Getting ISO 14001 Certified in Vinton, Virginia (VA)
Contact Us
ISO 14001 is an international standard that is used to design and implement an environmental management system. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international body that develops and distributes standards that have global acceptance. The most recent version of ISO 14001 was published in 2015. Since a majority of member countries agreed upon this standard before it was released and updated, it is an international standard that a majority of countries all over the world do accept. In 2017, there was a survey that was carried out on ISO 2017. The results revealed that countries that implement this standard show a stable trend.
The structure of ISO 14001 is divided into ten sections. Sections one to three is introductory while the last seven contain the requirements for an environmental management system. Here are the seven main sections that are included in ISO 14001.
Context of the Organization
The section lays down the requirements for understanding your company to be able to implement an EMS. It has the requirements for identifying the interested parties and the expectations that they have, identifying external and internal issues, defining the EMS scope, and identifying the required processes for the EMS.
Leadership is a requirement that covers the need for the top management in the organization to be instrumental in the implementation of the EMS. To demonstrate their commitment to EMS, the top managers have to ensure an environmental commitment, define and communicate the environmental policy, and assign responsibilities and roles throughout the whole organization. The other function of top managers is to plan for the continuous function of the EMS. They need to assess the opportunities and risks of the EMS within the organization. There is also the identification of environmental goals for improvement and the necessary plans put in place to help accomplish the objective. The organization should also evaluate all the possible ways the organizational programs affect and interact with the environment and also legal and other commitments that are needed for the organization. This section looks at how to manage all resources for the EMS. It also has the requirements around communication, awareness, competence, and the control of documented information. These are the records and documents that are needed for your processes. Operation requirements address all the elements of environmental controls that the organizational processes need. It also covers the need for identifying organizational processes and potential emergency situations and then planning for responses so that you are ready to respond in case an emergency takes place. The section has the requirements that organizations need to make sure that they can monitor whether the EMS they have in place is working perfectly. It entails measuring and monitoring your processes, evaluating environmental compliance, ongoing management review, and internal auditing of the EMS. In this last section, you will get the requirements that are needed to improve your EMS over time. It entails the need of assessing process conformity and also taking corrective actions for the processes. Leadership
Planning
Support
Operation
Performance Evaluation
Improvement
All the sections are based on the Plan-DO-Check-Act cycle that uses the elements to implement change within the organizational process so as to maintain and drive improvements within the processes. For any help with the implementation of ISO 14001, feel free to contact IQC The ISO Pros. We offer the best ISO certification consultancy services in Vinton, Virginia.
IQC The ISO Pros can help you implement, train on, consult, and have your company and/or organization certified on the following ISO Certifications: