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Organizations considering the implementation of ISO 14001 often ask if the standard is applicable to safety and health programs as well as environmental issues. We believe that the answer is unequivocally yes.
Not only is ISO 14001 applicable to health/safety programs, it can also provide the same benefits that it makes possible in the environmental area. These include:
Meeting and/or exceeding regulatory requirements, Placing greater attention on significant issues not driven by regulations (establishing a safety culture, raising employee morale), Establishing a commitment to improve and measure performance, and Improving communications between managers and hourly employees.
In addition, using ISO14001 to integrate environmental/safety/health programs into the business system produces other benefits. Measures that reduce environmental incidents can decrease or eliminate worker exposures to hazardous materials. Conversely, increasing awareness of safety practices can focus employees’ attention on environmental concerns. In fact, the success of health, safety, and environmental programs often hinges on worker understanding, attitude, and commitment. The corporate culture must change to make these matters a natural part of each employee’s approach to his or her work.
The ISO 14001 standard assumes that such cultural transformation occurs through employee involvement and responsibility from the bottom up, not via dictates from the top. That assumption, and other concepts present in ISO 14001, is applicable to health and safety. Therefore, it’s reasonable to consider the use of the standard in an integrated approach that can bring about change for all three. Some organizations have done so, and many others will eventually see the wisdom of employing ISO 14001 for that purpose.
How can ISO 14001 be useful for health and safety when it was intended to address the environmental aspects of organizations? These three areas are so linked that a management standard for one can have equal applicability to the others. The reason ISO 14001 was not specifically aimed at health and safety had more to do with professional parochialism and the politics of international standards writing than with any concern about the logic of doing so. InISO 14001, the only acknowledgement that it could be useful for health and safety appears in the introduction, which recommends its use to those who may need to apply the standard to those areas. No other specific references appear in the document, because the standard’s developers felt that health and safety professionals would eventually develop their own version of ISO 14001. This new version has not emerged, and the likelihood of it happening anytime soon is rather low, because current stakeholders’ views militate against it.

With the growing concerns of global warming, many industries are taking recourse to corrective measures so as to reduce the carbon emissions and abide by the government policies that lay stress on quality control measures so as to reduce the harmful gases in the atmosphere. Apart from following government policies, industries try to introduce various measures so as to reduce the pollution and minimize the risk it involves to the lives of workers and consumers.
To avail the highest quality standards, one has to get the ISO 14001:2004 certification from the International Organization for Standardization. It is an international governing body that lays specific standards for quality controls. Given the fact that environment pollution is the biggest menace that can affect the progress of any organization, to avail the best quality standards one has to get the ISO 14001:2004 certification so as to provide clean and safe environment that is not affected from industrial works.
All those who get the ISO 14001:2004 certificate make sure that their industrial practices do not interfere in the environment by emanating any harmful substance in the atmosphere that can lead to hazard.
ISO 14001:2004 is universally known as Environmental Management System (EMS) that is based on specific environmental aspects and policies that are implemented. Basically, ISO 14001:2004 is not based on finished product as it lays emphasis on the procedures that are adopted in the manufacturing and production of the product. According to ISO, ISO 14001:2004 certificates are provided to those industries and organizations that try to reduce pollution.
Those who avail ISO 14001:2004-certificate benefit from reduction of cost from waste management, saving fuel and energy while lowering the cost of distribution. This leads to improved industrial and corporate image amongst customers, regulators and public. ISO 14001:2004 strives for consistent quality control that helps in providing the best industrial support to an organization by helping in the reduction of global warming and pollution.
For all those organizations that are looking forward to reduce pollution, ISO 14001:2004 is a practical tool that helps an industry in managing its energy consumption along with finding an alternative way so as to enhance the productivity along with reducing pollution levels.
In case an industrial unit is not following ISO 14001:2004 guidelines, it will not be able to avail ISO 14001:2004 certification that provides it quality control features. Apart from ISO 14001:2004, ISO offers numerous other certificates that deal with specific standards such as specification for shipping containers, IT software and languages, Iron Ores, country codes, safety labels, graphics, Standard Generalized Markup Languages and numerous other features that make it a useful guideline.
So, in case one is planning to set up an industrial unit or is an existing owner, it is essential to have quality control measures based on ISO 14001:2004. This certificate provides Environmental Management System. An ISO 14001:2004 certificate will help you in reducing the cost of manufacturing and energy consumption. Manage your business solutions with ISO 14001:2004 guidelines and reap benefits of Environmental Management System.

The ISO 14001 aims to reduce the environmental carbon footprints that many businesses leave behind today because of not taking the right steps to be environmental sustainable. This standard promotes the decrease in the waste of necessary business resources and also reduces the pollution that can sometimes be a by product of a business.

