As a business owner or manager, you probably want your products and services to be of the highest quality in the market. This could mean implementing an effective and certified QMS. On top of that, you also need a robust, efficient environmental management system to ensure that the production and consumption of your goods do not harm the environment.

Simply put, QMS and EMS are both necessary for organisations looking to improve product quality and customer satisfaction. However, there are differences between these systems of standards.

The Difference Between QMS And EMS

To better understand the difference between these two systems, it is essential to first learn about the two integrated ISO standards: ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. ISO 9001 is the standard for quality management, whereas ISO 14001 is the standard that addresses the environmental aspects of a business.

Understanding Quality Management System (QMS): ISO 9001

Defined under ISO 9001, the QMS is a system that focuses on the quality assurance of production processes, products, or services of a business. It provides a framework to ensure products or services meet customer expectations and applicable regulations. With an effective QMS, companies can enhance customer satisfaction, reduce waste, and improve internal processes.

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Understanding Environmental Management System (EMS): ISO 14001

EMS is defined under ISO 14001 and focuses on managing environmental impacts, such as waste management, water pollution, and hazardous materials. The goal of this system is to help businesses reduce their environmental impact and enhance their environmental performance by implementing an efficient EMS.

It covers procedures and policies to help organisations minimise environmental impact, continually improve environmental performance, and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

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Approach

The biggest difference between ISO 9001:2015 QMS and ISO 14001: 2015 EMS lies in their approach. A QMS is typically customer-driven. This means the system works to better your procedures to ensure the products or services produced can meet customer requirements.

On the other hand, an EMS is environmentally-driven, which means it works to optimise resources and improve operations to avoid harmful environmental impacts.

Best Practices

There are also notable differences in the systems’ best practices. A QMS promotes the following practices:

• Customer focus – The system aims at meeting customer needs and exceeding their expectations.
• Leadership – Engaging an organisation’s top leaders in promoting quality objectives in all departments.
• Process approach – Deploying the Plan-Do-Check-Act to ensure the QMS is effective.
• Involvement of people in achieving quality objectives.
• Evidence based decision making.
• Continual improvement.
• Stakeholder relationship management.

An EMS promotes the following best practices:

• Reduce the environmental footprints of business operations.
• Promoting sustainability.
• Operational improvements by adjusting processes to improve efficiency and environmental degradation.
• Facilitating environmental legal compliance.
• Reducing the environmental risks.

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ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 can be easily integrated into a single quality management system, often called an Integrated Management System (IMS). This system combines the guidelines of both standards into a single framework, enabling businesses to manage their quality and environmental objectives more efficiently.

If you’re interested in implementing either ISO 9001 or ISO 14001, or both, Best Practice Certification can help. As JAS-ANZ accredited Certification body, we are focused on providing ISO Certification to businesses in Australia.

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However, risk and opportunities are among the most important things to understand if you want to get ISO certified. A proper EMS program should consider existing and potential risks and opportunities related to environmental management.

In this article, we’ll give you an overview of the risks and opportunities related to ISO 14001 and how you can use these concepts to create a successful EMS program.

What Are EMS Risks And Opportunities?

ISO 14001’s risk and opportunities refer to the risks an organisation faces while implementing an EMS and any opportunities that arise from it. The risks can include failing to meet the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard, not effectively managing health and safety-related risks, or not having an effective system in place for managing environmental impact.

On the other hand, potential opportunities include improved profitability through increased efficiency in resource management or gaining a competitive advantage by becoming certified with ISO 14001.

Implementing ISO 14001 also serves as a stepping stone towards further certification, such as ISO 9001 (quality management systems) and ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety). Together with those standards, it forms part of an Integrated Management System (IMS). Ultimately the IMS will enable your organisation to improve environmental performance while enhancing its business operations.

What Does Your Organisation Need To Do About Environmental Risks And Opportunities?

