ISO 14001 has been the most popular and recognised standard for environmental management, the standard was recently revised in September 2015 when introduced some changes and improvements that made it a better fit for the future of Environmental management system.
The 2015 version of ISO 14001 features some important changes and aligns ISO 9001 with needs of modern managements system. ISO 14001:2015 has been provided considering the latest trends in the world such as external and internal elements that influence organisation’s impact, Global and local concerns and climate change.
The structure of ISO 14001:2015 has been revised to comply with the Annex SLA in order to ensure compatibility with other management systems as well as the consistency in core texts, terms and definitions. The new structure of ISO 14001:2015 based on Annex SLA makes it easier for organisations to integrate multiple management systems.
The changes introduced in ISO 14001:2015 bring some challenges for organisations to develop/upgrade their management system however these changes may also bring some great opportunity for making management system more effective and efficient. The new edition of the ISO14001 brings also some new benefits to organisations such as:
- More emphasis on leadership accountability and engagement
- More simplified language and a common structure for integration
- More emphasis on protection for the environment, with a focus on proactive initiatives
- -Life-cycle thinking, considering each stage of a product or service, from development to end-of-life
- A stronger integration between environmental issues and strategic action planning
Plan to upgrade your Environmental management system by following below steps:
Step 1 – Familiarise yourself and other staff with ISO 14001:2015 and new requirements by reading the standard and participating in a seminar or training. There are some changes and new concepts however many requirements remain the same.
Step 2 – Identify your EMS gaps which need to be developed or upgraded to meet the new requirements and sort them based on the priority.
Step 3 – Make an action plan and identify responsibilities and timeframe.
Step 4 – Enhance awareness of project team and other staff by short training or inductions before implementing the actions.
Step 5 – Update existing EMS and documentation to meet the revised requirements.
Step 6 – Implement the actions
Step 7– Be prepared for transition audit and certification based on ISO 14001:2015.
How GCC can help you
Global Compliance Certification (GCC) will assist you in:
- Conducting gap assessment as a standalone audit or integrated with other management system audits
- Training your team through our public or in-house training courses
Learn more about ISO 14001 here: About ISO 14001
Training is an important asset to your business, visit our Training page.
Learn more about certification process: Certification Process.
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