ISO 14001:2015 – Environmental Management – Why is it Important?
ISO 14001 is an internationally agreed standard that sets out the requirements for an Environmental Management System – So what’s that all about and why might it be important for your business?
What is it?
An Environmental Management System (EMS) is designed to help businesses identify, manage, monitor and control their environmental issues holistically. It basically requires an organisation to consider the environmental impact of its operations – be it air pollution, water and utility usage, waste management, climate change and use and efficiency of resources.
ISO:14001 is the certification standard that you can achieve for your Environmental Management System – it was revised in 2015 and has additional focus on a business’ strategic planning and leadership commitments to help boost environmental performance as well as the business processes themselves.
Why is it Important and What Does it Mean for My Business?
- An EMS and the ISO:14001 standard is important for a number of reasons, not least the fact that effective management of your environmental impact could help you to use resources more effectively, saving costs to your business on waste, recycling and consumption of materials. But there are lots of other reasons why it’s important beyond the pure financial impact.
- Many of your customers in both the private and public sector will be looking to work with suppliers and partners that can demonstrate a commitment to minimizing their impact on the environment – lots of tender documents now require businesses to specifically state how they assess and balance environmental impact – ISO:14001 can help your business stand out from the tendering hordes.
- Effective environmental management may now also be necessary in your industry to ensure that your business is compliant with environmental regulations. The ISO:14001 standard will bring structure and raise awareness throughout your organization of the importance of considering the environmental impact of the activities that your workforce undertake on a daily basis.
- Achieving certification to the ISO 14001 standard demonstrates your business’ commitment to considering and improving the environment – this should not be underestimated from both a client perspective but also from a potential employee perspective. The modern workforce has a raised awareness of the environmental impact of businesses and the fact that you clearly demonstrate that being environmentally friendly is high on your agenda too could be an important factor in recruiting the best people to your team.
So clearly having a well-defined and structured Environmental Management System will provide you and your team with a solid framework that is good for business, good for customers and good for employees. It’s also important to note that ISO:14001 is compatible with other quality management systems and standards that your organization may have achieved like ISO:9001, ISO:27001 and ISO:45001.
If you’d like more information about implementing an Environmental Management System in your business or need help to structure your business processes so that you can achieve certification to ISO:14001 then please give the team at QBH Solutions a call on 01304 449043 or drop us an email at info@qbhsolutions.co.uk.
You could also meet us in September at our FREE HR and ISO Business Clinic in Dover – you can find all the details of how to book a slot here
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