ISO 14001 Accreditation

 

Internationally organisations are working hard at being seen as environmentally friendly. This is important as more and more suppliers and clients are becoming environmentally conscious and are demanding that environment management systems be in place to assure them that the environment is not harmed or damaged in the production process.

The King II Report also refers to the triple bottom-line of an organization, the third bottom-line dealing with Safety, Health, Environment and Quality. It is therefore more and more critical that companies find and implement the appropriate standard to implement and maintain an environmentally friendly company.

In order to attain ISO 14001 accreditation, there are several steps that an organization can follow:

  • The first step is to formulate an Environmental Management System (EMS). This will provide the framework within which policies, plans and activities will be established. In order to successfully achieve this milestone, there has to be management capacity to drive and guide the process.

  • Before ISO 14001 can be implemented, the details requirements set out in ISO 14004 Code of Practice should already be implemented.

  • In order to ensure seamless co-operation with the other management systems of the organization, the EMS should integrate and mainstream with these management systems. This will also ensure a holistic approach to the EMS.

  • Once the system has been established, it is necessary to do several internal audits to ensure full compliance. Once the project team is confident that the organization is fully compliant, the external auditors can then be invited to award the organization its ISO 14001 accreditation.

The external auditor should be from a credible organization or body authorized to give compliant organizations and companies their ISO 14001 accreditation. For the purposes of ISO 14001 accreditation (and indeed any other ISO accreditation), it is preferable to ask the auditor to be internationally accredited by an international body. Once it is found that all the requirements are being met, the auditor will award the sought-after ISO 14001 accreditation.

The 23 standards, now also including a standard which addresses GHG emissions, are an important part of the successful running of any company. Without a healthy environment the organization will eventually become unviable as resources will dwindle and become uneconomical to purchase. The environment also affects the quality of life of employees and customers which is a further motivation for attaining ISO 14001 accreditation. Overall this standard encourages organizations to be economically sound, as well as to take care of the world and environment around them.