Introduction of ISO 14001.docx

**Introduction of ISO 14001:2015** The history of ISO 14001 reflects the ever changing and growing expectations of consumers and citizens in relation to business environmental performance. Prior to the publication of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard, the British Standards Institute p...

**Introduction of ISO 14001:2015** The history of ISO 14001 reflects the ever changing and growing expectations of consumers and citizens in relation to business environmental performance. Prior to the publication of the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard, the British Standards Institute published BS 7750 in response to a growing need by organisations that were being asked to demonstrate environmental credentials. BS 7750 laid the foundation for the initial version of ISO 14001 which was published in 1996. The initial ISO 14001 standard set some minimum requirements based on environmental policies and objectives that the organisation needed to define. For the most part, the focus was on pollution control and management of negative impacts on the environment. The next iteration of the 14001 Standard sought to improve the baseline requirements and included more criteria regarding compliance requirements. In addtion, organisations had to differentiate between aspects they directly affected, and those which they could influence. Thus, organisations were required to act as \'Change Agents\' and as a result, improvements in supply chains started to be seen. The latest iteration of the ISO 14001 standard encompasses the risk-based approach and allows priority to be given to risks and opportunities relevant to the organisation. When combined with minimum requirements, such as Compliance to legislation and commitments such as the prevention of pollution, an organisation is driven to developing a more comprehensive environmental strategy and action plan. **The ISO 14001 Family of Standards** The ISO 14001 standard sets out general requirements for environmental management, but the standard sits within a family of standards (number ISO 14000) that organisations can use to guide good practice on a range of topics; from greenhouse gas management to design and development of products. Other 14000 standards set out criteria for life-cycle analysis and provide the basis of a common language and terminology for environmental assessment and management worldwide. These can be used in conjunction with the ISO 14001 standard and provide organisations with greater insights and guidance to recognizable industry best practice. **Plan -- Do -- Check -- Act (PDCA) Cycle ** The PDCA cycle is a project management framework that businesses can use to implement incremental change. PDCA stands for plan, do, check, and act. This four-step approach is the most widely used methodology for implementing continuous improvement. That is why the four steps are arranged in a circle. Businesses that take this approach aim to continually repeat the process---always identifying new opportunities to use the cycle to improve. How Is the PDCA Cycle Different from Other Change Management Strategies? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What distinguishes PDCA is that this framework is designed to help teams make small, incremental changes and test each step's success or failure before moving onto another one. Over time, these incremental changes can lead to a large-scale transformation in its operations or products. But using PDCA lets the team achieve this transformation carefully and move forward only with evidence the process is working. What Does Using the PDCA Cycle Look Like? ----------------------------------------- Any department in a business can use the PDCA cycle for any incremental change. This could include changes to a company's business process, its product, or even the company's team culture. One example is the A/B split tests that marketing teams run on their creative campaigns. Here is what that process might look like. ### Step 1: Plan In the "Plan" stage, a team identifies a challenge they want to overcome or an opportunity they hope to take advantage of. Let's say a marketing team has been running a digital advertisement for several weeks. The headline has generated many leads, and the team is happy with the results. But they'd like to learn if they can improve the ad and earn even better results. (They might also be worried that the current ad will soon start losing its effectiveness and need to be updated anyway.) For a simple A/B test, the team changes only a single element of the campaign and runs both versions simultaneously. In this case, let's say the team wants to try a different headline. **The planning phase:** Create an alternate version of the ad's headline. ### Step 2: Do The "Do" stage is the team's opportunity to test their idea for change. This stage typically includes a small experiment or trial run. In our A/B test scenario, the marketing team runs its alternate headline and for half of their online ad buys for a few days. For the other half, they keep running the original version of the ad. **The do phase:** Carry out a real-world experiment to test the team's hypothesis. ### Step 3: Check In the "Check" phase of the PDCA cycle, the business gathers and evaluates its small experiment results. If it proves successful, the company will implement the change on a wider scale. If not, the company can return to the Plan stage and come up with a different plan. Let's assume that after a few days, the marketing team analyzes the results of both versions of their online ad. In terms of leads generated, the new headline outperformed the original by almost 50%. The plan worked. **The check phase: **Analyze the data to determine if your experiment was successful. ### Step 4: Act In the "Act" phase, the final step in the PDCA cycle, a business takes action according to the insights it gained after analyzing its experiment. If the small change worked well, the company could implement that change more broadly. If it fell short, the company might need to return to the beginning---the Plan phase---to try something else. Because the marketing team's alternate headline outperformed the original, the team will now want to use the newer headline for all of its ad buys going forward. **The act phase:** Use your learnings from the check phase to take action---either implementing your change on a wider basis or returning to step one to devise another plan. Understanding of Accreditation Paragraph **What Is Accreditation?