ARCHIVE NEWS

ISO 14001:2004 – Time for a Revision

IEMA, Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, convened a series of workshops towards the end of 2011 to seek practitioner’s views as to how ISO 14001 might be revised. This feedback, gained at several UK locations, was consolidated and formed part of the UK input to the revision process. The working group for the revision met in February 2012 for the first time and meets again in June.

Of significant interest to standards users - and there are currently over a quarter of a million users of ISO 14001 in 155 countries worldwide - is the decision to structure the new version around ISO’s new high level structure for management system standards. This structure has been mandated for use by those developing new or revising existing standards

It is anticipated that the new structure will ensure that environmental management will be elevated to the core of organisations rather than being seen as a bolt-on; a potential requirement is that, in addition to the current identification of environmental risks represented by an organisation, it will be required to identify what risks the environment presents to it.

Once the standard reaches the published draft stage, Excel will be able to provide guidance, through our auditing training and downloadable technical documents, on the specific actions required to transition and comply with the new requirements.