ISO 14001 is an internationally accepted standard that sets out how you can go about putting in place an effective Environmental Management System (EMS). The standard is designed to address the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact; with the commitment of your entire organization, it can enable you to achieve both objectives.

What’s in ISO 14001:

• General requirements
• Environmental policy
• Planning implementation and operation
• Checking and corrective action
• Management review

This means you can identify aspects of your business that impact on the environment and understand those environmental laws that are relevant to your situation. The next step is to produce objectives for improvement and a management programme to achieve them, with regular reviews for continual improvement.  We can then periodically assess the system and, if compliant, register your company or site to ISO 14001.

Who is it relevant to?

Environmental impact is becoming an increasingly important issue across the globe, with pressure to minimize that impact coming from a number of sources: local and national governments, regulators, trade associations, customers, employees and shareholders. Social pressures are also building up from the growing array of interested parties, such as consumer, environmental and minority non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia and neighbours.

So ISO 14001 is relevant to every organization, including:

• Single site to large multi-national companies
• High risk companies to low risk service organizations
• Manufacturing, process and the service industries; including local governments
• All industry sectors including public and private sectors
• Original equipment manufacturers and their suppliers

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Certifying your company's environmental management system to ISO 14001 means that a third party, such as BSI, has assessed that it meets the requirements set out in the standard.

Certification to ISO 14001 allows you to:

• Demonstrate a commitment to achieving legal and regulatory compliance to regulators and government
• Demonstrate your environmental commitment to stakeholders
• Demonstrate an innovative and forward thinking approach to customers and prospective employees
• Increase your access to new customers and business partners
• Better manage your environmental risks, now and in the future
• Potentially reduce public liability insurance costs
• Enhance your reputation

For particular industries, pressure is now being exerted by many large organizations, such as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who expect their suppliers to adopt environmentally-friendly practices and may mandate ISO 14001 certification as a licence to operate.

If you want to take the implementation and certification of an EMS slowly, the BS 8555 STEMS scheme allows you to phase the management system in and assess how you’re performing at each step on the path. Once completed, it still results in achieving ISO 14001 certification.

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From a one-day introductory course to implementation training or lead auditor courses, our network of public and in-company training can help you at every stage of the process. Our experience of how organisations of all types and sizes relate to the standard is unequalled - and we can deliver the training you need for understanding, implementing, assessing and certifying your quality management systems.

We offer a comprehensive programme of training courses covering every aspect of ISO 14001 for:

Delegates who are new to quality management systems

• Courses in awareness, understanding and implementing a new system

Delegates who need to audit and improve an existing system

• Courses in auditing, assessing and improving an existing system

Next Steps

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Implementing a management system of any kind is a significant undertaking for any organization. However, there are some common tools you can use and a common process to follow during implementation and the route towards certification.

We offer a comprehensive range of services to help businesses understand and implement the internationally recognized environmental standard ISO 14001. These build on the requirements of ISO 14001 by breaking down the requirements into manageable steps:

1. Choose the standard

Initially you should read ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems - Specification with guidance for use. Download our free guidance document for your immediate reference.

Talk to us - we can provide you with information and support in finding the right solution for your company.

2. Develop your environmental policy

Your environmental policy will state your commitment to compliance with legal and regulatory demands, continual improvement and the prevention of pollution. You should make this policy available to your customers and the public.

3. Review and produce objectives

At this stage you should identify the elements of your business that impact on the environment, establish access to relevant environmental legislation and regulations and produce objectives and targets for environmental improvement and a management programme to achieve them.

4. Training

Once you have assembled a team and agreed your strategy it’s crucial to get understanding and involvement from the top down. Our training offers a comprehensive programme of training courses for each key step, which can be tailored to a company’s size and needs. View our range of ISO 14001 Environmental Management training courses.

5. Implementation and assessment

As an accredited certification body our Client Managers can check in with you at key stages to ensure your implementation is running smoothly and to identify any gaps or areas for improvement. The initial registration to ISO 14001 involves a two-stage assessment process, including a document review and a site visit.

You should arrange the initial assessment with your registrar.  It's often a good idea to include a pre-assessment, designed to act as a practice assessment. Following the two-stage initial assessment, the assessor will determine whether you should be recommended for registration.

6. Certification and beyond

Once the assessment has been successfully completed, we’ll issue a certificate of registration, clearly explaining the scope of your management system. The certificate is valid for three years, and your assessor will visit you regularly to help you make sure you remain compliant, and support you in the continual improvement of your systems.

Other related services

Integrated management systems
ISO 14001 is designed to be compatible with other management systems standards and specifications which you might already have or plan to implement, such as:

• ISO 9001 Quality
• OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety
• ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security

Our Integrated Management service allows you to integrate them seamlessly and can give excellent value for money.

For more information please complete our online enquiry form or contact us.