About ISO 14001

The most updated version of the ISO 14001 was released in the year 2004 by the International Organisation of Standardization (ISO), which was attended by members from all the committees from around the world. In order for a company to be awarded the ISO 14001 standard certificate, an external auditor has to audit the company by an audit body that has been accredited by an accreditation body. The certification auditors are required to be accredited by the International Registrar of Certification Auditor and the certification body has to be accredited by the Registrar Accreditation Board in the USA or by the National Accreditation Board in Ireland.

The structure of ISO 14001 is very much like the ISO 9000, which is management standard, so these two standards can be implemented side by side to achieve the best results. As a part of the ISO 14000 family, which deals with different aspects of environmental issues, ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 14002 deal with environmental management system (EMS). ISO 14001 gives the requirements for the

EMS and ISO 14002 gives the basic guidelines for EMS.

Environmental Management System with ISO 14001:2004

The EMS, as per the requirements of the ISO 14001, enables the company, may it be of any size, location and income to:

• It helps the company improve its environmental strategy and this positively affects their environmental performance.
• It helps in identifying and controlling the environmental impact that the activities, services or products of the company might have.
• And it helps in carrying out a systematic approach to set environmental targets and objectives, to achieve these and also to demonstrate that they have been achieved.

How does it work?

ISO 14001 does not specify or chalk out a definite level that each business has to reach. If the performance was determined, then it would have to be done for every specific business. But that is not how it works and has a very different approach, like:

• The ISO has various standards dealing with environmental issues. ISO 14001 deals with a framework provided for a strategic and holistic approach to the businesses environmental policy, actions and plans.
• It gives the general requirements for the EMS.
• This also states the reference to the communication requirements for the communication of the environmental management issues between the company, stakeholders, the public and the regulators.
• As these standards are not company specific, any and every business can undertake them as long as they are dedicated to the continued and improved environmental performance and they have a commitment to comply with the set norms.

The ISO 9001 & ISO 14001 Standards and the environment The ISO 14000 family of International Standards on environmental management is a relative newcomer to ISO’s portfolio – but enviroment-related standardization is far from being a new departure for ISO. In fact, ISO has two-pronged approach to meeting the needs of business, industry, governments, non-governmental organizations and consumers in the field of the environment. On the one hand, it offers a wideranging portfolio of standardized sampling, testing and analytical methods to deal with specific environmental challenges. It has developed more than 350 International Standards (out of a total more than 12000) for the monitoring of such aspects as the quality of air, water and soil. These standards are means of providing business and government with scientifically valid data on the environmental effects of economic activity. They also serve in a number of countries as the technical basis for environmental regulations. ISO is leading a strategic approach by developing environmental management system standards that can be implemented in any type of organization in either public or private sectors (companies, administration, public utilities). To spearhead this strategic approach, ISO establish a new technical commitee, ISO /TC 207, Environmental management, in 1993. This followed ISO’s successful pioneering experience in management system standardization with the ISO 9000 series for quality management. ISO’s direct involvement in environmental management stemmed from an intensive consultation process, carried out within the framework of a Strategic Advisory Group on Environment (SAGE),set up in 1991, in which 20 countrie, 11 international organizations and more than 100 environmental experts participated in defining the basic requirements of a new approach to environment-related standards. This pioneering work was consolidated with ISO’s commitment to support the objective of “sustainable development” dicussed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Today, delegations of business and government experts from 55 countries have participate actively within TC 207, and another 16 countries have observer status. These delegations are chosen by the national standars institute concerned and they are required to bring to TC 207 a national consensus on issue being addressed by the commitee. This national consensus is derived from a process of consultation with interested parties. From its beginning, it was recognized that ISO/TC 207 should have close cooperation with ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, in the areas of management systems, auditing and related terminology. Active efforts are under way to ensure compatibility of ISO environmental management and quality management standards, for the benefit of all organizations wishing to implement them.

What Is ISO 14001 Standards – Environmental Management System?

ISO 14000 is primarily concerned with Environmental Management. In plain language, this means what the organization does to minimize harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities.

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

An EMS can be described as a program of continuous
environmental improvement that follows a defined
sequence of steps drawn from established project
management practice and routinely applied in business
management. In simple terms these steps are
as follows:
• Review the environmental consequences of the operations.
• Define a set of policies and objectives for environmental performance.
• Establish an action plan to achieve the objectives.
• Monitor performance against these objectives.
• Report the results appropriately.
• Review the system and the outcomes and strive for continuous improvement.
Not every system will present these steps in exactly the same way, but the basic principles are clear and easily understandable.

The ISO 14000 series is a series of standards for different aspects of environmental management. A number of these standards relating to environmental management systems have been adopted formally by the members of the ISO, while others are in different stages of preparation.

ISO 14000 is a group of standards covering the following areas:
•Environmental Management Systems (14001,14002, 14004)
•Environmental Auditing (14010, 14011, 14012)
•Evaluation of Environmental Performance (14031)
•Environmental Labeling (14020, 14021, 14022, 14023, 14024, 14025)
•Life-Cycle Assessment (14040, 14041,14042, 14043)