To ensure that your organisation meets the ISO 14001 standard, you’ll need to review your management systems and processes to identify current risks and opportunities. This includes quality environmental aspects, occupational health and safety issues, energy use, product design and development, waste reduction and more.

Once you have identified the risks and opportunities within your organisation, you should document the findings in documents and records for internal auditing purposes. You must also keep evidence of any corrective action as part of your continual improvement process.

Action to Address Risks and Opportunities

Taking action to address risks and opportunities can help you reach your environmental goals while also helping you stay compliant with the standard. You should:

• Monitor environmental performance and submit reports as part of the safety management system.
• Create a risk-based approach so that you can identify potential risks that may come up during the ISO 14001 certification process, as well as any other ISO 14001 processes.
• Create a documented evaluation of the organisation’s risks and opportunities as part of the management review process.
• Establish internal processes for periodic review and continual improvement.
• Consider conducting internal auditing at regular intervals throughout the year to check how well your organisation addresses environmental aspects with its occupational health & safety systems.

Get ISO 14001 Certified Today

Becoming ISO 14001 certified is a process that can help you manage your organisation’s risks and opportunities. Best Practice Certification is a JAS-ANZ-accredited ISO certification institution that can help you get certified.

The team at Best Practice will ensure that your organisation has met all the requirements for certification and develop a documented system that will meet or exceed the ISO 14001 standard. This includes health and safety policies, internal audit procedures, occupational health programs, documents and records relating to management reviews, corrective actions and continual improvement.

Besides ISO 14001, Best Practice Certification can certify your business according to other management systems standards such as QMS (Quality Management System) or IMS (Integrated Management System). Contact us today to learn more and get started.

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A JAS-ANZ accredited certification body such as Best Practice Certification can help you obtain certification in ISO 14001 and even assist you in integrating this system with other international standards such as ISO 9001 or ISO 45001.

Benefits of an EMS Based on ISO 14001

Using an effective, process-based environmental management system (EMS) to measure performance has several advantages for a company. Here are some benefits of an EMS based on ISO 14001: 2015:

1. Achieving Legal Compliance

ISO 14001 is a process-based environmental management system (EMS) designed to identify, monitor, eliminate or reduce significant environmental impact. Using the set EMS processes allows you to stay ahead of new and existing regulations. Your efforts to meet new standards within the EMS can demonstrate your organisation’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

2. Increased Success Rate Implementing Changes

An accurate collection of data that monitors environmental changes and improvements made by your organisation is an integral part of ISO 14001 EMS. Collecting data and monitoring performance can increase the chances of successful transformations. When mistakes are made, you can use data to identify and address them quickly. This type of flexibility gives you real business advantages and saves you money.

3. Fostering a Faster Process Improvement

ISO 14001 emphasises continual improvement by using data collection, analysis and tracking to identify risks. By spotting processes that are not working correctly and making modifications, businesses can stop minor issues from becoming significant. This continuous process improvement can help your company save on costs and create a more favourable public perception.

4. Cost Control Improvement

As suggested earlier, implementing ISO 14001 allows you to reduce your company’s operational costs. ISO 14001 allows you to analyse your product’s full life cycle and identify ways to reduce waste. Furthermore, exploring more efficient production methods helps lower energy costs. The EMS provides you with the means to assess and upgrade your operations.

5. Improved Credibility and Reputation

Reducing your organisation’s environmental footprint is not only a worthwhile goal in itself, but it also helps boost your image and relationships with regulatory bodies, the community, business partners, and customers. Certification to an international standard for EMS can open even more doors, leading to increased profitability, cooperation and expansion possibilities.

6. Applying for Tenders Becomes Easier

Even if ISO 14001 is not listed as a requirement in a tender, you still have an edge. Having the certification demonstrates your dedication to sustainability. Besides, your good relationship with regulatory bodies and government organisations is beneficial to anyone who wishes to use your services. When you are considered a leader in best business practices, more organisations will be drawn to and wish to partner up with you.

