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ISO 14000 is a group of
standards covering the following areas: |
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Environmental Management Systems
(14001,14002, 14004) |
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Environmental Auditing (14010,
14011, 14012) |
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Evaluation of Environmental
Performance (14031) |
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Environmental Labeling (14020,
14021, 14022, 14023, 14024, 14025) |
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Life-Cycle Assessment (14040,
14041,14042, 14043) |
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ISO 14001 is the only standard intended for registration by third parties. All the others
are for guidance. ISO 14001 is a management standard, it is not a performance or
product standard. The underlying purpose of ISO 14001 is that companies will improve their
environmental performance by implementing ISO 14001, but there are no standards for
performance or the level of improvement. It is a process for managing company
activities that impact the environment. Some unique and important characteristics
of ISO 14001 are: |
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It is comprehensive:
all members of the organization participate in environmental protection, the EMS considers
all stakeholders, and there are processes to identify all environmental impacts. |
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It is proactive: it
focuses on forward thinking and action instead of reacting to command and control
policies. |
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It is a systems
approach: it stresses improving environmental protection by using a single environmental
management system across all functions of the organization. |
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The Environmental
Management System contains the following elements: |
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- An environmental policy supported by top management .
- Identification of environmental aspects and significant
impacts.
- Identification of legal and other requirements.
- Environmental goals, objectives, and targets that support
the policy.
- An environmental management program.
- Definition of roles, responsibilities, and authorities.
- Training and awareness procedures.
- Process for communication of the EMS to all interested
parties.
- Document and operational control procedures.
- Procedures for emergency response.
- Procedures for monitoring and measuring operations that can
have a significant impact on the environment.
- Procedures to correct nonconformance.
- Record management procedures.
- A program for auditing and corrective action.
- Procedures for management review.
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