INTEGRATING ISO 14001:2015 into the COMPANY’S MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

One of the requirements in ISO 14001:2015 is for “leadership” to “ensure the integration of the environmental management system requirements into the organisation’s business process”.

The high level structures of ISO 9001:2015 (quality) and ISO 14001:2015 (environmental) are closely aligned, thereby facilitating an Integrated Management System incorporating the ISO standards which are applicable to your organisation.

(Note that the standard for safety management systems ISO 45001:2016 - replaces OHSAS 18001 - also has the same high level structure)

The advantages of an Integrated Management System include the avoidance of duplication in the development and maintenance of the system, and potential reduction in the resources required.

For example, as ISO 9001:2015 requires the context of the organisation and determination of risks and opportunities to address applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, the relevant health, safety and environmental legal requirements would need to be considered for ISO 9001.

These same environmental legal requirements would need to be addressed in the context, determination of risks and opportunities, etc. for ISO 14001, so an integrated context and risk assessment would make sense.

Note that ISO 14001:2015 requires not only the environmental aspects and compliance obligations to be addressed, but also other issues and requirements identified in the context and the relevant requirements of interested external and internal parties.

Documented information

Another significant feature of these standards is that the term “documented procedures” has been replaced by “documented information” which allows organisations more flexibility in deciding what “documented information” is required and relevant for an effective system.

Effective tools

There is now the opportunity for the organisation to apply effective “tools” as a means of meeting the requirement for “documented information”.

Please contact us if you require any assistance or information.