Why ISO 14001?

Why should you still consider environmental sustainability for your business now governments are flip-flopping on the issue? And if you do, why even think about ISO 14001?

I thought you many be open to hearing more about this. ISO 14001 is the ONLY internationally recognised environmental management standard

AND it is one of the three major outcomes of the Rio Earth Summit:
– ISO 14001 is the tool for business improvement
– Agenda 21 is the tool set up to help councils
– Kyoto Protocol is the tool for nations to use

This is a system that gives you an accountability tool that allows you to identify where an organisation could actually or potentially cause environmental harm; asses the significance of each impact and where the organisation, its employees or contractors could breach legislation,

It sets milestones with where there is objective measurable outcomes

The biggest outcome is to increase business efficiency, prevent waste and rework and even improve time management and save money and sets up systems to prevent or reduce the significant harm (impacts) and legislative breaches then ensures that these continue to be managed effectively and builds in continual improvement.

Step by step training with three five-week modules deliver manageable amounts each week and only one hour of Teleconference time each week minimises business interruption so that it is not necessary to take on additional staff to implement the system

There is an emphasis on transferring knowledge from the trainer to the business rather than the typical situation where the knowledge remains with the consultant

PowerPoint, audio and video training materials give people the choice that suits their learning style best.  The training includes internal audit training

And it is all pulled together into a straightforward plain English manual with a generic core and annexes that individual businesses tailor for their own company.

The most effective systems are the simplest.  They have minimal documentation to comply with the standard and an emphasis on integrating additional procedural requirements into any existing systems and these often benefit from a review and simplification, legal compliance built into everyway procedures so that it is easier to do it right than to make a costly mistake and it addresses training, maintenance, emergency planning and preparedness

There is a very easy integration into existing systems such as quality and safety

Implementing ISO 14001 the way that I do result in a cultural change and ensures the entire organisation is involved unlike traditional consultancy that often works with a manager and admin assistant, builds a paper system then lectures the workers at the end but ignores top and most middle management.

We set up practical feedback system records problems and near misses and builds a no blame culture that looks for the real reason that a mistake was able to happen so that you have a continual improvement process involving the entire organisation.  This is unlike a traditional quality systm that is mainly driven from the top

My training and consultancy works equally well for both large and small business and has been used for businesses with well over 1,000 employees and also with single family businesses operating from home.  It is ideal for  implementation in larger organisations because individual departments and sites are all able to use the same framework within their workplace

Organisations choose ISO 14001 for several reasons

- Some want to “do the right thing” with an effective system and recognition for their efforts.
- For marketing benefits especially to “green” markets.
- To fulfill the requirements to access tenders.- To improve their image and protect themselves from complaints and legal issues.

The businesses often don’t realize the biggest benefit until they have their ISO 14001 system in place – they prevent mistakes and errors by making it easier to do things right than to make errors

Jean Cannon

Jean is an award winning small business management expert. She gives you the almost paperless ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification that protects your business and saves you time and money. For more information go to
http://www.integratedisosystems.com

You can register your interest in the next risk management workshop at
http://www.riskmanagementinbusiness.com

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 6:05 am and is filed under Sustainable Business and Integrated ISO Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.