The Technical Director of Bureau Veritas Certification, Pedro González, speaks to us, on the occasion of our New ISO 14001:2015 Standard Course , in two posts about the changes planned for the standard. In this second post he lists the most significant changes planned for its content.
Below, we will analyze some of the changes planned in the main chapters of the ISO 14001:2015 standard.
Organizational context
The new version includes two new aspects:
Understanding the organization and its context . A context that part time data affects the determination of the scope and planning of the Environmental Management System.
Understanding the needs and expectations of stakeholders . This is the most relevant change, within the context in which an organization operates, the needs and expectations of the "stakeholders" become more important.
The organization shall determine the interested parties that are relevant to the Environmental Management System , the relevant needs and expectations (i.e. requirements) of those interested parties, and which of these needs and expectations become compliance obligations.
Leadership
Greater commitment from Senior Management , which takes on greater responsibility for the effectiveness results of the Management System and must ensure the integration of environmental management into business processes.
A management representative is no longer explicitly requested , but senior management must be assigned the responsibility and authority to ensure that the Environmental Management System complies with the requirements of the standard and that it is informed about this.
Planning
Life Cycle Concept : The new ISO 14001:2015 introduces for the first time the Life Cycle concept . In identifying environmental aspects, the organization shall apply a Life Cycle perspective. However, this does not require a detailed Life Cycle assessment; a simple consideration of the Life Cycle stages that may be under the control or influence of the organization is sufficient.
Actions to address risks associated with threats and opportunities: Risk management involves a preventive design of the Management System and is the new planning approach in the standards being updated by ISO. The organization shall determine the risk associated with threats (adverse impacts) and opportunities (beneficial impacts) that may affect its ability for its Environmental Management System to achieve the desired result, to prevent or reduce undesirable effects or to achieve continual improvement. The results of this determination are the input elements for planning actions and for establishing environmental objectives.
Medium
Communication: Although the treatment is similar to that included in ISO 14001: 2004, the new version does develop this section further, understanding communication as a fundamental strategic tool .
A more elaborate communication process is requested, and the standard explicitly requests that its planning take into account compliance obligations; ensure that the environmental information communicated is transparent, truthful, based on facts and reliable; ensure that the communication process enables anyone working under the control of the organization to contribute to continuous improvement (Internal Communication) and that the decision on external communications remains within the organization, although always taking into account its compliance obligations and that it must satisfy the needs of interested parties (External Communication) .