ISO 14001 Standards Audit

SO 14001 sets out a system that can be audited and certified. In many cases, it is the issue of certification that is critical or controversial and is at the heart of the discussion about the trade implications.Certification means that a qualified body (an accredited certifier) has inspected the EMS system that has been put in place and has made a formal declaration that the system is consistent with the requirements of ISO 14001.The standard allows for self-certification, a declaration by an enterprise that it conforms to ISO 14001. There is considerable skepticism as to whether this approach would be widely accepted, especially when certification has legal or commercial consequences. At the same time, obtaining certification can entail significant costs, and there are issues relating to the international acceptanceof national certification that may make it particularly difficult for companies in some countries to achieve credible certification at a reasonable cost. For firms concerned about having certification that carries real credibility, the costs of bringing in international auditors are typically quite high, partly because the number of internationally recognized firms of certifiers is limited at present.2The issue of accreditation of certifiers is becoming increasingly important as the demand increases.Countries that have adopted ISO 14001 as a national standard can accredit qualified companies as certifiers, and this will satisfy national legal or contractual requirements. However, the fundamental purpose of ISO is to achieve consistency internationally. If certificates from certain countries or agencies are not fully accepted or are regarded as second class, the goal will not have been achieved. It is probable that the international marketplace will eventually put areal commercial value on high-quality certificates, but this level of sophistication and discrimination has not yet been achieved. It is essential to the ultimate success of the whole system that there be a mechanism to ensure that certification in any one country has credibility and acceptability elsewhere.The ISO has outlined procedures for accreditation and certification (Guides 61 and 62), and a formal body, QSAR, has been established to operationalize the process. At the same time, a number of established national accreditation bodiesheavily involved in ISO have set up the informal International Accreditation Forum (IAF) to examine mechanisms for achieving international reciprocity through multilateral agreements (MLAs). However, these systems are in the earlystages, and many enterprises continue to use the established international certifiers, even at additional cost, because of lack of confidence in the acceptability of local certifiers.Given the variability in the design of individual EMS and the substantial costs of the ISO 14000 certification process, there is a growing tendency for large companies that are implementing EMS approaches to pause before taking thislast step. After implementing an EMS and confirming that the enterprise is broadly in conformance with ISO 14001, it is becoming routine to carry out a gap analysis to determine exactly what further actions would be required to achievecertification and to examine the benefits and costs of bringing in third-party certifiers.
ISO 14001 Standards Certification

ISO 14001 Standards sets out a system that can be audited and certified. In many cases, it is the issue of certification that is critical or controversial and is at the heart of the discussion about the trade implications.

Certification means that a qualified body (an accredited certifier) has inspected the EMS system that has been put in place and has made a formal declaration that the system is consistent with the requirements of ISO 14001 Standards.

The standard allows for self-certification, a declaration by an enterprise that it conforms to ISO 14001 Standards. There is considerable skepticism as to whether this approach would be widely accepted, especially when certification has legal or commercial consequences. At the same time, obtaining certification can entail significant costs, and there are issues relating to the international acceptance of national certification that may make it particularly difficult for companies in some countries to achieve credible certification at a reasonable cost. For firms concerned about having certification that carries real credibility, the costs of bringing in international auditors are typically quite high, partly because the number of internationally recognized firms of certifiers is limited at present.

The issue of accreditation of certifiers is becoming increasingly important as the demand increases.

Initial Review Of Gap Analysis In ISO 14001

A fundamental concept of the ISO 14001 EMS Standard is continual improvement of environmental performance. Before you can plan for improvement, you must first determine the current state of the organization’s environmental programs.

The initial review or gap analysis is, in itself, a microcosm of a well-organized approach to the entire ISO 14001 EMS development process. Each specification of the standard must be reviewed, including policy, legal requirements, training, objectives and targets, operational control systems, document control, auditing, management review, and corrective action.

The review should take into account the culture, products, marketing strategies, and other specifics of the organization. In all cases, consideration should be given to the full range of operating conditions, including possible incidents and emergency situations that may be encountered.

The ability of suppliers and subcontractors to comply with the Organization’s EMS program and applicable regulatory requirements should also be evaluated. It is strongly recommended that the initial review consider energy use, financial accounting, and information systems so that these issues may be integrated into the EMS program.

