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Companies that look to implement ISO 14001:2015 do so for several different reasons. Some see it as a natural progression as their company grows – perhaps having implemented ISO 9001:2015, some see it as a logical system to adopt to satisfy environmental obligations, and some react to pressure being applied by customers, stakeholders, or pressure groups. Whatever the reason, the first question normally tends to be “How long does it take?” While the standard itself provides no direct advice on timescales, it is clear that there are several key elements that dictate when an company can be ready, and it probably follows that this period will be different for organizations of varied types and sizes. So, given that, what are these factors, and what do we have to bear in mind when planning a project like ISO 14001:20015?
Implementation period, the key elements
The management of an organization will generally want to know how long a ISO 14001:2015 project will take at the outset, and that is only natural. Considerations of the resources that will be required for an implementation project will need to be assessed, and who is best in your organization to manage the project. The project manager will therefore need to have a thorough understanding of not only the standard itself, but also the context within which the organization operates, and the effect that will have on implementation time, for example:
What industry does your organization operate in? Tasks such as defining the context of your organization and gaining stakeholder engagement will be critical elements of your project, and those will differ greatly between, for example, a major pharmaceutical manufacturer and a small coffee shop.
Do you have one or multiple sites?
Do you have knowledgeable and available internal resources to implement, or do you need to hire a consultant?
These “contextual” elements need to be considered carefully before committing to an implementation plan. For the project manager, it is sensible to involve the leadership and top management of the organization to assess this, as it also can be considered a part of the definition of the context of the organization, which is a new and critical part of ISO 14001:2015. We examined context of the company in detail in the article, determining the context of the organization in ISO 14001. In terms of the implementation period, this is also a critical factor; your ease and time of implementation will be improved significantly if you have top management buy-in, and if your project manager is knowledgeable and efficient. So, we now understand the “contextual” elements we need to pay attention to; presumably there are elements of the standard we need to ensure we execute in order to understand what the implementation period should be.
How long should it take?
Typically, most organizations should be ready within six months if they have 20 or fewer employees, but some organizations of a larger size may take more time – up to or over a year for organizations of more than 50. As stated above, this will vary depending on the environmental impact of your organization; a consultancy and a manufacturing plant will have hugely differing impacts, for example, though both may have a similar number of employees. However, your organization should remember that despite the changes from the 14001:2004 standard to the 14001:2015 version, your implementation will not be considered complete and ready for audit until you display evidence of at least one example of:
a management review having taken place
one round of internal audits
evidence of corrective action
examples or evidence of customer feedback
evidence of risk-based discussions and resulting measures
So, while the 14001:2015 standards may appear less “cycle based” than its predecessor, it is vital to understand that most auditors will not consider your organization ready for audit unless the above elements exist in your EMS.
What can be done to speed up the process?
It goes without saying that the more expertise, resources, and education you employ within your project, the quicker your implementation can be. Also, when you set up your EMS and decide on the frequency of your audit, feedback, and risk-based functions, as well as meetings, you should remember that this will have an effect on your implementation timescale and, therefore, your readiness for audit. For example, if you plan to have your first internal audit nine months from establishment of the EMS, then this will mean you will not be ready for external audit until after that time. Many organizations also consider using external help, such as consultants, to implement the EMS; this extra resource, knowledge, and stimulation can increase the employees’ enthusiasm and speed up the process
What ISO 14001 training and certification is available if you’re an individual?
Training in the concepts of ISO 14001 is available, and there are a range of course options for individuals to choose from. Only the first of these can lead to certification for the individual to be able to audit for a certification body, but the others are very useful for those who will be using these skills within their own company:
ISO 14001 Lead Auditor Course – This is a four- to five-day training course focused on understanding the ISO 14001 QMS standard and being able to use it for auditing management systems against these requirements. The course includes a test at the end to verify knowledge and competence, and it is only with an accredited course that an individual can become approved to audit for a certification body.
ISO 14001 Internal Auditor Course – This is commonly a two- or three-day course that is based on the lead auditor course above, but does not include the test for competence, so this is most useful for someone beginning to do internal audits within a company.
