ISO 14001 SERVICES

ISO 14001 is a standard that guides companies in implementing an effective environmental management system. Furthermore, ISO 14001 certification can assure stakeholders, employees, and the public that a company is committed to controlling its environmental impacts.

ISO 14001 Implementation and Environmental Compliance Audit

With its certified environmental auditor (CEA), Enviropass can assist you in every step of your ISO 14001 implementation and maintenance. We perform regulatory monitoring and environmental compliance audits (ECA) across the USA and Canada.

ISO 14001 Certification

The ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) can be implemented in virtually any organization to manage environmental aspects. Before earning the ISO 14001 certification from an external auditor, you must comply with every applicable section of the ISO 14001 standard.

Thanks to the support of its Certified Environmental Auditor (CEA) by the AQVE, Enviropass can help you implement, maintain, or audit your environmental management system every step of the way in the following fields:

The Environmental Compliance Auditing (ECA) according to CSA Z773 / ISO 19011 standard – Guidelines for auditing management systems

The environmental policy

The identification and management of environmental aspects

The identification of applicable legal requirements

Control of documents

Internal Audit

Management Review

The Environmental Management Standard

In short, ISO is an international organization located in Geneva, Switzerland. Its mission is to provide standards of the best-recognized practices to various industries worldwide. The objective is to enhance transparency, trust, and trade worldwide.

The ISO 14000 family focuses on environmental management. The ISO 14001 standard of the family is probably the best known.

Specifically, ISO 14001 – Environmental management systems – gives practical guidance on organizations’ environmental aspects and impacts.

Various organizations have implemented ISO 14001 environmental management systems worldwide: manufacturers, service providers, farms… even municipalities!

EMS Requirements

Just like ISO 9001 on quality, ISO 14001 follows the Deming Wheel principles, with the P-D-C-A approach:

Plan – You detail how you manage your environmental aspects, following the ISO 14001 requirements.
Do – You execute the initial plan.
Check – You verify whether Plan and Do work properly.
Act – You make decisions to improve your system.

With ISO 14001, apply the PDCA system to the environmental interactions of the organization.

Chiefly, the 4 PDCA steps are iterative and tend to the organization’s continuous improvement. They apply to its activities, products, and services within a predefined scope.

To comply with the ISO 14001 standard, the organization should, among other elements, achieve the following milestones:

Determine its scope and the interested parties, such as stakeholders, neighbors, employees, local authorities, etc. The former must be consistent with the organization’s legal entity and structure.

Draft, sign, and publish its environmental policy.

Define the roles, responsibilities, and authorities within the organization.

Find and address its environmental risks and opportunities.

Identify the environmental aspects and impacts in normal conditions, abnormal situations, and emergencies.

Evaluate which environmental aspects are significant and which ones are regulated.

List all applicable compliance obligations, including the laws, regulations, and standards the organization must or has decided to meet.

Control the significant environmental aspects.

Set environmental management action plans.

Allocate human, organizational, and financial resources.

Make sure to have the appropriate competencies.

Raise awareness among its employees and subcontractors on the environmental policy, the EMS, and the significant environmental aspects.

Develop an internal and external communication plan.

Have a plan that includes environmental aspects in emergencies, such as fires, explosions, floods, snowstorms, pandemics, etc.

Plan internal and external, as well as environmental compliance audits.
Organize periodic management reviews to discuss and establish the environmental management system.

ISO 14001: the Environmental Aspects

Above all, the environmental aspects are the backbone of an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System.

Namely, environmental aspects describe the interaction of the organization with at least one of the environmental elements, which are:

water
air
soil
fauna
flora
human beings
natural resources

Significantly, an environmental aspect must cause at least one impact and be well detailed for all an organization’s activities, sub-activities, and tasks, in every type of situation: normal, abnormal, or an emergency. Some of these activities are temporary, while others are permanent.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of activities to consider when listing environmental aspects:

Employee transportation to the office
Building maintenance
Air conditioning
Heating system
Equipment maintenance
Video conferencing
Showrooms
Fires and explosions
Cafeteria management
Catering
Parking lighting
Recycling
Composting

Reuse
Construction work
Christmas party
Research and Development
Storage of Hazardous Substances
Printing
Shipping
Receiving
A new material approval process
Assembly lines
Sales operations
Subcontracting
Etc.

Once listed, the environmental aspects of every activity are associated with their environmental impacts. Typically, companies manage them via a so-called aspects matrix, which shows:

Significant aspects
Regulated aspects
Risks
Opportunities
Actions to control significant environmental aspects

The Annex A of ISO 14004 standard – Environmental management systems — General guidelines on implementation gives insightful examples of the aspects in a matrix.

ISO 14001 and Product Life Cycle

The environmental aspects must also cover:

services, like after-sale services or maintenance, and
manufactured products.

Considering the finished goods is particularly important if the organization is a manufacturer of any type.

Interestingly, the latest version of the ISO 14001 standard requires that you consider the product life cycle (PLC). The idea here is to evaluate every environmental impact that stems from a specific product, throughout its life.

To illustrate, here is an example of electronic equipment, showing how PLC is related to environmental aspects:

Stages of life (examples)	Associated requirements (examples)
Design	Ecodesign
Choice of materials	RoHS REACH Prop 65 POP
Materials extraction	Conflict minerals reporting
Parts production and assembly	Environmental certificates of authorization
Finished product use	Energy efficiency
Final disposal	WEEE

Enviropass has developed unique expertise in the ISO 14001 certification and product requirements like RoHS and REACH.

Ask for a free online Enviropass consultation!

Environmental Compliance Audits

Three types of audits are required to maintain a certified ISO 14001 environmental management system:

An environmental compliance audit of the regulated environmental aspects for all the organization’s products, activities, and services
An internal audit of the environmental management system
An external audit for the registration of the environmental management system

Note that businesses must conduct these audits periodically, and auditors should meet the highest standards, such as:

ISO 19011 – Guidelines for auditing management systems
CSA Z773 – Environmental compliance auditing

Such standards provide principles and guidance on how to conduct an environmental audit.

Enviropass can assist you with a Certified Environmental Auditor. Contact Enviropass!