1              Overview

ISO14001 (and for smaller organisation a partial certification program like Eco-Wise®) is becoming an increasingly popular and recognised framework around the world. ISO14001 was issued a few years after ISO9001 (the super-star of all compliance programs), but is gaining increasing interest, and communities and business leaders around our world start to take pro-active steps to care of the environment.

Directors, CEO’s, manager and supervisors are increasingly being held accountable for the environmental performance (or lack of) their site/operations.

Recent court rulings put increased pressures of organisation of any size and nature to prove they have sound systems, which control environmental impacts and aspect, and will in the future, reduce these.

Due diligence may also be improved if compliance with a framework like ISO14001 is maintained.

ISO 14001 has been recently increasingly used supply management tool, where purchasers seek to have confidence in their supplier’s or potential supplier’s environmental credentials.  This in turn saves the purchaser and the supplier from having time consuming and expensive second party audits.

Eco-Wise® uses many of the principles and structure of ISO9001, so if an organisation already has an ISO9001 system is place, it should seriously look at integrating the two systems.

2              In simple terms

In essence, Eco-Wise® is a small business focused certification. It reflects an organisation’s commitment to the environment, leadership, systems and sound and stable processes, which can protect the environment and its communities from adverse events.

If you care about our planet, you are organized and you can prove it, Eco-Wise® should be a simple, yet important step.  Certification will assist you prove and demonstrate that you have sound systems, and you are keeping them up to date, and in continued compliance.

3              Specific program conditions

The program is only open to small businesses (less than 20 FTE staff), with low risk processes and products.  Should Global-Mark take the view that a client or potential client does not, or no longer qualifies within this category, the client will be notified in writing and given 12 months to upgrade to full ISO14001 certification.  After 12 months, the Eco-wise® certification will be cancelled.

4                   Requirements of the standard to be addressed for Eco-Wise®

The following clauses of the standard need to be fully addressed, in all aspects of the client’s business, activities and processes (within the scope of certification):

5              What documents/records are needed to understand this program

In order to understand our program you should also access and be aware of the following documents:

·         G-00: Client Pack

·         MSP-00: Introduction to our management systems

·         MSP-01: Nomenclature and definitions

·         MSP-24 Appeals