Certification audits should help to improve your organization as well as meet the requirements of your chosen standard. We believe in the integrity of standards and rigor of the certification process. That's why it's our policy to achieve accreditation for our services wherever possible. We provide accredited certification, training and support services to help you improve processes, performance and products and services. Find out more They provide a framework of action that; if implemented appropriately, provides internal control.
This, in turn can increase the long term viability of the organization and where appropriate a higher regard for its asset value. Whilst there other numerous benefits to achieving ISO and some will be more appropriate depending upon what sector an organization operates the following benefits are likely in most cases:.
Many organizations have the process of risk management as a fundamental process particularly around information technology, finance and occupational health and safety. As an organization is subject to a variety of influences, which can change, this can lead to risks in the form of potential threats and opportunities.
Determining the risks that derive from this drives an organization to consider such changes or events, analyse their impacts and chances of an event occurring and then encouraging a planning or mitigation strategy.
Following the determination of the macro issues, asks an organization to determine the aspects and impacts of activities, products and services in some form of risk assessment process. This analysis informs an organization where there are significant issues risks or opportunities that need careful management, where objectives need setting, controls that need designing or where and to what frequency internal audits need carrying out.
Surrounding the determination of aspects and impacts is the assessment of whether an organization is complying with their legal framework. The concept of maintaining knowledge and understanding of its compliance status has built in risk assessment principles so that an organization can determine its compliance status and, per se, understand where it is not complying and therefore devise strategies to minimise the risk.
Those organizations that need further assistance in ensuring that their risk assessment process is comprehensive can look towards ISO Risk management - Principles and guidelines. This provides generic guidelines although it is not intended to promote uniformity of risk management across organizations. Of course, the design and implementation of risk management plans and frameworks will need to take into account the varying needs of a specific organization, its particular objectives, context, structure, operations, processes, functions, projects, products, services, or assets and specific practices employed.
A risk based philosophy means that an organization can be better prepared for the impacts of uncertainty, which in turn means greater resilience. Moreover, risk-based thinking implicitly results in continual improvement, as an organization is always examining potential influences and changes.
However, if not, it might be less understood how the process approach is applicable to the EMS requirements in ISO It is explained fully in the introduction of ISO , but as a paraphrased summation; a process approach is where more consistent results can be attained when consideration and management of activities are carried out as interrelated processes, which together, make up a system.
The process approach applies to an EMS because a comprehensive appreciation of an organizations processes and their interrelation needs to be known. The following are the main areas in an EMS where process thinking is attributable:. A comprehensive appreciation of processes needs to be understood when considering the macro environmental issues which interrelate between the organization and the environment. Environmental aspects and operational controls. In order to determine environmental aspects and impacts, risks and opportunities, an analysis of the inputs, activities and outputs needs to be determined.
As part of the analysis the interactivity of one or more of the processes may need to be taken into account. If it is not, this environmental risk assessment may omit environmental aspects and impacts which in turn would result in no controls being devised. This could result in a deleterious impact upon the environment.
In order to undertake a process, or a number of processes effectively, a person needs to be competent. When determining environmental competence needs, competence will need to be obtained or matched to the needs of the particular processes. If competence is not proven or appropriate to a particular process this could result in adverse environmental impact. The processes which comprise the EMS need to be systematically audited over a time and frequency to determine whether they perform effectively.
A corrective action is an opportunity to correct a problem identified in an EMS. A process approach to this will start at root cause and finish at an appropriate and satisfactory sustainable solution.
There are no specific requirements for an organization to adhere to within this section. However, it sets out the parameters within which ISO can be used and provides the overall intended outcome of an EMS as being:. The section also sets out that the Standard is applicable to any organization, regardless of size, type and nature.
In other words, by citing something as a normative reference, it is considered as indispensable to the application of that particular Standard. This section sets out the terms and definitions that are used in the Standard which may need further clarification in order to apply the Standard to a particular organization. They are listed according to the hierarchy of the concepts reflecting the sequencing of their introduction in the Standard.
Terms are grouped by major clause title i. Context of the Organization, Leadership, Planning, etc. In addition to the term or definition there are also notes that seek to provide further information and clarity. If an electronic version of the Standard has been purchased the definitions are hyperlinked to other definitions so that there interrelationship can be seen.
The following sections, 4 to 10, provide the requirements of the Standard. In order to understand how each of the following clauses applies to each other the remaining text applies to the following diagram:.
This is a new concept in terms of ISO The clause is sequential as there is need to understand the organization and context 4. To put it another way, it is a comprehensive appreciation of the macro processes and their interrelation which can affect or be affected by an organization. There are a number of methodologies that can be used to determine context.
