What changes are in the recently released ISO 14001:2015?

The 2015 version of the standard is based around the common structure that introduces a lot more processes to the mix. It requires the integration of environmental management processes into strategic and business processes. Leadership involvement and engagement is now considered mandatory with the expectation that leaders will get significantly more audit time than they ever have, to talk about the process, their involvement, and to these strategic elements. Risk, formal change management, knowledge, communication, and other significant content are new to the standard and provide a solid set of requirements to establish an effective management system.

Cavendish Scott, Inc. has been working with clients on updating their management systems and developing and implementing new management systems around these requirements. We have established training content that can be tailored to your situation and help develop or transition your management system to a valuable and effective tool. We can help you with practical, proven solutions that will fit right in with what you are doing while also meeting the requirements of the standard. Contact us for more details.

ISO 14001 consulting is different from ISO 9001.

Yes, 14001 is all about environmental issues and not quality, so of course, it's different. Well, they are both management systems, but the important difference is that managing environmental issues tends to be a supporting activity within most organizations. It is not the purpose for the existence of the organization and they don’t make money out of it. Also, many of the controls normally covered in organizations are mandated by regulatory agencies and legal requirements. Thus the emphasis is typically to minimize the effort and costs of these activities. Nobody is saying that corners should be cut or that these issues are not important, it's just an acknowledgment of realistic aims.

More and more organizations are becoming interested in ISO 14001. Sometimes it is because they want a marketing profile of being “green”. Sometimes it is because of customer pressure. In other instances, regulatory pressure is brought to bear and perhaps organizations are now more often starting to recognize that this is a great way to manage an increasingly complex subject, they want to use it to look for efficiency improvements and increased diligence in protecting employees, environment, and community.

The fundamentals of ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is a management system that requires repeatable processes to ensure environmental issues are addressed continually. It is not so much about environmental expertise as it is about process and management system expertise. The environmental expertise of the in-house environmental professional is still extremely important but it is the way in which that expertise is applied to the ISO system, which is crucial in implementation. All too often the environmental personnel in the organization are working hard at keeping the organization under control but resources are not provided to define and implement processes for repeatable environmental systems. A good system provides for the true and clear accountability of top management and gives Environmental Professionals the recognition they deserve in an organization.

As mentioned above, the key processes required by ISO 14001 are supporting processes. This means that they are less likely to be unique if they already exist in an organization. Thus it is likely that previously developed and proven processes can be applied.

This simplifies the interpretation of ISO requirements, simplifies the implementation, and allows quicker, easier ISO certification while still assuring a meaningful, non-bureaucratic, easy-to-maintain environmental control system.

The Cavendish Scott Advantage

We don’t pretend to be environmental experts. We are very familiar with environmental issues and provide all sorts of ideas but technically you don’t need it for ISO 14001. You already have an appropriate level of in-house environmental expertise.

Our focus:

  • Practical processes and management systems that are non-bureaucratic, easy to maintain, value-added, demonstrably compliant with ISO, based on your activities, not ISO (we fit ISO to you, rather than change you to fit ISO).
  • Focus on using 14001 to minimize costs (we have been involved with incredible savings through 14001 systems),
  • Ensuring a thorough and comprehensive environmental management system that covers everything (due diligence for complete stakeholder protection)

Cavendish Scott, Inc. has been helping organizations become ISO certified for over 25 years. We guarantee success and have never had a failure.

ISO 14001 Consulting - Connect with us free, and find out how we can help.

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