISO 14001 focuses on
- The process of how a product is produced rather than the product itself
- Compliance with federal, state, and local regulations to maintain a license to operate
- Monitoring air, water, waste, and hazards and recording any near misses or incidents
- Managing operational risks and the impact on economic performance and reputation and environmental, safety, and society outcomes
What are the ISO 14001 requirements?
In order to be recognized for the Environmental Management System (EMS) and ISO 14001 certification, there are various requirements that need to be met. They are —
- Defined environmental policy
- Stakeholder appointment for EMS coordination
- Communication within the organization
- Identification of the organization’s environmental impacts
- Environment compliance requirements
- Defined environmental objectives, targets, and programs
- Plan to monitor and measure progress
- EMS performance audit
- Continuous improvement
What is an EMS audit?
The Environmental Management System (EMS) audit is conducted as a comparison of actual conditions to expected conditions to determine whether it is in conformance or not. The audit determines if the implemented EMS adheres to the requirements of ISO 14001 standard and has the provision for continual improvement. An ISO 14001 audit checklist helps the organization in different ways as listed below
- Confirms that the organization understands the EMS policy to be implemented
- Provides a structured means to identify deficiencies in the system and provision for corrective action and follow up to confirm its effectiveness
- Creates a convenient framework to investigate operations in a particular area
- Improves employee commitment and motivation
What are the different types of ISO 14001 audits?
Primarily there are two types of ISO 14001 audit – internal and external
- Performed within the organization, the internal audits is self-examination of the implemented EMS. The audit prepares the EMS for external audit and finally ISO 14001 certification. This audit is done to ensure conformity, evaluate EMS effectiveness, and identify areas of improvement
- To become ISO 14001 certified, the organization must complete the external certification audit. Certification audit involves two stages — documentation review by the certification body and on-site audit to evaluate internal audits, management review, and corrective actions performed on the new EMS
What is the importance of ISO 14001 checklists?
An ISO 14001 checklist is used during EMS audit to check for compliance with ISO 14001:2015. This ISO 14001 checklist ensures that the current EMS meets all the required ISO standards. An ISO 14001 checklist is important as it —
- Helps meet compliance requirements of the ISO 14001 standard
- Records the steps of the EMS implementation process
- Acts as a supporting document for internal and external audit
- Supports the on-going efforts to use, modify, and update ISO 14001 mandated guidelines
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