Final Thoughts

We have listed the top six direct benefits of ISO 14001 certification. Additionally, there are other indirect rewards and outcomes. In a world where people are increasingly conscious of sustainability, governments have implemented more regulations to control how businesses function.

An effective procedure-based EMS can help you comply with these rules. A further benefit is an enhanced image of your company that will help ensure successful dealings. Click here to get a free ISO gap analysis checklist.

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Well, that’s variable, and it’s dependent on a number of key characteristics of your organization. An organization that’s looking to get ISO 14001 certified and if that’s your organization there’s a number of key variables that are considered.

They start with the number of staff and full-time equivalent employees of the organisation, the number of people that actually do things to run the organization.

The complexity of the organization, the number of different systems and processes, products, procedures, systems and services that the organization implements and supplies to the marketplace all have a varying impact upon the final cost, too.

It’s dependent on the geographical location of the organization, it’s dependent on unique environmental legal operating conditions or licenses of the organization and a risk assessment that the certification body, someone like Best Practice would undertake in a risk assessment will be undertaken to determine the cost.

If you’d like to know more about the cost of getting ISO 14001 certification go to our website and hit the live chat feature and have a live chat on our website with one of our great people here at Best Practice and we can help you to unpack what your investment might need to be to gain ISO 14001 certification.

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Do You Have to Document Your Risk Assessment Procedure?

Generally, there is no need to document your organisation’s risk and opportunity procedure. However, documenting comes with numerous benefits. ISO 14001: 2015 highlights that organisations should maintain recorded information regarding risks and opportunities.

This helps demonstrate that issues have been addressed appropriately. Besides, an organisation should maintain evidence of the risks and opportunities and the results of the risk management procedure.

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What Does the Risk Assessment Entail?

It is essential to remember that ISO 14001 risk assessment does not deal with every risk an organisation faces. ISO 14001 deals with environmental management, so it is all about ecological risks. For example, it may entail the risk associated with an oil spill, meaning that broader business elements such as data protection are not involved.

It is also essential to note that risk is subjective and must be based on the interpretation, judgement, and opinions of interested parties or those within the organisation. It does not have to be based on numbers or complex spreadsheets.

Individuals involved in creating the 2015 standard version have clearly stated that ISO 14001 does not require organisations to conduct a formal risk assessment. It is up to your organisation to decide the risk assessment measures suitable for your business.

You can choose the risk assessment criteria, approach, or method you want. You are free to use a qualitative or quantitative approach or a combination of both approaches. You can use a single risk matrix or a combined risk register.

Your risk assessment can be a component of other EMS processes, part of your other business processes, or treated as a standalone process.

Identifying Risk with an EMS (Environmental Management System)

Typically, organisations use preventive action and risk assessment to control environmental performance and mitigate risks from becoming so tangible that they can affect your organisation’s results or, worse, the environment.

Environmental risks should be identified similarly to health safety and quality management systems risks. This may involve threat assessment, likelihood, impact, and vulnerability. In most organisations, environmental risk assessment is conducted by an environmental representative.

Instead of being left to one organisation representative, the risk assessment will require input from top management and other organisational stakeholders. Therefore, it should be expected for your organisation’s management team to play an active role in risk identification.

Perhaps it may be an excellent idea to schedule frequent risk identification meetings with the management team. This can help provide a more accurate representation of environmental management risk within your organisation.

How Best Practice Can Help

ISO 14001:2015 risk assessment positively affects an organisation’s immediate environment and the legacy individuals leave for future generations. Want to learn more about how you can improve your organisation’s environmental risk management? You can get started by becoming ISO 14001 certified.

At Best Practice Biz, we are an accredited ISO certification body to offer the assistance you need to comply with globally recognised ISO standards. Contact us today to discover more about how we can help you adopt these best practices in your business.

