ISO 14001

E N V I R O N M E NTA L
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

An easy-to-use checklist
for small business
Are you ready ?
International Organization International Trade Centre
for Standardization (ITC)

ISO Central Secretariat Palais des Nations

1, chemin de la Voie-Creuse CH -1211 Geneva 10
Case postale 56 Switzerland
CH - 1211 Genève 20 www.intracen.org
Switzerland
www.iso.org

© ISO/ITC, 2010
All rights reserved

ISBN 978-92-67-10531-4
ISO 14001
E N V I R O N M E NTA L
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

An easy-to-use checklist for

small business.
Are you ready?
The International Trade Centre (ITC)

ITC : Export impact for good

The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the joint agency of the World Trade Organiza-
tion and the United Nations.

ITC mission

ITC enables small business export success in developing and transition countries
by providing, with partners, sustainable and inclusive trade development solutions
to the private sector, trade support institutions and policymakers.

ITC objectives
■ Strengthen the international competitiveness of enterprises through ITC training
and support
■ Increase the capacity of trade support institutions to support businesses
■ Strengthen the integration of the business sector into the global economy
through enhanced support to policymakers.

2 I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ?
 International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

ISO has a membership of some 163 national standards bodies from countries large
and small, industrialized, developing and in transition, in all regions of the world. ISO’s
portfolio of more than 18 400 standards provides business, government and society
with practical tools for all three dimensions of sustainable development : economic,
environmental and societal.

ISO standards make a positive contribution to the world we live in. They facilitate
trade, spread knowledge, disseminate innovative advances in technology, and share
good management and conformity assessment practices.

ISO standards provide solutions and achieve beneits for almost all sectors of activity,
including agriculture, construction, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, distribu-
tion, transport, medical devices, information and communication technologies, the
environment, energy, quality management, conformity assessment and services.

ISO only develops standards for which there is a clear market requirement. The work
is carried out by experts in the subject drawn directly from the industrial, techni-
cal and business sectors that have identiied the need for the standard, and which
subsequently put the standard to use. These experts may be joined by others with
relevant knowledge, such as representatives of government agencies, testing labo-
ratories, consumer associations and academia, and by international governmental
and non-governmental organizations.

An ISO International Standard represents a global consensus of the knowledge in

a particular subject or process, whether it is the state of the art in that subject, or
what is good practice.

I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ? 3
 Foreword

Awareness of environmental problems is growing in most countries and it is felt

by many that current development patterns cannot be sustained in the long term.
Governments are increasingly enacting legislation aimed at protecting the environ-
ment, and consumers in industrialized countries are requiring suppliers, including
those from developing countries, to demonstrate compliance and good practice in
environmental matters.

The publication of the ISO 14001 standard for environmental managements systems

(EMS) in 1996 and then revised in 2004 has proved to be very successful, as it is
now implemented in more than 159 countries and has provided organizations with a
powerful management tool to improve their environmental performance. More than
223 149 organizations have been certiied worldwide against ISO 14001 at the end
of 2009, which is an increase of 18 % compared to 2008. Many companies have
improved their operations and reduced the impact of their activities, processes,
products and services on the environment by using a systematic approach that
seeks continual improvement.

The beneits of positively addressing environmental issues therefore not only cover
the preservation of the environment, but are also linked to business performance
and proitability while improving the corporate image, enhancing access to export
markets, providing a common reference for communicating environmental issues
with customers, regulators, the public and other stakeholders, etc.

One major advantage of implementing ISO  14001 is that it can be done in an

organization of any size or type, since the requirements of an EMS are the same for
all – although the manner of implementing one will vary according to the size and
activity of the organization.

Experience shows that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can also imple-
ment an effective EMS and realize a variety of beneits. However, EMS implementa-
tion can present some challenges. This checklist aims at helping organizations to
understand the requirements for environment management systems and identify the
main areas for improvement. It will therefore be of value even if the ultimate aim is
not third party certiication of the organization.

I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ? 5
ISO and ITC have been collaborating to assist enterprises, especially those in devel-
oping countries and economies in transition, to improve their exports. We have jointly
published ISO 9001 – A workbook for service organizations and ISO 9001 for Small
Businesses, and ISO 22000 Food safety management systems – An easy-to-use
checklist for small business – Are you ready? We hope that this new handbook to
help achieve the beneits of ISO 14001 will be of practical use to small businesses
whatever their activity and wherever they may be, but especially in developing coun-
tries and economies in transition.

Patricia Francis Rob Steele

Executive Director Secretary-General
International Trade Centre International Organization
UNCTAD/WTO for Standardization

6 I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ?
 Introduction

This checklist guides the user through the setting-up, implementation and, if required,
certiication of an environmental management system 1) (EMS), the requirements
for which are speciied in ISO 14001:2004, Environmental management systems –
Requirements with guidance for use.

There are many beneits to implementing an EMS. These include a potential for :
■ Reduction in waste production
■ The avoidance in use, and costly disposal of, other hazardous or potentially
polluting materials (with associated, potential costs savings)
■ A planned approach to compliance with regulations and the consequential
reduced risk of prosecutions and ines.

Other beneits can include increased proitability, better access to markets and improved
relationships with stakeholders (e.g. customers, regulators, investors, insurers, neigh-
bours). In some cases it may also be of further value to have the EMS independently
certiied in order to demonstrate that it meets the requirements of ISO 14001:2004.

