Introduction

ISO 14000 is primarily concerned with “Environmental Management”.  In plain language, this means what the organization does to minimize harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities.

 The efficient and effective management of processes of the ISO 14000 is going to affect whether or not everything has been done to ensure a product will have the least harmful impart on the environment, at any stage in its life cycle, either by pollution, or by depleting natural resources.

What is ISO 14000 – Environment Management System (EMS)

Improving the environmental performance of corporations is one way of limiting environmental damage. Environmental management systems (EMS’s), such as ISO 14001, provide a framework for organizations that wish to effectively manage their environmental affairs. Implementing an EMS that conforms to the ISO 14001 standards may help businesses integrate environmental values into their operations.

An EMS can be described as a program of continuous environmental improvement that follows a defined sequence of steps drawn from established project management practice and routinely applied in business management. In simple terms these steps are as follows:

• Review the environmental consequences of the  operations.

• Define a set of policies and objectives for environmental performance.

• Establish an action plan to achieve the objectives.

• Monitor performance against these objectives.

• Report the results appropriately.

• Review the system and the outcomes and strive  for continuous improvement.

Not every system will present these steps in exactly the same way, but the basic principles are clear and easily understandable.

 The ISO 14000 series is a series of standards for different aspects of environmental management. A number of these standards relating to environmental management systems have been adopted formally by the members of the ISO, while others are in different stages of preparation.

 ISO 14000 is a group of standards covering the following areas:

• Environmental Management Systems (14001,14002, 14004)
• Environmental Auditing (14010, 14011, 14012)
• Evaluation of Environmental Performance (14031)
• Environmental Labeling (14020, 14021, 14022, 14023, 14024, 14025)
• Life-Cycle Assessment (14040, 14041,14042, 14043)

ISO 14001 is the only standard intended for registration by third parties. All the others are for guidance. ISO 14001 is a management standard, it is not a performance or product standard. The underlying purpose of ISO 14001 is that companies will improve their environmental performance by implementing ISO 14001, but there are no standards for performance or the level of improvement. It is a process for managing company activities that impact the environment.

 Some unique and important characteristics of ISO 14001 are:

• It is comprehensive: all members of the organization participate in environmental protection, the EMS considers all stakeholders, and there are processes to identify all environmental impacts.
• It is proactive: it focuses on forward thinking and action instead of reacting to  command and control policies.
• It is a systems approach: it stresses improving environmental protection by using a single environmental management system across all functions of the organization

 The Environmental Management System (EMS) contains the following elements:

• An environmental policy supported by top management.
• Identification of legal and other requirements
• Environmental goals, objectives, and targets that support the policy.
• An environmental management program
• Definition of roles, responsibilities, and authorities
• Training and awareness procedures
• Process for communication of the EMS to all interested parties
• Document and operational control procedures
• Procedures for emergency response.
• Procedures for monitoring and measuring
• operations that can have a significant impact on the environment
• Procedures to correct nonconformance.
• Record management procedures
• A program for auditing and corrective action.
• Procedures for management review.