In our previous post, we explained what ISO 14000 is and briefly discussed its origin and some benefits of implementing it. If you have arrived here without reading the previous post, we recommend reading it first, as this post is a complement to the previous one. That being said, let’s now talk about how to implement ISO 14000 and the requirements your company needs for it. Enjoy the read!
The ISO 14001 standard provides the basis for the implementation of Environmental Management System (EMS) and is one of the only standards within the ISO 14000 series that is subject to audit, making it one of the most important for companies to follow. To receive this certification, the company needs to:
- Be in line with the expectations and limits of nature, scale, and environmental impacts.
- Be committed to planned improvements in order to prevent excessive pollution.
- Comply with environmental preservation legislation.
- Provide internal structure for the company to establish environmental objectives and targets.
- Be available to the public.
- Be available and clear to employees.
In Brazil, the organization responsible for ensuring this certification is the ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards). Within ABNT, the responsible committee is CB-38, the Brazilian Committee of Environmental Management. ABNT is the institution responsible for managing the certifications of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Learn now how to implement the Environmental Management System and receive ISO 14000 certification.
There are a series of steps that a company needs to follow to implement an EMS. Here you will understand where to start in order to receive the certification.
The first step is to implement the Initial Environmental Review (IER).
The IER is an initial environmental diagnosis of the company. It functions like an audit, but its objective is to analyze the current situation of the company in relation to environmental impacts.
This analysis gathers information about processes, use of raw materials, disposal of materials, and compares them to the current environmental preservation legislation. Based on this analysis, possible improvements in the production chain are identified.
The second step is Documentation of the EMS.
With the gaps and possible improvements identified in the first step, here it is possible to create the documentation of the action plan for the Environmental Management System. It is important to check the requirements demanded by ISO 14000, especially ISO 14001, in order to continue the development of the planning.
The documentation needs to contain various requirements, including:
- Environmental policy, objectives, and targets.
- Description of the system’s scope.
- Description of the main elements and their interaction.
- Historical records required by the standard.
- Records determined by the organization.
- The third step is implementation.
Based on the documentation of the system plan, and with subsequent approval from the company’s management, the implementation of the new rules and best practices begins. These may include:
- Employee training.
- Process adjustments and evaluation of the progress of new practices.
- Creation of records of the changes.
- Monitoring of the previously set objectives.
- Verification of compliance with the norms according to ISO 14001.
Finally, an internal audit should be conducted.
The internal audit comes before the audit by the authorities responsible for issuing environmental certifications. In this audit, it is important to verify the effectiveness of the new environmental system and cross-check the data collected by the company to analyze if it complies with the requirements of the standards.
We hope that the information we have shared here about ISO 14000 has been helpful to you! Learn more about Geartech BR by clicking here and feel free to browse our website to learn more about our services and products!