This guide is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), both in developed
and developing countries. By guiding the user to ask and answer a series of questions
regarding the environmental activities of their organization, the checklist provides an
overview of the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 and promotes the guidance offered
in ISO 14004:2004, Environmental management systems – General guidelines on
principles, systems and support techniques 2). Working through the questions in a
step-by-step manner will enable managers of an organization to determine its pre-
sent environmental performance, and will help them identify areas for improvement.

The checklist is in 16 parts, each of the irst 15 parts covering a particular stage in the
EMS implementation process. Each part provides a brief explanation of the relevant
requirement(s) as well as guidance on how to incorporate these requirement(s) into
an EMS, which will meet the needs of a particular organization. Part 16 provides a
list of sources of potentially useful help, guidance and information.

The stages in this checklist do not need to be completed in one go. Each question
is formulated to be answered as Yes or No. By answering Yes, you conirm that you
understand the action being considered and have included it in your EMS. Answering
No means that you are either not sure about that action and/or have not included it

1) Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement its environmental policy
and manage its environmental aspects (Source : ISO 14001 : 2004)
2) Readers will ind ISO 14004:2004, Environmental management systems – General guidelines on princi-
ples, systems and support techniques helpful in developing their EMS.

I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ? 7
in your system. The checklist will then provide you with additional information and
guidance as to how to address this action.

ISO  14001:2004 and ISO 9001:2008, Quality management systems – Require-

ments, are closely related. Many components of these two management systems
are very similar. However, there are also signiicant technical differences between
the requirements of each standard. Part of this checklist explains the similarities and
differences between these and other standards. If an organization is already certiied
to ISO 9001, it should have in place many of the core components common to most
management systems, for example, control of documentation, keeping of records,
identifying training needs, etc. The task will then be to develop and implement the
environment-speciic content, which is required under ISO 14001:2004.

Since this checklist does not include the text of ISO 14001:2004, users are recom-
mended to obtain a copy from their national standards body or from ISO, either
directly via [email protected] or via the Internet from www.iso.org.

8 I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ?
Acknowledgements

ISO and ITC gratefully acknowledge the dedicated work of

Nigel Carter (author) Simon Cordingley (reviewer)

Principal Advisor Principal Consultant
En-Venture Compass Professional Development
10 Market Place Ltd
Devizes PO Box 2024
Wiltshire SN10 1HT Preston
United Kingdom Lancashire PR5 8WT
E-mail [email protected] United Kingdom
E-mail [email protected]

in the development and revision of this checklist.

Nigel Carter and Simon Cordingley are both expert members for the United King-
dom in ISO working groups (WG). Nigel Carter was a member of the joint working
group (JWG) of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and
quality assurance, subcommittee SC 3, Supporting technologies, and ISO/TC 207,
Environmental management, SC 2, Environmental auditing and related environmen-
tal investigations, which developed ISO 19011:2002, Guidelines for quality and/or
environmental management systems auditing. Simon Cordingley is the convenor of
ISO/TC 207/SC 1, Environmental management systems, WG 3, preparing ISO 14005,
Guidelines for a staged implementation of an EMS. They were assisted in their work
by comments from ive other experts members of SC 1 : José Luis Valdés (Spain),
Maiko Okuno (Japan), Horacio Martirena (Argentina), and Anne-Marie Warris and
José Alcorta (United Kingdom). The work was coordinated by Shyam K. Gujadhur
and Ludovica Ghizzoni (from ITC) and Juan Simon (from ISO).

Disclaimer
“ The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do
not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Trade
Centre (ITC) nor on that of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) con-
cerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or con-
cerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries ”.

I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ? 9
 Table of contents

Part 1 – Environmental management 13

Part 2 – Scope of the environmental management system 19

Part 3 – Environmental policy 23

Part 4 – Environmental aspects and legal requirements 27

Part 5 – Environmental objectives, targets and programmes 31

Part 6 – Resources, roles, responsibility and authority 35

Part 7 – Competence, training and awareness 39

Part 8 – Communication 43

Part 9 – Documentation 45

Part 10 – Operational control 49

Part 11 – Emergency preparedness and response 53

Part 12 – Checking and Internal audit 55

Part 13 – Management review and continual improvement 65

Part 14 – Demonstrating conformity 69

Part 15 – Integration with other management systems 81

Part 16 – Further information – Web sites 85

I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ? 11
Part 1

Environmental
management

1.1 Does your organization understand the need for

procedures to help avoid or minimize pollution, and
comply with environmental regulations ?

o Yes ➡ Go to next question

o No ➡ See guidance below

Accidental or excessive emissions to air, water or soil, causing loss of air, water and soil
quality, may have harmful and lasting effects on sensitive receptors – people, animals
and vegetation.
Effective procedures can help to reduce the risk of polluting events, excessive waste
and breaches of regulation.
In circumstances where enforcement agencies are assessing the organization for the
purpose of issuing permits or authorisations, the existence of well-understood and ef-
fective operating procedures can give greater confidence to these agencies and can
even reduce regulatory costs.

The existence of an EMS does not guarantee that the organization will not breach envi-
ronmental regulation or cause a polluting incident. However, it suggests to interested
parties that the organization takes its responsibilities for the environment seriously
and is endeavouring to manage its signiicant environmental aspects accordingly.

There are many commercial advantages to implementing an EMS. These can

include :
■ Competitive advantage
■ Better access to investment
■ Reduced cost of regulation, insurance and inance

I S O 14 0 01 – A R E YO U R E A DY ? 13