ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is an international standard for Environment Management System (EMS) released by International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) in 1996 and reviewed to new version in 2004. This standard specifies the requirements of an effective EMS, which help organisations to achieve a balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact.

ISO 14001 listed requirements in 6 key areas i.e.:-

  1. General requirements
  2. Environmental policy
  3. Planning
  4. Implementation and operation
  5. Checking and corrective action
  6. Management review

This standard offers guideline for the organisation to identify aspects in their products and processes that have impact on the environment, understand relevant environment regulations that is applicable to their context, set up measurable objectives to control and reduce these aspects and impacts, formulate management programmes to achieve these objectives, and plan periodic reviews for continuous improvement. The ISO14001 is simple to understand and is well structured for the SMEs to implement.

A simple model of ISO14001 EMS Standards implementation is as shown below:-

Besides ISO14001, this family of standards include:

  • ISO 14004 - Guidance on the development and implementation of environmental management systems
  • ISO 14010 - General principles of environmental auditing (now superseded by ISO 19011)
  • ISO 14011 - Guidance on audit an environmental management system (now superseded by ISO 19011)
  • ISO 14012 - Guidance on qualification criteria for environmental auditors and lead auditors (now superseded by ISO 19011)
  • ISO 14013/5 - Audit program review and assessment material
  • ISO 14020 - General principles on Environmental labels and declarations
  • ISO 14030 - Guidance on performance targets and monitoring within an Environmental Management System
  • ISO 14040 - Guidance on Life cycle assessment -Principles and framework

You may purchase the full ISO14000 series of standards from BSI or ISO