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ISO 14001 is an international standard for EMS, which specifies a framework of control against which an organisation can be certified by a third party. The core elements to remember when making plans to implement ISO 14001 EMS are as follows.
Environmental policy
- at a minimum, your company should commit itself to pollution prevention, legal compliance and continued improvement in environmental performance. The policy should also provide a framework for setting and reviewing objectives and targets.
Planning
- first identify and determine the environmental aspects and impacts of your business, environmental objectives and targets as well as legal and other requirements (eg clients' requirements). Then establish, implement and maintain a procedure(s) to identify and update the information.
Implementation and operation
- define, document, review, update and communicate the structure, resource allocation and responsibility to all employees. You should also communicate the environmental procedures and instructions, and provide sufficient training to every employee.
Checking
- monitor and measure operations with environmental impacts, evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the EMS at regular intervals (every 6 or 12 months) through internal audits, and report your findings to management. You should have procedures in place to identify and correct nonconformity and to take corrective measures. The company should also keep records related to its EMS implementation.
Download a sample audit checklist
Management review
- Top management should regularly review the EMS and set up improvement plans to ensure its adequacy and effectiveness for continued improvement.
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