Understanding ISO-14001 Standard

4.1. Understanding the Organization and its Context

Requirement: Company must determine and document internal and external issues that are relevant to its purpose and that may affect its ability to achieve the intended outcomes of the EMS. Internal issues may include potentially conflicting organizational goals and policies, rapid changes, and limited human, technical, and financial resources. External issues may include changing regulations, new innovation and technology, economic factors, and changing consumer behaviors.

4.2. Understanding the Needs and Expectations of Interested Parties 

Requirement: Company must determine the interested parties that are relevant to the EMS, their needs and expectations, and which of those become part of its compliance obligations.

4.3. Determining the Scope of the EMS 

Requirement: The Company must determine the boundaries and applicability of the EMS to establish a company-specific scope, which defines the company’s environmental responsibilities under the management system.

4.4. Environmental Management System 

Requirement: Company must establish, implement maintain, and continually improve an EMS in order to achieve intended environmental outcomes, including enhancing environmental performance.

5.1. Leadership and Commitment 

Requirements: The success of the environmental management system depends on commitment from all levels and functions of the organization. Top management can effectively address its risks and opportunities by integrating environmental management into the organization’s business processes, strategic direction and decision making, and aligning them with other business priorities, and incorporating environmental governance into its overall management system. The Leadership and Commitment section sets the expectations for Company leadership and takes into account three levels of management: Global (Corporate/Divisional) Top Leadership, Company Top Leadership, and front line supervisors at the company level.

5.2. Environmental Policy 

Requirement: Top management establishes and communicates the Company’s commitment to the protection of the environment through the Policy. The policy – appropriate to purpose and context of the organization - provides a framework for setting environmental objectives, including pollution prevention, and sets the expectations around the fulfillment of compliance obligations and continual improvement to the EMS. The Environmental Policy is communicated throughout the organization and made available to interested parties.

5.3. Organizational Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities 

Requirement: Company must determine and provide the resources needed for the establishment, implementation, maintenance, and continual improvement of the EMS. Resources include human resources and specialized skills, organizational infrastructure, technology, and financial resources.

6.1 General Planning 

Requirement: When planning the environmental management system, the organization must take into account the issues identified while defining the context of the organization, the requirements associated with interested parties, and the scope. Also, the risks and opportunities must be identified that need to be addressed to give assurance that the EMS can achieve its intended outcomes, prevent or reduce undesired effects, and achieve continual improvement.

6.2. Environmental Aspects 

Requirement: Each company must identify and document the environmental aspects of its activities, products, and services within the scope of its EMS that it can control and those that it can influence, including outsourced activities as appropriate, and their associated impacts, considering a life cycle perspective. Environmental aspects can result in risks and opportunities associated with either adverse environmental impacts (threats) or beneficial environmental impacts (opportunities). Company must maintain documented information of their risks and opportunities that need to be addressed, such as in the aspects and impacts matrix, PESTEL analysis (optional), management review form, and/or other documentation.

6.3. Compliance Obligations: Legal and Other Requirements 

Requirement: Company is committed to complying with laws and regulations applicable to its operations, including environmental requirements. Each company must maintain documented information of its compliance obligations, which can result in risks and opportunities.

6.4. Environmental Objectives 

Requirements: Top management must establish environmental objectives, consistent with the environmental policy and measurable (if practicable), at relevant functions and levels. They must take into account significant environmental aspects and associated compliance obligations, and consider risks and opportunities. Objectives and targets drive continual improvement in environmental performance.

7.1. Resources 

Requirement: Top management must determine and provide the resources needed for the establishment, implementation, maintenance, and continual improvement of the EMS. Resources include human resources, natural resources, infrastructure, technology, and financial resources.

7.2. Competence, Training, and Awareness 

Requirement: Company top management at each company must appoint qualified resources to establish, implement and maintain procedures for identifying training needs and for the training of all personnel performing activities affecting the EMS.