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1. Go digital: Have your filing, processes and procedures stored in a hard drive or via internet/intranet/cloud for your employees to access. Move all your operations online. This way you eliminate the need for paper, and you will drastically reduce your waste.
2. Go paperless: Pay your bills, and send your invoices online. Less paper and no postage costs necessary. Additionally, put a ‘no junk mail’ sticker on your mailbox and register online for email newsletters!
3. Use a kettle, not a Zip boiler: zip boilers pull an immense amount of energy and are always on, whilst a kettle will use energy for those single times throughout a day you need it. Remember to ask your colleagues if they would like a cup, so you reduce the amount of kettles boiled as well.
4. Don’t fly- go digital: To the extent this is possible, use software such as Google Hangouts, Skype or WhatsApp to dial in to meetings and conferences instead of flying your team members around.
5. Use reusable water bottles: encourage staff to use sustainable water bottles instead of the disposable plastic ones. Equip the office kitchen with cups and reusable coffee mugs.
6. Source locally: Short travelled products/supplies are better for the environment and support local businesses at the same time. It’s also important to consider just how sustainable what you’re purchasing is; nowadays there’s a raft of companies venturing into more ethically-produced and sustainable.

But most important of all: promote your ISO 14001 Environmental Management system and inspire your stakeholders, suppliers and clients to embark on the same journey. This will make the biggest impact of all. Amplify your efforts and impact, and leave a positive ripple effect with your corporate environmental responsibility.

Assess your ISO 14001 management system against the standard by contacting us today on 1300 402 602. For an introduction to ISO 14001, join us for our webinar here!

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Here is an overview of the key elements of the ISO 14001 Internal Audit Checklist:

1. Context of the Organisation

The first element of the ISO 14001 internal audit checklist is assessing the organisation’s context. This means understanding the organisation’s size, structure, products, services, and markets. Additionally, it’s important to understand the legal and regulatory requirements that apply to the organisation’s activities. This information forms the basis for setting environmental objectives and targets. Additionally, it helps auditors identify risks and opportunities that could impact achievement of those objectives.

2. Leadership

The second step in conducting an effective ISO 14001 internal audit is to assess the leadership team’s commitment to the environment. This includes looking at how well the leadership team understands the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) objectives. The internal auditor should also evaluate the leadership team’s ability to provide direction and resources for EMS’s implementation and continual improvement. Furthermore, the auditor should assess the leadership team’s EMS communication within and with external stakeholders. By evaluating these factors, the auditor can get a good sense of the leadership team’s commitment to the EMS objective.

3. Planning

Without proper planning, an EMS cannot be effectively implemented or maintained. The auditor should check that there is a system in place to review the effectiveness of the EMS and that there are plans to revise the EMS as needed. Additionally, the auditor should check to ensure there are plans to deal with emergencies and that employees are aware of these plans. The auditor should also make sure there are plans to monitor compliance with legal and other requirements.

4. Support

This step is critical because it ensures that the EMS has the resources it needs to be successful. The first step is to determine what resources are needed. This includes things like personnel, equipment, and financial resources. Once the needs have been determined, the next step is to provide those resources. This may involve hiring new personnel, purchasing new equipment, or allocating financial resources. By providing the necessary resources, the organisation can be confident that the EMS will be able to meet its objectives and continually improve.

5. Operation

The fifth step focuses on operations. Specifically, the organisation must have processes in place to prevent deviation from the environmental policy, objectives, and compliance obligations. To do this, criteria must be established for the processes and controls implemented to keep everything on track.

6. Performance Evaluation

To comply with this element, organisations must show that they’re monitoring, measuring, analysing, and evaluating their environmental performance. The purpose of this is to help organisations identify any areas where they need to improve their EMS. There are many different ways to do this, but some common methods include conducting audits, reviewing data, and setting goals. By taking a proactive approach to performance evaluation, organisations can ensure that their EMS is always up to par.

