QMS & EMS London

The revised standard for environmental management systems, ISO 14001: 2015, was published on 15 September. The international standard was first published in 1996 and the latest version replaces the 2004 edition. About 300,000 organisations around the world are certified to 14001, including nearly 16,000 in the UK. ISO said the latest revisions aimed to ensure 14001 remained relevant and that the changes responded to the latest trends, such as an increasing recognition by companies of the need to factor in external and internal elements that influence their impact, including climate volatility.

Whether the new international standard for environmental management systems, ISO 14001:2015, strengthens the links between the EMS and organisational strategy, more effectively engages leaders and ensures environmental aspects are related to business risks and opportunities will largely depend on the quality of the internal and external audits.

Whether the new international standard for environmental management systems, ISO 14001:2015, strengthens the links between the EMS and organisational strategy, more effectively engages leaders and ensures environmental aspects are related to business risks and opportunities will largely depend on the quality of the internal and external audits. Due to be published in September, 14001:2015 is different from the previous version (2004) in several ways and these will challenge the competence of many auditors. The new section on organisational context will require assessors to develop a broader knowledge of the organisation they are auditing and the industry or sector in which they operate.

The country ballot on the DIS in November 2014 showed 92% of ISO member bodies supported moving to the next stage. The step was for the working group to consider comments on the DIS made during the consultation period, which ended in October. Key issues covered in the six-day meeting in Tokyo were the clause relating to ‘risks associated with threats and opportunities’ and the term ‘compliance obligations’.

The clause in 14001: 2015 to understand the organisation and its context will require high-level understanding of the important internal and external issues that can affect an organisation’s environmental management system (EMS). A workshop approach to increase cross-functional understanding and input from across the organisation would be one way to ensure this requirement helps improve the effectiveness of the EMS. But an EMS tends to be the exclusive domain of only one or two people, disconnecting it from the rest of the business and, with the exception of environmental issues, what is happening in the outside world. As a result, the system often lacks exposure to “big picture issues”, which have the potential to seriously affect, negatively or positively, the ongoing success of the EMS and the business itself. Examples of such issues include a possible change in government, a changing workforce or future restrictions on accessing critical substances. Such issues coul...

International Organization for Standardization The revised standard aims to align environmental management systems more closely with an organisation’s strategy. It places greater emphasis on reducing environmental impacts across the whole life-cycle of products and services including supply chains and in the development and use of products and services.  The new standard will also require organisations to consider impacts from a changing environment and provide a framework for organisations to manage the risks and maximise opportunities from trends such as scarcity of natural resources and climate change. 

Standards tend to improve organisational performance. The results of an ISO survey published earlier this year reveal the benefits of the 14001 standard for environment management systems (EMS). It found that organisations implementing 14001 realised significant value for their businesses. It also helped them to meet their legal obligations, improve environmental performance, and enhance management commitment and employee engagement on the environment. There were almost 286,000 14001 certifications in 2012, and the popularity of the global EMS standard has soared since it was introduced in 1996.

The public consultation on the revised version of the international standard for environmental management systems (EMS) is now open. First published in 1996, ISO 14001 was revised in 2004. The current revision is part of the ISO review cycle for standards and will lead to the publication of the third edition in 2015.

Another significant change in the proposed revision to 14001 is the broadening of the scope of the EMS to consider environmental impacts throughout organisations’ value chains. The draft standard states that users should identify environmental aspects that it can control and “those it can influence considering a life-cycle perspective”.

ISO 14001, the international systems standard for environment management, has stood at the heart of organisations’ efforts to understand and reduce their impacts on the natural world for nearly two decades. More than 250,000 certificates have been issued globally, and they are held by organisations as diverse as multinational oil producers, local waste collectors and individual sports venues.

Third-party audits of environment management systems (EMS) are not capable of providing the level of assurance needed by regulators, say researchers.  Many UKAS-accredited certification bodies lack the knowledge and skills to complete audits of firms to the necessary standard to guarantee legal compliance, according to new research backed by the UK’s environment agencies. Introducing such third-party assurance is seen as a way of reducing the number of regulatory inspections carried out. 

The essential difference between ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 is that ISO 14001 focuses on managing your organization's impact on the external environment, while OHSAS 18001 focuses on managing your organization's internal environment to ensure a safe and healthy workplace. Structurally, the two standards are essentially identical. The requirements are essentially identical. Consequently, the processes and documentation needed to implement and certify to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 are essentially the same. Only the intent and focus are different.