ISO 14000

 ENVIRONMENTAL  MANAGEMENT  SYSTEM  STANDARD     

OVERVIEW

1.0    INTRODUCTION

ISO 14000 bears the potential to revolutionize the environmental industry, which historically operated on "command AND control," by proposing to now operate it on a "self-regulatory" basis. An overview of the standard follows.

"ISO 14000 series of environmental management system standards" collectively represent a series of generic AND voluntary environment-related documents, released by ISO, Geneva. These documents basically fall into two categories:

?      Guidance (descriptive)

?      Specification (prescriptive)

In the series, all of the documents, except ISO 14001, are guidance documents. Businesses become registered to ISO 14001 - the specification standard that serves as a blueprint for an environmental management systems (EMS). Businesses do not register to ISO 14000 as a series, but use the reminder of the guidelines in the series to clarify requirements, seek definitions, AND find guidance.

The series features a wide array of environmental disciplines, including the following three main classifications comprising of the following seven major components:

Organizational  Evaluation

?      Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

?      Environmental Auditing (EA)

?      Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE)

Product Evaluation

?      Environmental Labeling (EL)

?      Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)

?      Environmental Aspects in Product Standards (EAPS)

Terms AND Definitions

                ?      Terms AND Definitions     

2.0    COMPONENTS OF ISO 14000 SERIES .   

Each of the above-listed seven components is elaborated in further details below.

Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

Out of the above, "EMS" is the name for the entire environmental program planned by a company. It also forms the main component of the company's registration plan for ISO 14001. The EMS maybe documented in an environmental manual, or maintained in sections of the company quality or operations manual. In either case, the EMS should be defined in detail, with the company's environmental goals clearly stated.

Environmental Auditing (EA)

The ISO 14000 series, like the ISO 9000 International Quality Standards, relies heavily on auditing to ensure that the standard requirements are met. Audits are mandated by the ISO 14000 standards. The standard states that, "Audits may be performed by personnel from within the organization (but they should be independent of function to be audited) or by external persons." Both methods of auditing (internal or external) are used to ensure that conformance to the standards exists AND the businesses continuously monitor their performance through a systematic approach that compares a company's environmental goals to its achievements. Guidelines for these audits, AND qualification guidelines for the Auditors are found in ISO 14010, 14011/1,14012.

Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE)

Environmental performance standards are detailed in ISO 14030, a supporting document to ISO 14001 in the ISO 14000 series. ISO 14030 defined the evaluation of environmental performance by management systems, AND provides general information about the process. The ultimate goal of these guidance documents is to provide an objective measurement criterion. The purpose of EPE is to allow for performance evaluations for internal progress analysis AND for external benchmarking.

Environmental Labeling (EL)

Many business use environmental claims (labels, advertising, marketing) as an enticement for buyers to purchase their products. It is also anticipated that ISO 14000 registration will provide similar labeling opportunity. Guidelines for the development of environmental Panerai Luminor Submersible Replica claims are found in ISO 14020, 14021, 14022, 14023 AND 14024. These support documents seek to prevent unwarranted claims, to ensure that the claims are accurate AND verifiable, to reduce trade barriers, AND to set standards for types of labels.

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)

The support documents providing guidance about LCA detail procedures to examine raw material, generation, storage, manufacture, sales, use, AND disposal, AND resulting environmental impacts associated with a company's product or service. The ISO 14040, 14041, 14042, AND 14043 provide information about topics related to LCA, including inventory analysis, critical review, impact assessment, AND improvement assessment.

Environmental Aspects in Product Standards (EAPS)

Guidelines for environmental aspects in product standards are contained in ISO 14060. The objective is to develop guidance for standards writers to consider environmental impacts in their standards-writing process for reducing environmental effects, while ensuring that products perform to quality standards. This guidance document suggests that LCA be considered while developing standards.

Environmental Aspects : Things to Consider

Terms AND Definitions

ISO 14050, a terms AND definitions document, harmonizes the language among all the ISO 14000 series documents. It is ensured that as much as language as possible coincides with that in the ISO 9000 quality standards.

3.0    WHY ADOPT THE ISO 14000 STANDARD ?

Various reasons why your corporation should consider adopting the ISO 14000 standard are summarized below as various drivers that will govern your overall decision-making process.

Market Drivers

?        Europe requires ISO 14000 as a part of doing business.

?       Agencies (eg. USDoD, USDoE) have hinted requiring ISO 14000 as a prequalification criterion for the award of contracts.

?        Regulatory agencies (viz., USEPA) considering reducing reporting requirements for certified companies

?        Community awareness, demand for "clean AND green" image AND rapport

?        Customer beginning to screen suppliers by environmental performance

Operational Excellence Drivers

?        Extends proven management system's approach to environmental management

?        Proactively identifying environmental exposures ("aspects") drives    pollution prevention

?        "Pollution prevention pays"

?        "What gets measured, gets done"

?        Makes environmental protection integral to all employee job functions

?        "Self-regulatory" privileges induces empowerment AND implants responsibilities

?        Provides continually improving environmental management programme

?        Integrated management incorporates environmental costs into corporate capital budgeting AND decision-making process

?        Improves productivity, reduces multiple audits, assessments, AND exposures

Compliance Drivers

?        Provides a management system approach to ensure compliance

?        Violations can be reduced with preventive system

?        Less scrutiny AND improved relationship with regulators

?        Easier permitting for objects

?        Multiple auditing requirements eliminated

?        Easier clearances for new AND expansion projects

?        Future liabilities reduced with a management system's approach

?        Facilities required environmental disclosure

The most significant advantage is that, that an EMS places environmental responsibilities directly into the hands of the Senior Management.

The following figure indicates the specific benefits that corporations are likely to enjoy due to the induction of a robust EMS based on the ISO 14001 requirements.

4.0     ISO 14000 Standard / EMS : Specific Benefits to Seek

5.0    CONCLUSION

There is too much at stake for businesses not opting to evaluate the ISO 14000 standard AND its impacts in details. It is becoming obvious that the organizations that are staking the clearest claims to a successful future are those that now see the natural environment as their most indispensable supplier AND their most valued customer. ISO 14000 will efficiently AND systematically assist you in doing so.

The Structure of the ISO 14000 Series of Standards

SALIENT FEATURES OF ISO 14001

?        VOLUNTARY STANDARD / NOT A SURROGATE FOR REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

?        NO SPECIFIC PREFERENCE FOR TECHNOLOGICAL REQUIREMENTS

?        SPECIFIC EMPHASIS ON COMMITMENT TO :

#         PREVENTION OF POLLUTION

#         LEGISLATIVE COMPLIANCE

#         CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT (OF EMS)

?        STAKEHOLDERS INTEREST

?        DOES NOT INCLUDE HEALTH AND SAFETY

?        SITE/UNIT SPECIFIC - APPLICABLE TO ALL INDUSTRIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

?        COMMITMENT FROM THE TOP MANAGEMENT IS SINE-QUO-NUN FEATURE

LINKS

CONSULTING ORGANIZATIONS IN ISO 14000 .

1.    Market Trends Pvt. Ltd.

       122, Damji Shamji  Udyog Bhawan ,

       Veera Desai Road , Andheri (West) , 

        Mumbai - 400 053 . INDIA

        Fax : +91-22-671 6831 / 6332702

        Email : [email protected]

2.    Ernst & Young Pvt. Ltd.

       Environmental Management Services

       Vaswani Mansions , Dinsha Vachha Road ,

       Churchgate  Mumbai - 400 020 , INDIA

       Fax : +91-22-287 6401