7. Improvement

Last but not least, the internal auditor will check to see if the organisation has identified the improvement opportunities and taken necessary actions to help it achieve the intended outcome of its EMS. This may include modifying the EMS to incorporate new technologies or processes, improving communication and training, or revising objectives and goals. This element aims to ensure that the organisation is constantly striving to improve its environmental performance.

There you have it; This checklist covers all the basics of what you need to look for when conducting an ISO 14001 internal audit. By following this checklist, you can be confident that you’re covering all the bases and ensuring that your EMS is up to par.

How Can Best Practice Help Your Business

Are you looking to get ISO 14001 certified? We can help! We offer a complete range of services to help you with every step of the process, from initial consultation to certification. Contact us today to learn more!

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The ISO 45001 readiness checklist provides information on what you need to prepare for ISO certification and reveals how close you are to achieving the highest occupation health and safety standards. The checklist is mainly designed for companies planning to acquire the ISO 45001: 2018 for the first time.

ISO 45001 Gap Analysis Checklist

If you are looking to adopt ISO 45001, the first step is to compare the requirements of the standard to your organisation’s current system. This is commonly referred to as gap analysis. An essential tool for an effective gap analysis is the gap analysis checklist. It contains the requirements of the ISO 45001 in a question format.

The external or internal auditor will use the questions to confirm your current system’s compliance with the standard requirements. Organisations can use this as a roadmap, revealing what areas of your current system require revision.

The gap analysis checklist evaluates aspects like:

• Risks and opportunities identification
• Participation of workers
• Hazard identification and communication to workers or stakeholders
• Corrective action for incident or nonconformity
• Continuous improvement

Internal Audit Checklist

Once you have covered the gaps with the gap analysis checklist, you proceed to use the internal audit checklist. This checklist is similar to the certifier’s or external auditor’s checklist. The fewer crosses you have on the internal audit checklist, the fewer you will have on the formal checklist. Conducting an internal audit is cost-effective and improves your chances of obtaining the ISO 45001 certificate faster.

It is essential to note that the scope of an internal audit checklist is broader than the formal audit checklist. An extensive internal audit checklist helps you make a high upfront investment in occupational health and safety processes and systems. This enables you to surpass the expectations and outperforms the typical OHS norms.

The checklist evaluates conformity OHS planning, operation, leadership, internal and external support, continuous improvement, and performance evaluation. Some of the questions on this checklist include:

• Have you identified the relevant internal and external issues relevant to your organisation?
• Have you set out the processes and operations you need to achieve ISO 45001 standard requirement?
• Do you have a reliable procedure to communicate ISO 45001 to everyone in the organisation?
• Do you know what resources you need to implement 450001?
• Are there key performance indicators for meeting your OH&S objectives?

How Best Practice Can Help

Do you want to establish a robust Occupational Health and Safety management system? Best Practice can help you identify your organisation’s OHS risks and adopt the best standards. Contact us to discover more about our ISO 45001 training and certification services.

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What is an Environmental Management System?

An EMS refers to a set of practices that help an organizsation attain its environmental objectives and improve operating efficiency. This concept involves consistent review, assessment, monitoring, measuring, and managing environmental impacts. Generally, an EMS model is just as important as other systems within your company, such as health and safety, inventory, and finance. 

What is the Purpose of an EMS?

An Environmental Management System handles environmental issues by implementing legislation alongside targets and goals to ensure an organisation conforms to the policies. However, your business must discover various environmental aspects for the EMS to articulate appropriate measures effectively. Remember that adequate planning should incorporate a clear understanding of legal requirements and reference to the company objectives. 

An EMS enables companies to address their regulatory demands in a simple and affordable way. It can help minimise your risk of non-compliance and promote health and safety practices for workers and the general public. Elements of an Environmental Management System include;

• Tracking and reviewing the progress of an EMS and performing the necessary improvements
• Evaluating its environmental impact and compliance obligations
• Implementing environmental goals and targets to comply with legal obligations
• Promote environmental awareness among employees and customers
• Measuring progress in attaining the environmental objectives

What are the Benefits of an EMS?

