1              Overview

ISO 14001 is becoming an increasingly popular and recognised framework around the world.   ISO 14001 was issued a few years after ISO 9001 (the super-star of all compliance programs), but is gaining increasing interest as communities and business leaders around the world start to take pro-active steps to care for the environment.

Directors, CEOs, managers and supervisors are increasingly being held accountable for the environmental performance (or lack thereof) of their site/operations.

Recent court rulings has put increased pressure on organisations to prove they have sound systems in place to control and reduce the environmental impacts and aspects.

Due diligence may also be improved if compliance with ISO 14001 is maintained.

More recently ISO 14001 has been used increasingly as a 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 enduring time consuming and expensive second party audits.

ISO 14001 uses many of the same principles and structures of ISO9001, so if an organisation already has an ISO 9001 system in place, it may seriously wish to consider integrating the two systems.

2              In simple terms

In essence ISO 14001 certification reflects an organisation’s commitment to protecting the environment.  Sound leadership supported by clearly defined systems with stable processes can protect the environment and its communities from adverse events.

If you care about our planet, you are organised and you can prove it, ISO14001 should be a simple, yet important step.  Certification will assist you to prove and demonstrate that you have sound systems, that you are keeping them up to date, and in continued compliance.

3              Specific program conditions

It is required that prior to certification you have completed:

• a management review
• internal audits.

You must keep Global-Mark informed if you have been found to have breached regulations or legislations, or have any serious injuries.

If during a review on your site(s), Global-Mark finds unsafe practices which put people at risk, we will report these to you immediately and expect you to take action immediately.  If you fail to act, we will stop our review, raise a non-conformance, and if appropriate notify the relevant regulator.

4              Transition to ISO 14001:2004 from ISO 14001-1996.

On the 15 November 2004 the ISO 14001 standard was released and updated.  In Australia and New Zealand the standard was adopted a few days later.

It is a requirement of JASANZ that:

• Within 6 months of this date, or 15 May 2005, all certification, post certification or re-certification reviews be done against the new standard.  If deficiencies are identified these will be raised as improvement requests until 10 May 2006.
• Within 18 months of this date, or 10 May 2006 all certifications must be updated to the new version of the standard.  Follow up audits may need to be performed to comply with this date.

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: Welcome Pack

·         MSP-00: Introduction to our management systems

·         MSP-01: Nomenclature and definitions

·         MSP-24 Appeals