7.3. Communication 

Requirement: Top management must establish, implement and maintain the processes needed for internal and external communication relevant to the EMS, including:
  • What it will communicate
  • When to communicate
  • With whom to communicate
  • How to communicate

When establishing its communication processes, the company must:
  • Take into account its compliance obligations (legal and other requirements); and
  • Ensure that environmental information communicated is accurate

The organization must respond to relevant communications on its EMS and retain documented information as evidence of communications.

7.4. Documented Information 

Requirement: Environmental management system documentation is organized and maintained as described in this document. This documentation serves as the definitive framework employed by company in the implementation and maintenance of company’s Environmental Management System by:

Describing the main elements of the environmental management system, their interaction, and reference to related documents  Collating the EMS policy, objectives and targets

Describing the documentation determined by the company and global environmental management to be necessary to ensure the effective planning, operation, compliance and control of processes that relate to significant environmental aspects

Describing the means of setting EMS objectives

Documenting key roles, responsibilities and procedures  Providing direction to related documentation and describing other elements of company’s environmental management system where appropriat

Demonstrating that the environmental management system elements are implemented, maintained and effective

8.1. Operational Control 

Requirement: Company must develop and implement operational controls to effectively manage the environmental risks associated with their operations within the scope of the company management system. Company aspects, risk scores, and associated controls are listed in the company Aspects and Impacts Matrix. Effective operational controls that are properly and consistently applied are essential to proactively managing risks that can negatively impact the environment and compromise legal compliance goals.

8.2. Emergency preparedness and response 

Requirements: Company must establish, implement, and maintain the processes needed to prevent, respond, and mitigate, as necessary, potential emergency situations and any adverse environmental impact associated with those situations.

9.1. Monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation 

Requirement:

Each company must have a process to monitor, measure, analyze, and evaluate its environmental performance. The company top management is responsible for ensuring that effective environmental monitoring and measuring programs are established and implemented.

Environmental performance and the effectiveness of the environmental management system must be evaluated in accordance with the Management Review process.

Relevant environmental performance information must be communicated both internally and externally as required by applicable compliance obligations.

Appropriate documented information must be retained as evidence of the monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation results.

9.2. Evaluation of Compliance 

Requirements: Each company must establish, implement, and maintain the processes needed to evaluate fulfillment of its compliance obligations.

9.3. Internal Audit 

Requirement: Each company must plan and conduct Internal Audits to provide information on whether the environmental management system is effectively implemented and maintained, and conforms to:
  • Company requirements for its own management system
  • The requirements of the ISO 14001:2015 standard


9.4. Management Review 

Requirements: The purpose of Management Review is to review the organization’s environmental management system, at planned intervals, to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness. This is accomplished through the compilation and analysis of information by the appropriate resources, followed by a presentation and discussion with management. These analyses identify system strengths and weaknesses that generate action items. The action items drive change to processes that are deemed insufficient or ineffective, and are considered as inputs into the company’s Continuous Improvement efforts. The analyses may be “rolled-up” to the corporate/divisional central function for further evaluation.

10.1. Nonconformity, Corrective Action and Preventive Action 

Requirements: When a nonconformity occurs, the organization must react to the nonconformity and deal with the consequences, evaluate the need to eliminate the causes, implement any action needed, review the effectiveness of any corrective action taken, and make changes to the EMS as necessary. Environmental Incidents must be reported and investigated. Company must formulate and implement effective corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) in order to rectify the situations that cause incidents and management system nonconformities, and prevent their recurrence. The CAPA process is a key component of continuous improvement efforts.


10.2. Continual Improvement 

Requirement: Company must continually improve the suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness of the environmental management system to enhance environmental performance. The rate, extent, and timescale of actions that support continual improvement are determined by the company needs and capabilities.

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Preface

Hi,  I am Shailesh Karne, working in the field of HSE from last many years, I have gone through many ups and downs in this field...