Using an Environmental Management System has several potential benefits, which include but not limited to the following:

1. Promote employee stewardship
2. Promote stronger operational control
3. Enhance legal compliance
4. Enhances reduced costs and increased efficiency
5. Improves environmental compliance
6. Promotes resource conservation
7. Increases employee awareness of environmental responsibility

ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems

ISO 14001 international standard is a framework that helps control the environmental effects of an organisation’s processes, products and services. It provides a structure that a company can follow to develop a sustainable business and comply with relevant environmental regulations. This framework has a recurring life cycle and often encourages businesses to improve operating efficiency.

This system employs the plan, do, check, and act model. First, the company commits to an environmental policy, which it uses to formulate a plan then uses the plan to set goals, targets, and strategies for improving environmental performance. 

After implementation, the organisation evaluates performance to see if the EMS is working as planned. The top management revisits the initial environmental policy and creates new targets and goals in the amended plan. The organisation then implements the new plan, and the cycle repeats itself, resulting in continuous improvement.

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What is ISO 14001:2015?

ISO 14001:2015 introduces many fascinating changes, including the integration of a high-level structure, common standard clauses, and mandatory definitions. It covers:

• Support
• Performance evaluation
• Planning and operation
• Context of evaluation and leadership

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Every business is obligated to minimise its environmental impacts by complying with the existing environmental legislation. Best Practice Biz can help organisations of all types and sizes to ensure they remain compliant with the latest environmental best practices by becoming ISO 14001 certified.

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What Is ISO 9001? 

Any company would do well to apply the standards of the quality management system (QMS) to their business procedures. The ISO 9001 is the international standard for QMS and can be used for organizations or businesses of any size to streamline all processes used to create products and services.

The ISO 9001 standard provides guidelines for:

• Operations management
• Resource management
• Planning processes
• Documentation

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What Is ISO 14001? 

ISO 14001 assists a company in identifying resources and processes for managing their impact on the environment. This is done by implementing an Environmental Management System that targets environmental aspects of your company and helps you to meet regulatory requirements. 

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Why Become ISO Certified? 

It isn’t required to become ISO certified, but there are definite benefits. Industry groups like aerospace, automotive, and medical devices base their own standards on the ISO standard. In fact, many companies will only do business with other companies that are ISO 9001 certified. 

In addition, ISO 9001:2015 certification demonstrates that you meet the requirements of continual improvement in areas of customer service and quality assurance for goods and services. Having this certification is a trust-builder for customers and clients. 

What Do I Need for ISO Certification?

You may choose to do an internal audit to see if you meet standards, but the process can get complicated. Since there are so many measurable outcomes that must be addressed, the best option (if possible) is to have third-party professional services come in to help you get started. 

There are seven clauses that a company must measure against to become certified. (There are 10 full clauses, but the first three are merely introductory). The seven include:

• Context of the Organization
• Leadership
• Planning
• Support
• Operations
• Performance Evaluation
• Improvement

For ISO 14001 you will need to learn about the standards of 14001 and conduct a gap analysis to find areas of improvement. You then have to educate your company and get lined up with standards. This can be done alongside your ISO 9001 training. 

The Certification Process

Once you’ve gone through the requirements of the ISO standards and created compliance in the company, you’ll need to start the certification process. The International Organisation for Standardisation does not perform certifications itself but asks you to use an accredited third party. The certification audit is typically performed through Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) which are regulated by a governing organization called JAS-ANZ.  

This certification body will grant ISO certifications after conducting an internal audit to ensure that the company is meeting all standards. Once you achieve certification, they will conduct yearly surveillance to ensure that you continue to meet standards. 

While this may seem like a lot to do, the benefits of these ISO certifications are worth the trouble. By certifying, you earn the right to display certification and add credibility to your company or organization. For more information on how ISO certifications can benefit your business, get in touch with Best Practice Biz. 

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