A good way of achieving this is to formulate a matrix setting out the requirements of the Standard and Annex A and then perform a series of interviews with appropriate employees, so that the knowledge of an organization can be harnessed. Where appropriate, this could be turned into a report. The benefit of this is that it provides a cohesive explanation and a good reference to support present and future business strategy.
It can also be reflected upon when undertaking a Management Review See Section 9 Performance evaluation below. From an understanding of the context i. Once this has been created then the interested parties relevant needs and expectations need to be determined. There again, this can just be an iterative process, listing the interested parties needs and expectations e. What is important though is the drawing out of issues from interested parties that an organization may consider to become compliance obligations see later for a description of compliance obligations.
Sometimes, at the initial stages of an implementation, it can be problematic to finalise the scope because sometimes there needs to be more knowledge of the organization through implementation of the remainder of the Standard particularly when determining environmental aspects and impacts from the activities, products and services of an organization. However, the scope should be documented in some form within the EMS.
Where a scope is particularly complicated, perhaps because certain parts of a business are excluded from the EMS because of legitimate reasons, then a clear description in a manual or other document should be undertaken.
Where, the scope is relatively straight forward then a good place to have it is in the Environmental Policy Statement. As a publically facing document, the Environmental Policy Statement may provide a good location for describing scope. A clear description of the scope within the Policy Statement can inform the reader succinctly of who the company is, what it does and what the remainder of the policy relates to.
Of course you may choose to have scope defined in both places but if the scope changes, both statements will have to be changed! The final section in clause 4 sets out that as a result of the above, an organization then has to determine, implement and continually improve an EMS.
The remainder of this document will look at the how this is to take place. This section sets out a framework that asks an organization to analyse itself to determine the aspects, impacts, risks and opportunities of its activities, products and services and then how to manage the result of this analysis. A good approach to understanding the environmental implications of an organization is by starting to understand the business itself.
The parameters of the organization have already been understood in the determination of scope. Assembling this information together into a matrix allows consistency and the data to be presented logically.
If appropriate this information could be referenced to a location plan of the organization so that referencing to physical location can be achieved. From determination of activities, products and services the environmental aspects and impacts need to be determined. This process should take into account potential emergency situations. An example of an interaction of a process causing an aspects and impact:.
In assessing the significance it is suggested though that the following are considered:. Each of the above can be quantified in some way and scored. Establish an implementation team to get the best results. Map out and share roles, responsibilities and timescales. Adapt the basic principles of environmental management to your business. Motivate staff involvement with training and incentives. Share ISO knowledge and encourage staff to train as internal auditors. Regularly review your ISO system to make sure you are continually improving it.
If your contracts or tenders require an ISO certification, then this is an obvious benefit. But, even if it is not a formal requirement, very often your customers, neighbors, and the local community will be interested in how you care for the environment around you. Increasingly, consumers are concerned about the environmental practices of the companies that produce the products they use. One way to assure all of these people that you are committed to managing your environmental impacts is to have a demonstrable environmental management system to identify and control these impacts.
This can enhance your image, help you maintain a good public image, and improve community relations — which can help improve your market share with these interested parties.
One of the most important benefits that can be derived from implementing ISO is to provide you with a framework for identifying, monitoring and complying with the various environmental requirements that apply to your processes.
Of course you try to follow all applicable laws before implementing an environmental management system, but the system itself can aid in maintaining your compliance. Additionally, implementation will tell people that you care about the environment, and have a proven framework for identifying and complying with the various legal, regulatory and contractual requirements, thus boosting your image and credibility as above.
The first way that this can happen is by using your system to identify, control, and reduce the number of environmental incidents that occur, which can cost your company through liability costs of fines, cleanup, and reparations. Secondly, you can use the improvement aspect of the environmental management system to help reduce costs by working to conserve the energy and input materials required by your company processes.
When you are trying to make the improvements outlined above, it is important to ensure you are working with good, accurate data, which is a key element of the ISO standard. When putting these improvement activities in place, you can greatly increase the chances that you will be successful the first time by tracking the improvement through good data collection — and even if the initiative goes off track, you will find this out sooner so that you can correct problems and recover faster.
This can save further time and money. The element of continual improvement that is integral to the ISO requirements can be used to help your organization to move from small improvements toward greater enhancements to your organizational processes.
Through these systematic processes, you can better build your public image and reduce your costs as identified above, but to continue to do this can help your employees find new and better ways to reduce your environmental impact and save time and resources when they improve the processes. When people are involved in a culture that utilizes them to work toward common goals of improvement, they are more engaged overall. As just stated, employees who are involved in company improvements are more engaged in other aspects of the company.
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