ISO 14001 Implementation Course and Awareness – Several courses are offered that provide knowledge of ISO 14001 and how to implement it. These can be one- or two-day courses, and can even include online e-learning sessions as a method of teaching the material. These courses are good for those who need an overview of the ISO 14001 standard, or those who will be involved in the implementation within a company, and many are more economical than investing in the lead auditor course for those involved at this level.
There are a number of accredited training companies around the world where you can gain individual qualifications in ISO 14001.
If you are implementing an Occupational Health & Safety Management System (OHSMS) using the ISO 45001:2018 standard requirements, you are likely considering having your OHSMS certified when implementation is done. If so, you may wonder what needs to be done to successfully prepare for the certification auditor after the OHSMS is implemented.
What is the difference between implementation and certification?
It would be helpful to quickly discuss the difference between implementation and certification. Implementation is the process you go through to create all of the rules, policies, processes and procedures needed to meet the requirements of ISO 45001:2018 Certification, and to meet the needs of your organization. These are then established by ensuring that everyone in your organization knows what they need to do.
Certification is separate from implementation. It comes as a bit of a surprise to many people to find out that there is not a requirement in ISO 45001:2018 to have a third-party certification body conduct an audit and confirm that the organization has successfully implemented the requirements of the standard. There are many good reasons to have a third-party auditor look at your system, including the benefit of having someone outside your organization identifying ways to improve. Below is what the certification auditors will expect of your OH&SMS before they perform their audit.
What is expected for certification?
If you have chosen to go through the certification process, there are a few things that will need to be completed before the auditors come to perform their final certification audit. The auditors will already have done their stage 1 documentation audit, where they have reviewed your documentation to ensure that it meets the requirements of the standard. After this, you will need also to take care that the following is ensured:
All processes implemented – As not all processes are documented, you will need to ensure that all the processes you need within the OHSMS are in place. It is expected that you have established each process (set the process rules), implemented each process (ensured the rules are known and are monitored) and are maintaining each process (making sure that when rules change people know, and new people are informed of the rules). It is not acceptable to have incomplete processes.
OHSMS settled – In order to audit you will need to have adequate records to demonstrate how your processes work. For this reason, certification auditors will want you to have used your OHSMS for a period of time to collect the records necessary to demonstrate this. This timeframe is different for each ISO 45001 certification body, but often ranges from a minimum of 4 months to 8 months with some as long as 12 months.
All processes audited – One of the key processes to evaluate your OHSMS performance is the internal audit. The certification auditors will expect that you have done this internal audit review for all of your processes before they come and do their audits.
Management review completed – Another important OHSMS evaluation is the management review. It is expected that you will have performed at least one management review of the OHSMS to verify effectiveness and efficiency and to assess resource allocation.
Corrective actions taken – It is very likely that you will have found nonconformities in the processes during this time through internal audits, management reviews and process monitoring. When these nonconformities are found, it is expected that you will have taken corrective actions to remove the nonconformity and prevent it from happening again.
Improvements demonstrated – What are you doing to make your OHSMS better? Corrective actions are one method of improvement, but you should also be able to demonstrate progress on your OH&S objectives and other ways of addressing opportunities for improvement in your OH&S processes.
Preparation is the key to certification success
As with many things in life, if you are not properly prepared you will have problems. The activities you need to do before certification are important because they ensure your OH&SMS is working before you bring in an outside party to verify your implementation. While these tasks take some time, they will help you to catch some problems that could prevent you from passing the certification audit and delay final certification. You don’t want the certification auditors to be occupied by finding issues you should have found yourself when they could be pointing out real problems you may not have noticed.
Since you are paying to have the certification audit, make sure it provides the best information possible to help improve the OHSMS.
Mandatory steps to finish implementation and get your company certified
Documenting and implementing the OH&SMS is not enough for the certification. You also need to be sure that it is both effective and compliant with the standard. The following steps are meant to ensure this and prepare your organization for the certification audit:
1.Internal audit – The purpose of the internal audit is to determine the level of compliance of your OH&SMS with requirements of the standard. During the audit, the internal auditors will review the documents, records and processes to identify weaknesses and provide information on nonconformities.