To effectively begin the Initial Review, several things must happen. First, Management should issue a company-wide announcement of intent and endorsement. This should include estimates of the time required to complete the Initial Review, and time required to complete the entire project. Second, the project leader should be identified and vested with ample authority for completion of the project.

The Initial Review is a review of all pertinent documents, from which an accurate plan is designed for the EMS Gap Analysis.

All information from the review, including deviation from regulatory requirements and adverse impacts on the environment, should be identified along with policies, programs, procedures, training and work instructions, and operational controls.

A portion of the project team should begin to assemble a registry of appropriate regulations identified during the Initial Review. All pertinent national, state, local and self-subscribed requirements should be assembled. They should be compared with identified environmental impacts.

An Initial Review is also important in ensuring that EMS design is compatible with all current organizational management structures and operations wherever possible. This is especially important where the EMS interfaces with the site’s existing health and safety, accounting, computer systems, purchasing, energy utilization and other management programs. The focus will be to achieve operational efficiencies that ensure environmental improvements and maximize cost reductions.

Initial Review outputs will be:

· An EMS Gap Analysis Design that details where existing environmental management procedures must be further investigated to determine conformance with the Standard.

· A review of the site’s overall environmental management strengths/weaknesses.

· A schedule of events for the Gap Analysis.

The gap analysis allows for a quick but comprehensive assessment of the facility’s existing environmental management practices and procedures, and compares them

with the requirements of the Standard. To perform the Gap Analysis, a standard template tailored for that specific purpose is used. The template is a questionnaire with a three way scoring system, which develops a final rating of the current programs of the site as they compare with the sections of the Standard. The score from this questionnaire and investigative template identifies which areas of the EMS might be enhanced to improve environmental performance and comply with the Standard.

Based on the results of the Gap Analysis, the project schedule and design may require modifications. Modification should precede further systems development. Using the results of the Gap Analysis, the EMS developmental process can now begin.

This may involve modifying existing procedures, adapting other business procedures such as those designed for health and safety, accounting, or risk management to environmental utilization. At certain points, new procedures will be required.

Prior to embarking on EMS development, always remember that the more flexible your EMS is, the easier it will be to implement and the more flexible it will be in the future.

EMS AUDITING CONCEPTS AND ISO 14000

The Environmental Management System (EMS) audit is based on the generic concept of auditing. Simply put, an audit, any audit, is the comparison of actual conditions to expected conditions, and a determination as to whether one is in conformance or not in conformance. This is the same philosophy used to perform financial, quality, regulatory compliance, and systems audits. It is prudent to first review what the common elements are in order to better understand why audits are different.

There are several definitions of audit components that are common to any type of audit. ISO 14001 defines these terms for EMS audits, but they apply in other cases also. As a matter of fact, the ISO committee decided not to create auditing standards for other types of audits, such as compliance audits, although it was originally considered. The main reason for deleting the work items was because the concepts and processes defined in 14011, originally intended for EMS audits, were generic enough to be applied “as is” to other types of audits.

An audit is fundamentally a comparison of audit evidence to audit criteria to determine findings. The evidence is the objective information collected through interviews, visual reconnaissance, and documentation review. The audit criteria are the expectations or “rules” of how conditions should be. It is the criteria that distinguish one audit from the next. For example, in compliance auditing, the criteria are the regulations. With an EMS audit, the criteria would be the description of the expected system elements. In this case, the EMS criteria would be that described in ISO 14001, the specification standard.

When evidence is compared to criteria, one can determine whether the audited entity does or does not conform. This determination is a finding, and a finding can either be one of conformance, or non-conformance. Therefore, an audit will always produce findings, even if what is being audited is in full conformance with criteria.

Other key definitions to be aware of with auditing are: objectives, scope, auditee, client, and auditor. The audit objective(s) is simply why you are conducting an audit; usually the reason is to demonstrate conformance to stated criteria. The audit scope is what entity is being audited, and can be a company, a site, or unit within a site or company.

