New Structure Proposed for ISO 14001 Standard - 22 March 2012.
At
the first meeting of the international working group established to revise the
international ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) standard, it was
agreed to structure the new version of the document around ISO's new high level
structure for management system standards. The new structure will mean a
significant change to the existing standard, which was published in 2004.
Commenting on the decision, Martin Baxter
IEMA's Executive Director - Policy and the UK's nationally appointed
expert to the working group, said: "The new structure includes some
important new elements which will help to elevate the status and importance of
environmental management in organisations to a more strategic level, whilst
retaining the operational strength that ISO 14001 has typically been build
around".
"IEMA's extensive engagement with practitioners
in a UK and Ireland series of workshops showed strong support for the new
structure. It will help organisations to better integrate environmental
management into the core parts of their business, rather than being treated as
an isolated bolt-on."
"There is over quarter of a million users of
ISO 14001 in 155 countries worldwide, and the new version of the standard that
is being developed is likely to be in use well into the mid-2020's. It is
therefore essential to develop a standard that enables organisations to meet
future environmental challenges, rather than simply trying to solve existing
problems."he said.
The decision to use the new structure follows ISO's
long-standing attempts to develop a harmonised, common framework for all its
management system standards. Following a ballot in 2011, the new structure has
been mandated for use by those developing new or revising existing standards -
including ISO 14001.
The working group that is revising ISO 14001 met for
the first time in Berlin for a three day meeting in February 2012. Participants
from around the world began the process of integrating the existing standard
into the new structure and identifying key issues which will need to be worked
through at subsequent sessions. These included 24 key recommendations from an
international study group which reported in 2010 on EMS Future Challenges.
The working group will next meet in Bangkok,
Thailand at the end of June 2012 where the focus of activity will be to work
through a series of key issues that have been identified. Prior to the meeting,
working group members will be identifying additional key issues not covered in
Berlin.
Source: www.iema.net
22 March, 2012.