Iso 14001 Introduction And Future Opportunities

Copyright 2010 © James Marsh

ISO 14001: Analysis into its strengths and weaknesses, and where potential opportunities

could be deployed for tomorrows Global Business


Introduction

• Aim– To explore whether ISO14000 series and the ISO14001

standard in particular has been beneficial as a framework for continual environmental improvement within organisations.

– To review its current strengths and limitations– To identify possible future opportunities for ISO14001– To proposal for how these opportunities for improvement could

enhance ISO14000 and reduce environmental impacts in the future


What is an EMS?


Background to ISO14000


Evolution of ISO14000


ISO 14001 Description












Benefits of ISO14001

• More efficient use of energy and resources• Reduced waste outputs• Provides organisation with the mandate to control their

environmental aspects and impacts• Reduces risk of prosecution and probability of insurance claims• Adoptees of ISO14001 seen as

– more ethical and attractive by shareholders– Caring about local, and or national and international environment

• Assist with relationships with local government• Employees benefit from increased environmental knowledge and

resulting motivation• External supplier relationships improved


Key ISO14001 Stakeholders


Weaknesses of ISO14001

• High lack of Awareness of ISO14001 within: -

– SME’s (Small / Medium sized organisations)

– General Public

– 73% of businesses (4,322 responses) in Canada not aware of ISO14001

– Missed opportunity within local communities

• Lack of transparency

– Targets and audits private (unless released voluntarily)

– Environmental objectives private (unlike EMAS)

– No annual environmental performance report (unlike BS7750)

– Enables less legitimate companies to benefits and consumers to be misled about a companies products and services



• Cost of Implementation & Certification– Vary hugely depending on

• Size of business• Business Demographics• Industry type

– New/modified measurement equipment costs– Employee training– 3rd party auditor costs– Legal representative

• Problem solving ability– Tools and techniques to solve complex problems not provided– Structured statistical analysis may be required to control defects and variation– Some organisations combining ISO14001 with business improvement approach

Lean Six Sigma (LSS)



• Voluntary Process– Companies can choose not to engage in ISO14001 no matter how high

their environmental impact

– Pressure can exist from stakeholders to attain ISO14001

– Increasing environmental legislation including Climate change Bill (CCB) in the UK and other may force companies towards ISO14001

• Internal Goal & Target setting– Companies set their own

– Organisations can be very lenient with goals and targets which could be misleading to stakeholders

– Clear need for transparency



• No performance standard– ISO14001 does not measure environmental performance.

– Assists organisations in reaching a target of increased performance

– ISO14001 is more concerned about processes than the actual outcomes.

– There is little linkage between ISO14001 and the various nations that develop national and international laws and legislation.

– A company could if it so wished relocate to less restrictive nations and become an ISO14001 certified organisation.

• Self implementation & Management– Success depends largely on the management commitment present within the organisation.

– Failure to achieve the goals of ISO14001 often due to a management structure’s lack of awareness of the commitment required in terms of time and money.

– Managers may set unrealistic or extra lenient goals to portray their organisation in a better light than it should

– ISO 14001 does not protect customers and other stakeholders from dubious Managers who may have a different agenda for their reasons for achieving ISO14001 certification.


Potential Improvements to ISO14001

• Inclusion of a Performance Standard

– ISO14001 currently open to abuse by certain countries and organisations

– Customers and the general public can be misled

– Performance standard could be rated depending on business size, location and industry sector

• Increased transparency and Awareness

– Benefit to wide range of stakeholders

• Customers would have the choice of company selection based on how ethical the supplier is in terms of energy consumption and wastes from raw materials.

• Shareholders who can also decide to either choose to invest in relation to a companies use of ISO14001.

• Employees, would benefit from increased awareness & knowledge transfer


Potential Improvements to ISO14001

• Integration with Lean Six Sigma

– Widely used global business improvement approach which reduced costs / time, improves quality and reduces wastes

– Statistical analysis techniques which enable data driven decision making based on facts not intuition.

– Awareness of new and innovative Green versions of Lean Six Sigma is also increasing.

• Reward and Recognition

– Transparent and open companies should be rewarded for their efforts and gain certain privileges over those who do not.

– These benchmark companies may also share their lessons learnt with other organisations

– Organisations could be rewarded with fewer government inspections


Conclusions and Recommendations

• ISO14001 has helped improve many thousands of organisations reduce their impact on the environment.

• Link ISO14001 to the current and/or planned future environmental legislation. – Many of the larger organisations have the resources to be able to accurately set targets that are

linked to legislation however many SME’s do not have this capability. – In the UK legislation such as the CCB has ever increasing targets to meet however there is no

intrinsic link to ISO14001.

• Reduce the risk of organisations exploiting the attainment of ISO14001 certification for their own gain

• Reduction of the bias that some countries have over others due to differences in law and legislation.

• Awareness of ISO14001 needs to increase in particular in the SME businesses.

• Integration to business improvement tools and techniques such as Lean Six Sigma will increase the problem solving ability and sustainability of ISO14001

Documents

Iso 14001 Introduction And Future Opportunities