ISO 14001 Certification is an internationally recognized standard for establishing and implementing an Environmental Management System (EMS) in an organization. It enables the organization to perform its environmental assessment, identify risks, and execute the right actions to prevent or mitigate the effect of environmental challenges so as to secure the organization financially. ISO 14001 is the most popular choice all over the world for the organization’s effective and efficient EMS. The International organization for Standardization (ISO) published the standards for ISO 14001 on 15^th September, 2015. The organizations all over the world were given three years to undergo transition to this new standard from the previously published 2004 version. The requirements of ISO 14001 Certification in India ensures that the organization is able to fulfil its commitment towards a better environment through building environmental objectives and program.

ISO 14001 Certification can be applied to all kinds of organizations regardless of their size, type or sector of operation. Organizations such as rolling mills, hospitals, steel plants, those dealing with medical devices, paper mills, and so on, can apply for ISO 14001 certification. Since this standard is internationally recognized, it can be applied to any industry in any part of the world.

The world is increasingly becoming aware about the health of the environment. The issues of concern include environmental change, ozone layer depletion, air, water, and soil contamination, and may more. Various sustainable measures are being taken by individuals, governments, and organizations to minimize the impact of their activities on the environment. Thus, for an organization, it becomes imperative to maintain an environmental management system. The right strategies with the help of the framework of ISO 14001 certification not just helps you to become more responsible towards the environment, but also boosts your image in the market. The certification promotes various methods that can be adopted for continual improvement of your management system, so that not only your processes are environmental-friendly, but also compliant to the government’s regulation regarding the environment.

An ISO 14001 certification is a proof of your commitment towards a better environment. This brings about a positive outlook among your customers and clients regarding your products and services. Effective EMS also helps in managing and reducing your expenses that could have been bore by you in the form of non-compliance penalties and other legal liabilities.

There are two major hurdles that every organization deals with- right interaction with the environment and minimalizing the negative effects of our activities on the environment. One of the greatest advantages of getting ISO 14001 certification (EMS) is the reputation that the organization gets for being among those elites that care enough about the environment that they plan and perform their activities around it. This helps in improving relations with your clients, customers, and community in general. A proper implementation of ISO 14001 helps in reduction in the occurrence of environmental risks, thereby, saving huge costs for the organization. This cost reduction is an advantage that cannot be neglected, as the savings have the ability to translate into profits.

The structure of ISO 14001 certification is divided into 10 sections. Out of them, the first three are introductory in nature, whereas the last seven contain the specifications for implementation of Environmental Management System (EMS). Let’s understand the last seven sections in details:

• SECTION 4- Context of the organization: This section deals with understanding the requirements of your organization for implementing the Environmental Management System.
• SECTION 5- Leadership: This section emphasizes on the role of top management on implementation of EMS. It requires the management to effectively communicate the roles and responsibilities to the entire workforce.
• SECTION 6- Planning: This includes analyzing the current system in place and risk analyDASH, in order to set objectives for effective EMS. It also involves analyzing the organization’s interaction with the environment as well as its legal obligations.
• SECTION 7- Support: It includes management of all the resources for your EMS, including the control of documented information.
• SECTION 8- Operation: It deals with operational requirements for environmental control. It also includes preparing the organization any potential emergency.
• SECTION 9- Performance evaluation: This is to ensure that your EMS is efficient. It involves monitoring and measurements for assessing the current system and identifying the scope for improvement.
• SECTION 10- Improvement: This ensures that your EMS is effective. It includes constant review of conformity of your EMS with the set standard of ISO 14001.

The advantages of getting an ISO 14001 certification are immeasurable for an organization. Let us look at some of the advantages of implementing EMS according to ISO 14001:

Improve your image and trustworthiness: By implementing an effective EMS, you gain a reputation for being conscious about the environmental issues. It alsohelps in building trust among your network, thereby improving relations with them.

Improve cost control: Implementation of an efficient EMS helps in reducing the risks related to environment. This reduces your liability costs. A certification of your EMS also helps in securing insurances at lower premiums. These savings can be utilized to build capacities and magnify profits.

Make a culture of continual improvement: The framework of ISO 14001 provides guidelines for constant upgradation of your infrastructure and processes, so that you can meet the requirements related to environment management at any point of time. This also involves the participation of your workforce in monitoring their interaction with the environment.