2.Management review – This is the ultimate review of the effectiveness of your OH&SMS, the top management needs to review the information on OH&SMS performance, results of the internal audits, achievement of the objectives and changes in context of the organization. All this information will enable the top management to make decisions on how to improve the existing OH&SMS.
3.Corrective actions – Both the internal audit and management review are providing you with the information on what needs to be changed, corrected and improved. These corrective actions are the best tool for dealing with nonconformities. Corrective actions are taken to achieve full compliance with the standard.
The company certification process is divided into two stages:
Stage One (documentation review). This is the initial phase of the audit; the certification auditors will review your OH&SMS documents to get familiar with your organization and its processes prior to the main audit and to ensure your documents are compliant with requirements of ISO 45001.
Stage Two (main audit). The main audit is the most important part of the certification audit. During this phase, the certification auditors will make interviews with the top management and employees and observe your processes. Their goal is to determine the compliance of your OH&SMS not only to requirements of the standard, but also to the content to your documents examined during the first stage.
Visit : ISO 45001 Certification
Want to certify to ISO 9001? Looking for an
immersive way to establish the quality of the products and services? Are you
thinking to enter the global market place? Or want to enhance the Quality
Management System of your organization? Whatever it is, implementing the
requirements of ISO 9001 helps your organization find effective improvements in
the Quality Management System and as well as its services. Are you a beginner
to ISO 9001 or looking to change the quality management using the latest
version ISO 9001:2015? Then this topic sure helps you to understand everything
from what is the ISO 9001 standard, how it benefits your organization to what
you have to implement in each phase to satisfy the ISO 9001 requirements and to
achieve the ISO 9001 Certification.
What is ISO 9001?
Establishing, monitoring, implementing,
maintaining, and improving the Quality Management System is a basic requirement
for every organization to meet customer satisfaction. ISO 9001 is a globally
recognized Quality Management System standard that specifies requirements to
ensure continual improvement in the quality of the products and services. The
main objective of the ISO 9001 is to enhance customer satisfaction through the
effective application of the system. It is the most popular and common standard
of ISO, followed by millions of organizations all over the world. The
fulfillment of the ISO 9001 not just ensures the consistency in the products
and services but also helps you achieve many business profits. The standard ISO
9001 is developed based on the Seven Quality Management principles such as
customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvement,
evidence-based decision making, and relationship management. These principles
help improves the quality performance of the organization.
About Quality Management System
A Quality Management System (QMS) is the heart of
the organization that ensures the customers get consistent, good quality
products and services. It is responsible for maintaining quality performance in
all phases of the organization from the manufacturing process to the delivery
of quality products and services. It plays a major role in achieving the
organizations’ objectives and goals. Depending on the nature of the business,
each organization has a different Quality Management System.
What are the requirements to attain the ISO 9001
Certification?
Certifying to ISO 9001 is not an easy task. The
organization should implement the requirements of ISO 9001 and submit the
documents/records that report the organization’s internal processes,
procedures, and standards. The mandatory requirements are,
The documents you need to submit for achieving the
ISO 9001 Certification are,
To find more detailed information about the
requirements to obtain ISO 9001 Certification, kindly contact us, EAS.
Why ISO 9001 is important?
Implementing the requirements of ISO 9001 is
important for organizations to have a clear idea about the organizational
process and system. It enhances customers’ confidence in the quality of your
products and services. The ISO 9001 Certification is a representation of the
organizations that provide high-quality products and services. It establishes
consistency in delivering high-quality services that bring new business
opportunities. As it is a globally accepted certification, you can easily gain
global recognition and more profit.
Is my organization eligible to certify to ISO 9001?
The requirements of the ISO 9001 are generic and
are intended to apply to any organization. Regardless of the size, type, or
product and service an organization provides, the ISO 9001 standard can apply
to any organization that looking to implement its management system to
international standards. So, the answer is yes. You can develop the
requirements of ISO 9001 in your organization even if you’re a startup company
that is looking to promote the business and to increase the number of
customers. Never miss a chance! Grab the attention of the customers and take
your business to the international market with the internationally recognized
ISO 9001:2015 Certification.
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