Canadian Stakeholders in ISO 14001 - Environmental Management Systems

A Point of Clarification.

First, thank you to those people who have contacted me about this survey. Your input will be reviewed and carefully considered by Canada's committee and negotiation team for the international standard, ISO 14001 and its companion standard, ISO 14004.

Please note that certification to the standard ISO 14001 is NOT, I repeat NOT, a requirement of the survey, NOR of the standard. ISO 14001 is a voluntary process, its purpose is to enable any organization; for profit, or not-for-profit; of any size; with any cultural ties; from any sector; from any place in the world, to implement a logical process for managing the things they have or do that result in impact on the planet. As a standard, enabled by an international consensus process, it outlines a common set of expectations to environmental management. It is an effectiveness document as it focuses on the WHAT, not the HOW. Read the opening line in Clause 4.1: "The organization shall establish, document, implement, maintain and continually improve an environmental management system in accordance with the requirements of this International Standard and (determine how it will fulfil these requirements)." Brackets were added for emphasis by me.

The important point to follow is that it is up to the user to determine HOW he or she (or it as a corporate entity) will meet the WHAT outlined in the standard.

There are four options for what is referred to as conformity assessment in the standard, which means how you verify or confirm that you "did what you said you would do" when using ISO 14001 as your "apples to apples" comparison for a common sense approach. (READ SCOPE, Clause 1 c) 1), 2), 3), 4). The purpose of using ISO 14001 is NOT to be certified! The purpose is to implement a robust and credible environmental management system that meets your needs.

By the way, for further clarification you "conform" to the standard, you "comply" with the laws that relate to your particular jurisdiction(s) and situation.

I AM A FAN of those adoptions which help improve the formal management process within an organization because the outcome is improved productivity that is green, lean and results in a more stable, profitable or prosperous organization.

If anyone needs more clarification on this matter, email me. I can offer you the perspective of someone who has been centrally involved in the standard's development, and revision process for Canada since 1993 and internationally since 1997.

I hope this provides some clarity.

Again thanks to all of you who responded.

L

Lynn Johannson
Head of the Collaboration
goingforthegreen.net and GFTG TV
Canada
www.goingforthegreen.net

Lynn: I read your description with interest. As a student in a university sustainability program, it's a bit frustrating not to be able to access any of the ISO standards without buying them. Not having access to ISO 14001 (without paying CHF 106 -- or about the same amount in US dollars), I can't read the clauses to which you refer. Although they may be designed for organizations of any size, the ISO standards don't seem to be readily accessible by organizations or individuals on a shoestring budget. I hope I'm wrong. If so, I'd appreciate knowing how to access the various standards so that I can really learn what conformity & certification entail. Best regards, Jo

Jo Brooks
United States

Dear Jo,

You have raised a valid point, and you are not the first one to do so. I have been a bit of a pest on this issue since 1995. The price point is not small business friendly, and not really affordable to those on a shoestring budget.

Here's an idea to help you out. Go to the university library and see if ISO 14001 is a reference document. If it is not available, I would go back to your prof and see if the standards you are interested in could be acquired through his or her book budget, or the department's and put on reserve. I would be (unpleasantly) surprised at a university program on sustainability existing without having these on a reserve desk, or at least one of the profs did not have a copy of the series that a student could access.

While I would be pleased to say that ISO 14001 and the family of standards that surround it are freely available, this is not something I have any control over. There is a charge for the documents as it is a "user pay" system. While you can buy an ISO standard from ISO CS in Geneva, typically each national member body has their own store option. So in your case it's probably ANSI.

I do know that the price is not the same world wide. I have heard of one or two countries offering the standard to their country stakeholders "free", but there is still a cost to the country to do so, and someone always has to pay something. I will speculate as well that there has not been the desired uptake of the standard, using when demand increases it drives the price down. I wish it were that simple.

I also understand the reason for a charge, for the cost of developing standards is not cheap. A national standard probably runs about 1 million, an international standard much more, and this may not include all the time of the people that volunteer their time where their employers pay, where the individual pays for their involvement, or where government funds fall short of the financial support for qualified experts as negotiators. There is an incredible amount of what accountants call 'goodwill' in any standard.

I am happy to report that there is also a move by ISO CS in Geneva and by some national member bodies to explore new technical options for negotiation, such as webinars and social media. I hope this will bring the total cost of development of standards down, although it is conceivable that it might concentrate the cost back into the price point of the standard and drive it up, not down. My crystal ball is fuzzy on that point.

Good luck
L

Lynn Johannson
Head of the Collaboration
goingforthegreen.net and GFTG TV
Canada
www.goingforthegreen.net