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The ISO 14001 standard, published in September 1996 revised in 2004, provides a model for establishing a management system that is focused on controlling and improving a company's impacts on the environment. In this session, environmental management systems, tools, and techniques are described as a framework for continual improvement of environmental performance, including compliance to environmental regulations. Effectively applied, ISO 14001 promises cost savings, waste reduction, energy efficiency, resource productivity, and improvements in public relations and liability. This session will also address the commonalities between ISO 9001 and ISO 14000, as well as what companies should consider when starting their implementation of an ISO 14001 Environ-mental Management System (EMS).

What is ISO 14000?

ISO 14000 is a series of standards describing EMS, tools, and techniques. One of these standards, ISO 14001, is the internationally accepted model to follow for implementation of an EMS. It is an auditable standard similar to ISO 9001, and includes a framework for continual improvement of environmental performance, control, and regulatory compliance. ISO 14001 is not a government standard, nor is it focused primarily on regulatory compliance. It is a systematic approach to improving all aspects of environmental management in a company, and is built on a continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing, and improving the actions that a company takes to meet its environmental obligations. Companies who have implemented an ISO 9001 quality system are committed to continual improvement, and ISO 14001 is a natural extension of that commitment. Many of the elements of ISO 14001 have similar requirements to ISO 9000, including the need for a policy statement, document control, management review, internal audits, record keeping, and training. The additional requirements for ISO 14001 include making commitments to compliance with environmental regulations and to the prevention of pollution, and a formal process of planning environmental improvement and control programs.

To become ISO 14001 certified an organization must :

Develop an environmental Policy.

Establish procedures to identify environmental aspects of all activities in order to determine which have significant impact.

Document environmental objectives and targets.

Include commitment to the prevention of pollution.

Train all personnel whose activities may significantly affect the environment.

Create an auditing system to ensure that the EMS program is properly maintained.

Review the audit results to ensure continual improvement.