In the ISO 14000 realm, there is a clear distinction between the auditee and client. The auditee is the entity being audited. The client is the party commissioning the audit. For example, a client can be the customer, and the auditee a supplier to that customer. In ISO 14000, this distinction is important because the client sets the scope, objectives, and plan for an audit, not the auditee, although it is expected the auditee will be involved and cooperate.

The auditor is the one actually collecting evidence and determining findings. The auditor can be comprised of several individuals on a team. There are requirements in ISO 14001 that state that those performing functions within the EMS, such as the auditors, be qualified in their tasks. This means the auditors must have received training in EMS auditing. However, there may be audit team members who do not have the training, but are on the team because of some unique expertise, such as process, language, or regulatory knowledge.

ISO 9001 Standards & ISO 14001 Standards

In order to assist organizations to have a full understanding of the new ISO 9001:2008, it may be useful to have an insight on the revision process, how this revision reflects the inputs received from users of the standard, and the consideration given to benefits and impacts during its development.

Prior to the commencement of a revision (or amendment) to a management system standard, ISO/Guide 72:2001 Guidelines for the justification and development of management system standards recommends that a “Justification Study” is prepared to present a case for the proposed project and that it outlines details of the data and inputs used to support its arguments. In relation to the development of ISO 9001:2008 user needs were identified from the following:

-the results of a formal “Systematic Review” on ISO 9001:2000 that was performed by the members of ISO/TC 176/SC2 during 2003-2004
-feedback from the ISO/TC 176/Working Group on “Interpretations”
-the results of an extensive worldwide “User Feedback Survey on ISO 9001 and
The Justification Study identified the need for an amendment, provided that the impact on users would be limited and that changes would only be introduced when there were clear benefits to users.

The key focuses of the ISO 9001:2008 amendment were to enhance the clarity of ISO 9001:2000 and to enhance its compatibility with ISO 14001:2004.

A tool for assessing the impacts versus benefits for proposed changes was created to assist the drafters of the amendment in deciding which changes should be included, and to assist in the verification of drafts against the identified user needs. The following decision making principles were applied:

1) No changes with high impact would be incorporated into the standard;

2) Changes with medium impact would only be incorporated when they provided a correspondingly medium or high benefit to users of the standard;

3) Even where a change was low impact, it had to be justified by the benefits it delivered to users, before being incorporated.

The changes incorporated in this ISO 9001:2008 edition were classified in terms of impact into the following categories:

-No changes or minimum changes on user documents, including records

-No changes or minimum changes to existing processes of the organization

-No additional training required or minimal training required

-No effects on current certifications

The benefits identified for the ISO 9001:2008 edition fall into the following categories:

-Provides clarity

-Increases compatibility with ISO 14001.

-Maintains consistency with ISO 9000 family of standards.

-Improves translatability.

Emergency Preparedness and Response In ISO 14001

Emergency Preparedness and Response In ISO 14001

Under the Emergency Preparedness and Response requirement of ISO 14001:2004 (§4.4.7), the organization is required to establish procedures for identifying the potential for and responding to emergency situations and accidents that can have an impact on the environment.

Identification of Potential Emergency and Accident Situations – Experience indicates that organizations infrequently have a preexisting procedure for identifying potential emergency and accident situations.
The norm is to establish emergency and accident responses for a variety of emergency and accident situations irrespective of the potential for their occurrence. But ISO 14001 is specific about requiring a procedure to identify the potential for emergency situations and accidents. Adhering to the requirement of the procedure is a valuable exercise that helps organizations identify weaknesses in their own emergency planning and to plan for that which is most likely to occur.
Because many environmental impacts of an emergency or accident situation are secondary in nature, it appears that all potential emergency or accident situations need to be identified before a determination of environmental impacts can be made. An organization that attempts to identify potential emergency or accident situations based on a review of its environmental aspects would likely miss the environmental impact potential of, say, an automobile accident.

There are five steps implied by the emergency preparedness and response requirement:

1) Identify the potential for emergency situations and accidents of all kinds;
2) Paying particular attention to the potential environmental impacts of accidents and emergency situations, identify how the organization can prevent and mitigate associated adverse environmental impacts;
3) Determine how the organization and its employees should respond to emergency situations and accidents;
4) Periodically simulate emergency situations to test response capabilities; and,
5) Review and revise procedures based on experience derived from actual and simulated emergency situations and accidents.

