Many companies want to “do
the right thing, environmentally”, but you don’t have to be certified
to ISO 14001 for this.
However, having third-party assessment of your environmental practices,
which is what you get with certification to ISO 14001, gives you a
status which is recognised by most clients. It used to be
that ISO 14001 companies were in the minority and this would make them
stand out. Now companies are realising that they are going to
be left behind without it. I know of many companies who have
lost contracts because they are not certified to ISO 14001.
Where their clients are those with a public image, such as banks,
insurance companies, supermarkets, etc., then they almost invariably
ask for ISO 14001. If they don’t, then tender documents will require
you to go in to detail of your environmental management systems.
SSS can provide a one-stop solution of any or all of the following services to help you with your certification to ISO 14001:
Analysis
of operations
SSS will examine your operations,
and calculate the aspects of your operations and their actual or
potential environmental impact. We normally use INTACT (see
below) to record this as INTACT provides a report in
descending order of impact and enables actions to be recorded.
Using the baseline report, aspects and impacts listing and the register
of legislation, SSS will determine what systems are required and will
work with you to define objectives. Each objective must have
some way of assessing if you have met the objective and a target
completion date. If you use INTACT then the individual
actions towards meeting each objective are linked to the objective and
shows the complete story; very handy when it comes to your
certification visits.
Compilation of Baseline Report
There is no defined content for a baseline study but SSS baseline reports cover such areas as:
Development of systems
One of the key requirements in your systems ISO 14001 is a register of
all applicable legislation. SSS standard systems include a
table with the following columns:
| Title of the legislation | Brief description | Links to others sources of info. | Applicable to your company? | Cross-reference to your system if it is applicable |
Companies for whom SSS have provided
the certification support and therefore the legal register receive
updates as legislation changes.
See an example of the
register.
The systems vary from company to company, but SSS will ensure that your
systems meet the relevant clauses of ISO 14001. See an example of a system.
Training
and implementation
SSS will provide whatever training is necessary to meet the
requirements of ISO 14001. Typical training may be at three
levels
| Level |
Training type |
Applicability |
|
1 |
Environmental awareness |
Most employees |
|
2 |
Aspects and impacts |
People whose work may have a direct environmental impact |
|
3 |
Environmental Management System (EMS) |
People who have key responsibilities for running or auditing the EMS |
One of the problems that many companies have is that of training records. The INTACT system has a training module that enables training records to be kept, if you do not presently have a system.
INTACT
The INTACT (INTegrated ACTion management system) takes away a lot of
the hassle people normally associate with ISO 14001, 9001,
etc. Essentially what it provides is a computerised system
that:
INTACT
is normally installed on networks so that all people can see the data,
with appropriate levels of security to prevent alteration after an
issue has been signed off.
See more about INTACT.
Liaison
with certification body
SSS personnel are used to working with certification bodies and their
auditors. If required by the client, SSS can be present
during audits.
Auditing
One of the requirements of ISO 14001 is to carry out internal audits,
both of your own operations and any "duty of care" audits of your key
partners, say waste handling companies. INTACT provides a comprehensive
audit scheduling and
reporting function.
SSS can provide solutions to this
from the following options:
Menu