Wednesday, January 27, 2010

BENEFITS OF ISO 14000

BENEFITS OF ISO 14000
By having your organisation's environmental management system independently assessed by the Registration Body, you will be making a powerful statement about your organisation's environmental credentials.
Other benefits of ISO 14000 certification include:
1.Better management of environmental risks, now and future.
2. Increased access to new customers and business partners.
3. Demonstration of legal and regulatory compliance
4. Potential for reduced public liability insurance costs
5. Overall cost savings: in terms of consumption, waste and recycling
In addition, ISO 14000 is designed to be compatible with other management system standards such as ISO 9001 (Quality), OHSAS 18001 (Health and Safety) and ISO 27001 (Information Security). All or any combination of these complementary standards can be integrated seamlessly. They share many principles, so choosing an integrated management system can provide you with outstanding value for money.

What Is 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)