What is the purpose of an environmental management system designed according to ISO 14001? Let's start by saying that environmental issues are raised by scientists and their research that tells us about the impact that humans can have on the environment, from climate change to pollution from oil, to mercury poisoning of polar bears and rainforest fires.
Given that we are all more sensitive to the topic today, many members of society expect a serious response on this important issue, and this response also comes through regulations, laws, and legislation designed to penalize those businesses that cause problems to the environment or to persuade them to operate in a more careful and vigilant way.
Society as a whole influences businesses through consumers, shareholders, etc., and, moreover, each organization is made up of people, each of whom can, to a greater or lesser extent, influence what happens in that particular work environment. These pressures determined by legislation, regulations, expectations, and various influences put the company in front of risks and opportunities for its business. Impacts on the environment, in fact, can also represent a risk for the organization.
Certification of an ISO 14001 environmental management system is a statement that your company is able to manage all these issues responsibly and appropriately and distinguishes those who have adopted it from all those who do not intend to follow it and improve in this regard. Environmental certification is a guarantee for anyone interested in the work you do that you are managing all the issues covered in the standard in the best possible way.
ISO 14001 explains that the objectives underlying the implementation of a system for environmental management are that an organization:
- manages all its obligations: legal, regulatory, of the organization itself, of the interested parties, etc. For each of these items, it is possible to create a list of processes required to achieve this objective. In this way, the first framework of the system for environmental management will be clear;
- reduces its impact on the environment: also in this case we can adopt the technique of the first objective and draw up the processes necessary to proceed in this direction;
- improves its performance with regard to the environment: in this case we will set targets to be achieved, define the actions necessary to succeed, carry them out, monitor performance, and undertake the new actions necessary to ensure the achievement of the objectives if the first ones are not successful. Finally, in the spirit of ISO 14001, we will try to improve on a continuous basis
The purpose of looking at the standard in this way is to fully understand what the processes of the system and the actions we take are for.
By applying the requirements of the standard, the company will obtain several advantages such as reducing the risks of breaking the law, the fact of not being caught out for what concerns a commitment made, not wasting resources, improving the competence of its personnel, reducing costs, etc.