ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard - Approach

The Environmental Management Standard (ISO 14001) is aimed at reducing the environmental impact of your business operations. The Standard approaches this through three themes…

• Reducing environmental impact
• Managing the use of resources
• Reduction in pollution and the risk of pollution

The Environmental Management Standard recognises that every business creates an environmental footprint. The question is, what are the ways that the damaging aspects of that footprint can be reduced? In order to understand that, it is important to embrace the approach taken by ISO 14001, Environmental Management Standard.

First Steps

A good first step toward the Standard certification, is to consider the Inputs and Outputs of your Business. You should concentrate on the important aspects of environment. Principally, you should be establishing to what extent your business interacts with…

• Air.
• Land.
• Water.
• Resources.

The Environmental Management Standard (ISO 14001) has a wide scope.

Progress 

The Environmental Management Standard is not static. It is not just for the best day situation either. The Standard includes the options and variations experienced during normal operations, and of course, for exceptional events. The exceptional events can vary from spills, key personnel on holiday to major fire or flood.

Consequently, ISO 14001 is a Standard to improve your environmental position. Additionally, it is for dealing effectively with the difficult, or possibly the worst-case scenario. In effect, the Environmental Management Standard puts you in control of your environmental inputs and outputs. It also deals with the problems and the risks. In the context of business and environment, it is a win-win situation. It is to make your organisation more resilient.

Moving Forward, Changing for the Better

What is acceptable for last year, may not be acceptable for this year. Therefore, the Standard has a requirement to identify and control significant environmental aspects of the business. Additionally, to identify ways to improve, monitor and report on tests, observations and performance results. Ultimately, the Environmental Management Standard is about ensuring that appropriate action can be taken to improve performance.

Caring for the environment, managing the risks and moving your business forward.

Charter 4 has considerable experience with Management Standards.

We can help you gain certification with ISO 14001 – Environmental Management Standard. More to the point, we can improve your environmental impact and dovetail the changes to integrate with other Management Standards as well. In other words, we aim to

Improve your business, rather than just comply

Effectively, that means ensuring that your environmental aspirations are also effective business options, and that they help to move your business forward.

To find out more and how ISO 14001 could benefit your business, please contact us.