Connect with your client: It is a common knowledge that those organizations that show their concern towards the environmental issues are able to attract more businesses than those who remain indifferent.

What is ISO 14001 Certification (EMS)? There are two kinds of Standard: certification of an organization’s environmental management system against the ISO 14001 Certification requirement, and accreditation of people to have the option to audit against the ISO 14001 Certification prerequisites. This area examined the means for an organization to actualize an ISO 14001 Certification environmental management system and have it certified.

ISO 14001 Certification for your organization includes actualizing an EMS dependent on the ISO 14001 Certification prerequisites, and afterward procuring a perceived Certification body to audit and favour your EMS as meeting the necessities of the ISO 14001 Certification.

Beginning with the management-support and recognizing the lawful necessities for the EMS, you should begin with characterizing your environmental approach, environmental angles, and environmental goals and targets, which together characterize the general degree and usage of the ecological administration framework. Alongside these, you should make the obligatory and extra procedures and techniques essential for your association’s tasks. There are a few required procedures that should be incorporated, and others to be included as the organization discovers them essential. For a decent clarification on this, investigate this white paper on List of compulsory records required by ISO 14001 Certification.

When the entirety of the procedures and methodology are set up, you should work the EMS for a while. By doing this, you will have the option to gather the records important to go to the subsequent stages: auditing and inspecting your framework and getting confirmed.

Before starting your certification journey, you need to implement the environmental management system in your organization and operate it for some time to check its effectiveness. When you are sure about your management system, you should apply for ISO 14001 certification. For that, you need to fill the application form and review the requirements of the certification. If you are confident that the processes of your management system meet the standards specifications, you can proceed for an internal audit. Following are the detailed steps for acquiring ISO 14001 certification:

1. Internal audit: This is done to check your EMS forms.
2. Management audit: In this stage, your administration checks for the realization of the standard requirements.
3. Corrective activities – At this stage, you are required to close gaps in your EMS as per the findings of the previous audits. You will be needed to document the steps taken.

The organization ISO 14001 standard process is partitioned into two phases:

4. Stage One (documentation survey) – The auditors from the certification body of your choice will review your documentation for its compliance to the prerequisites of ISO 14001 certification.
5. Stage Two (primary audit) – At this stage, the auditors review your processes for compliances and nonconformities according to the requirements of ISO 14001 as well as your own documentation. This is done by reviewing reports, records, and your company practices.

To know more about the ISO 14001 certification, there are various training available for an individual. This helps the individual in not just understanding the requirements but also guide his/ her organization towards implementation of a standard EMS. It must be noted that an individual who has undertaken a lead auditor training, is eligible to work with a certification body in auditing and awarding certifications to the organizations. However, training in other courses makes the individual an extremely valuable asset inside the organization. Let us understand about these courses in detail:

ISO 14001 Lead Auditor Course – this course has a span of four to five days and it includes a thorough understanding of the requirements of ISO 14001 certification. At the end of the course, the trainees are required to take a test to evaluate their understanding of the subject. Once the individual clears the test and gets certified as a lead auditor, he/she becomes eligible to work with a certification body.

ISO 14001 Internal Auditor Course – The duration of this course is at least one day. It does not include any test to evaluate the understanding of the certification. One who has undergone this training becomes capable enough to perform internal audits for his/her organization.

ISO 14001 Awareness and Implementation Course – There are several courses that are designed to impart awareness among the interested masses regarding ISO 14001 certification and how to realize it. The duration of the course varies, but usually it is a four-five days course and includes e-learning sessions as well. This course is useful for those who need an overview about the specifications of the certification, so that they can execute those requirements in their organization. It is much affordable than the other two courses.

If you want to know more about ISO 14001 certification, ore you want to apply for it, get in touch with DASH Certifications. With more than 15000 satisfied clients spread across more than 35 countries, we stand to be among one of the best certification bodies in the world. Our integrity is our pride and our timely operation is our commitment. DASH Certifications takes pride in our vast pool of experienced auditors who aim at thoroughly assessing your management system, identify gaps, and award you the certification at the end of successful completion of the audit.

Contact dash@dashinspectorate.com or  call whats app  00971508692438