ISO 14001 Policy Statement Requirements
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) develops and publishes international standards.
Short Overview of ISO
ISO 14001:2004, Environmental management systems - General guidelines on principles, systems and support techniques, specifies requirements for an environmental management system to enable an organization to develop and implement a policy and objectives which take into account legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and information about significant environmental aspects. It applies to those environmental aspects that the organization identifies as those which it can control and those which it can influence. It does not itself state specific environmental performance criteria. (Source: ISO)
The Environmental Policy statement is the central focus of the environmental management system and should clearly communicate the following:
- the vision, mission, purpose and core values with respect to the environment;
- a commitment to provide leadership in the protection of the environment, prevention of pollution, compliance obligations, and the continual improvement of the EMS;
- the nature of the environmental aspects and the impacts of its activities, products and services;
- a commitment to control and improve environmental performance with respect to significant environmental aspects of the organization's products, services and/or activities;
- the long-term strategic environmental goals and operational objectives; and
- a commitment to manage and continually improve environmental performance with respect to significant environmental aspects of the organization's products, services and/or activities.
Employers must have a clear vision of who they are and what they want for the future. Once they know "who they are" as an organization, they can better plan what they need to do to achieve that vision with a concise mission statement. It's important to understand core values about the environment are not merely priorities. Core values are non-negotiable: they don't change.
The commitment to control and improve environmental performance with respect to the environment leads to the development of Environmental Objectives and Targets. Once those items have been delineated the rest of the environmental management system is devoted to accomplishing the objectives and targets which fulfil the Environmental Policy.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
2-3. The Environmental Policy must contain and clearly communicate which of the following?
You forgot to answer the question!