**\ Accreditation is a formal, independent verification that a program or institution meets established quality standards and is competent to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. Conformity assessment tasks may include, but are not limited to, testing, inspection, or certification. Accreditation is the act of granting credit or recognition, especially to an educational institution that maintains suitable standards. Accreditation is necessary to any person or institution in education that needs to prove that they meet a general standard of quality. **Accreditation vs. Certification** Accreditation and certification are both voluntary processes that can help maintain the quality and reputation of an institution or professional field. Accreditation is used to assess the quality of an institution or program, while certification is used to assess an individual\'s competency. Whilst the terms 'accreditation' and 'certification' are often used interchangeably, they are two closely related but distinct steps on the quality assurance ladder. Accreditation is a rung further up the ladder, performing an oversight role that underpins the quality, impartiality and competence of the certification process. Certification is an audit of whether an organisation,  product or individual, conforms to the criteria laid out in a recognised standard or scheme, such as *ISO 14001 Environment Management Systems*. **Certification** -- the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. **Accreditation** -- the formal recognition by an independent body, generally known as an accreditation body, that a certification body operates according to international standards. #### What is accreditation? Accreditation involves the assessment of the competence and impartiality of an organisation and the compliance of their work to nationally and internationally recognised standards or schemes, such as the ISO 15189 medical laboratory testing standard. Accreditation is very specific to the activities it covers under the relevant standard; for example just because a laboratory is accredited for testing saliva swab samples for the presence of COVID-19 antigens, it does not necessarily mean it is also accredited for testing either other samples for COVID-19 antigens and/or saliva swabs for any other antigens. Accreditation provides independent confirmation of competence. However, accreditation is not compulsory, and non-accreditation does not necessarily mean the certification body is not reputable. #### What is certification? Effectively, certification is the third-party confirmation via audit of an organisation's systems or products, whilst accreditation is independent third-party recognition that an organisation has the competence and impartiality to perform specific technical activities such as certification, testing and inspection. **Accreditation can help improve an institution or program by:** - Representing quality - Promoting scientific validity - Providing assurance in a global marketplace - Serving as a recruiting tool - Demonstrating accountability - Providing confidential peer review - Stimulating continuous improvement  **Certification can help an individual by:** - Validating their knowledge - Increasing their marketability - Increasing their earning power - Enhancing their academic performance - Improving their reputation - Enhancing their credibility - Increasing their confidence - Earning respect from their peers **\ ** **What is ISO 14001:2015** ISO 14001 is the internationally recognized standard for environmental management that companies can use to seek positive environmental improvement. Good environmental outcomes (such as enhanced performance and achievement of objectives) can be used to demonstrate their credentials against environmental requirements and customer expectations. The 2015 standard is the latest in a series of 14001 standards that started life in 1996. Emanating from the growing demand by businesses who needed to demonstrate good environmental performance, the early versions of 14001 provided a platform for organisations to put environmental policies and objectives in place. A subsequent version in 2004 provided a strengthening of requirements around compliance obligations.  ISO 14001 can be used to manage environmental aspects from resource use to pollution, from plastics to waste.  **Legislation and ISO 14001** The commitment to comply with applicable environmental legislation is paramount and has been a feature of ISO 14001 since it was first written. UK environmental legislation is aligned to EU legislation, and therefore, organisations that need to comply to environmental legislation can demonstrate through the auditing process that an external audit bod has verified their compliance.  An organisation will need to:  1. Ensure they understand the legislation that affects the activities, products and activities of their business 2. Ensure they maintain a ongoing \'register\' of that legislation The format of any register is up to the company, but what is critical is that the list is maintained in light of changes to the organisation. For example, if legislation that is applicable in one year, is no longer applicable the following year, then the company should be aware of that.  ISO 14001 has, over time, put greater emphasis on the management of legislation. In some countries, where legislation is not as strong as it could be, an organisation can make the decision to set their own level of compliance.  **Benefits of ISO 14001:2015** There are many reasons why an organization should take a strategic approach to improving its environmental performance. Users of the standard have reported that ISO 14001 helps : **Benefits for your organisation** 1. **Cost savings** -- by reducing wasted resources such as energy and water you will reduce your costs. 2. **Use less energy** -- through energy efficiency improvements made across your product life cycle. 3. **Improved corporate image** -- by showing you are a responsible employer you can increase your credibility and win new customers. 4. **Reduced environmental impact** -- through monitoring and controlling your processes where they could affect the ecosystem. 5. **Compliance with legislation** -- implementing ISO 14001 means that your organisation understands and can prove that it complies with applicable environmental legislation. 6. **Reduced legal costs** -- through compliance with environmental legislation you may experience reduced costs for public liability insurance and fewer fines or prosecutions. **Benefits of ISO 14001 for your customers** 1. **Alignment with ethical choices** -- in a world increasingly concerned with the impact of industry on the environment, ISO 14001 certification acts as a seal of approval that the services provided are environmentally conscious. 2. **Assurance of service** -- certification acts as proof that your organisation complies with environmental legislation. **\ ** Clauses of ISO 14001:2015 1 Scope\ 2 Normative references\ 3 Terms and definitions\ 4 Context of the organization\ 4.1 Understanding the organization and its context\ 4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties\ 4.3 Determining the scope of the environment management system\ 4.4 Environment management system and its processes\ 5 Leadership\ 5.1 Leadership and commitment\ 5.1.1 General\ 5.1.2 Customer focus\ 5.2 Policy\ 5.2.1 Establishing the Environmental policy\ 5.2.2 Communicating the Environmental policy\ 5.3 Organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities\ 6 Planning\ 6.1 Actions to address risks and opportunities\ 6.2 Environment objectives and planning to achieve them\ 7 Support\ 7.1 Resources\ 7.2 Competence\ 7.3 Awareness\ 7.4 Communication\ 7.5 Documented information\ 8 Operation\ 8.1 Operational planning and control\ 8.2 Emergency Preparedness and Response\ 9 Performance evaluation\ 9.1 Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation\ 9.2 Internal audit\ 9.3 Management review\ 10 Improvement\ 10.1 General\ 10.2 Nonconformity and corrective action\ 10.3 Continual improvement\ Annex A Guidance on the use of this International Standard\ Annex B Correspondence between ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 14001:2004\ Bibliography\ Alphabetical index of terms