Accident and Emergency Situation Identification – In order to identify potential for and responding to emergency situations and accidents, the organization should develop a procedure for systematically identifying accident and emergency situations, evaluating their probability of occurrence, their likely consequences, and their severity.
Organizations often engage risk management specialists to assist in the identification of potential emergency or accident situations that could lead to human injury, environmental damage, or economic loss. While many checklists are available to facilitate this kind of evaluation, there is virtually no substitute for physical evaluation of facilities by knowledgeable personnel, whether employees or outside professionals.

Emergency Response Procedures – The organization is required to develop procedures for responding to emergency situations and accidents when they occur. Typically, response procedures include identifying public emergency response agencies and their capabilities, identifying individuals within the organization who are trained and able to provide assistance in emergencies, establishing an emergency communications network, and providing emergency lighting, signage, and equipment. Because Emergency Response Procedures are based on identified potential emergency situations and accidents specific to the organization, the emergency response plan will be unique for each organization.

Periodic Testing – The value of conducting emergency response exercises lies not only with simulating situations that could occur but also in identifying flaws in the response plan. Practice drills can be the most effective test of the system to give employees, emergency response personnel, and management the opportunity to walk through the plan and gain familiarity with its procedures. While a full-dress response exercise is valuable, testing of procedures can be effectively done on much smaller scales and still provide the benefits of testing. Above all, the organization should not let the impracticality of a full-dress exercise keep it from testing sub elements of the emergency response plan.

Review and Revise – ISO 14001 calls for continual improvement of the EMS. Periodically reviewing and revising emergency response plans based on the experience gained from the occurrence of emergency situations or accidents or in testing response plans is an example of continual improvement.

Written Response Plans – Many written emergency response plans are too cumbersome to be of value in an emergency situation – their value depends entirely upon previous training of persons who will be called upon to execute them. Yet, many organizations fail to provide the emergency response training necessary to make the plans functional.
Keeping in mind that even the simplest, most direct emergency response plan requires training for effective implementation, an alternative for organizations to consider is establishment of abbreviated, readily available Immediate Response Directions established for each kind of potential emergency situation or accident. Such an emergency response plan might consist of a laminated card prepared for each potential emergency situation or accident and providing specific responsibilities and associated actions for employees and visitors, supervisors, emergency coordinators, and emergency directors.

ISO 14001 Standards - It is time to implement Environment Management System (EMS)

ISO 14001 Standards - It is time to implement Environment Management System (EMS)

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

Evaluation of Compliance In ISO 14001 Standards

Evaluation of Compliance In ISO 14001 Standards

The requirement to establish a procedure for periodically evaluating compliance with applicable legal and other requirements falls short of specifically requiring regulatory compliance audits but, in fact, a system of regular regulatory compliance audits may be the most practical means for meeting this requirement of the standard. In the U.S., determination of whether to conduct a compliance audit will be governed in part by the particular jurisdiction’s approach to allowing a legal privilege for the self-assessment audit.

Evaluation vs. Audit – The difference between an evaluation and audit can only be determined by looking outside of ISO 14001. Consulting a dictionary reveals that an evaluation involves a determination of value or worth and that an audit is an examination of accounts done by persons appointed for the purpose. A better definition `is the more specific ISO 19011:2002, Guidelines for Quality and/or Environmental Management Systems Auditing, which defines an audit as a “systematic, independent, and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled.” Many organizations do not have a system for evaluating regulatory compliance other than their own records and the inspections of regulatory officials. This lack of a verification system can be a risky way to operate. Reports of enforcement actions and consent agreements show that many organizations are blindsided by rogue employees who violate rules and falsify documents to cover up environmental misdeeds. Although ISO 14001 does not prescribe a specific approach to evaluation of regulatory compliance, organizations should consider methods for going beyond verification of records by collecting and evaluating physical evidence.

ISO 9001 And ISO 14001 Information Site:
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http://iso14001certification.blogspot.com/
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http://environmentsystem.blogspot.com/
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http://iso9000standard.blogspot.com/
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