Thinks to know about the ISO 14001 certification

Currently, ISO 1400 has become an international standard for the implementation and designing of environmental management systems. This standard is published by ISO (International Standard Organisation), with the responsibility of the creation and distribution of standards generally accepted worldwide. The latest version of this requirement was published in 2015, referred to as ISO 14001:2015.

Why do you need to implement ISO 14001 in your organisation?

Without a doubt, one cannot overemphasise the advantages of ISO 14001. Big and small organisations have inculcated this standard to yield great results, as earlier mentioned. What is a ISO14001 cert? A few benefits include: 

Improve your image and credibility – This is done by giving the customers assurance of your commitment to the evident management of your environmental outputs, and you can boost your image and market shares by setting a right image to the public and improving community relations.

Enhance cost control – Every company and organisation look forward to improvement in the area of cost reduction. The EMS can be beneficial to this as it conserves energy and materials imputed while cutting down incidents that may incur liability costs in a company and invariably improve environmental factors. This helps in obtaining insurance at an affordable price for the company.

Use evidence-based decision making – Ensure to use verified and accurate data in your decision-making process to increase your chances of improvement and success in your attempt rather than having countless failures. With this data, you can track and monitor your progress and make necessary corrections to the various improvement approaches before they go off the rails, thus saving time and costs.

Create a culture of continual improvement – With continuous progress, you can make efforts towards better procedures and lesser environmental impacts in a systematic order to boost your image in public and reduce potential costs. When this culture is created and imbibed, people tend to look for better ways of improvement, making it easier to maintain the EMS.

Engage your people – Being placed with a choice between working for an organisation that doesn’t show concern for its environment and one that does; many people will prefer the first. Why is this so? By carrying your employees along in a group effort, you can enhance employee retention and focus.

What are the practical steps to becoming ISO 14001 certified?

What is ISO 14001 certification?  

Certifications are of two types: Certification of an organisation’s environmental management system against ISO 14001 guidelines, and certification for individuals, to enable them to audit against ISO 14001 guidelines. In this section, steps for companies to implement ISO 14001 management system and to get certification are discussed.

The involvement of ISO 14001 certification for your company includes the implementation of an EMS based on the ISO 14001 guidelines and then hiring a recognised certification body to carry out an audit and give approval for your EMS as meeting the conditions of the ISO 14001 standard.

This begins with management support and identification of legal prerequisites for the EMS. You need to define your environmental policy, aspects, as well as objectives and targets, which, when combined, define the general scope and application of the environmental management system. In addition to this, you should create the additional and mandatory procedures and processes needed for operations in your organisation.

Several methods must be included as they are necessary, while others will be added as the company deems fit. Creation of these documents can be done internally by your organisation, or you can seek help by hiring a consultant or getting standard documentation.

With these procedures and processes in place, all you need to do is operate this EMS for a given period. By doing so, you can collect the necessary records from transcending to the next stage, which is auditing and review of your system, and becoming certified.