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At a time when protecting the environment, saving energy and safeguarding the physical and mental integrity of employees are major global issues, the ISO 14 001 and 45 001 standards for EHS management systems take on their full meaning.
What are these standards?
These international standards are management system models to be deployed within organizations to achieve improvement objectives in the EHS field. Applicable to all types of organization, whatever their sector of activity or size, these standards help to structure and sustain continuous improvement processes.
What do these standards propose?
ISO 14 001, an environmental management system, aims to ensure that organizations that implement it identify their significant impacts on the environment, manage, control and monitor them, all contributing to the improvement of their environmental performance, such as the efficient use of resources, waste management, climate change mitigation... In its 2015 revised version, SO 14 001 enables us in particular to highlight:
- The organization's environmental challenges to be integrated into its strategy,
- The importance of environmental management through leadership.
- Regulatory compliance management, with a commitment to meeting legal and other compliance obligations, and a periodic assessment of these obligations,
- Environmental analysis of activities, products and services from a life-cycle perspective.
- The notion of influence.
ISO 45001, an occupational health and safety management system designed to help protect the physical and mental health of workers, retains some of the requirements of OHSAS 18001 (the previous occupational health and safety standard), such as :
- The risk assessment process to identify and prioritize OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) risks,
- SST risk prevention imperatives,
- Commitments to comply with legal and other requirements, with the obligation of periodic assessment.
But it also brings major changes to reinforce the positive safety culture within organizations, :
- By voluntarily placing workers at the heart of the prevention process, imposing numerous consultations with workers and their representatives, as well as their participation in the implementation, performance assessment and improvement actions of the OHS management system.
- By introducing leadership, i.e. much greater involvement and commitment on the part of management, with the need to define internal and external challenges, risks and opportunities, and to identify the expectations of interested parties.
How are they built?
These standards are based on the HLS format and comprise 10 chapters
- Field of application
- Normative references
- Terms and definitions
- Organizational context
- Leadership and employee participation
- Planning
- Support
- Operational activities
- Performance assessment
- Improvement
The first three are relatively general and the other seven can be grouped according to the PDCA model:
What are the benefits of these management systems?
These standards can be seen as constraints, but on the contrary, they should be seen as tools for performance and continuous improvement in the EHS field, driving forward both the organizations implementing them and their stakeholders.
Improved performance brings financial benefits and enhances the organization's reputation. The application of these standards therefore enables an organization to stand out from competitors who have not implemented such management systems.
Through the commitment of both management and employees, these initiatives often have a unifying effect within organizations.
Conclusion
ISO 14 001 and 45 001 use the same framework structure, so it's easy enough to integrate them into a single quality management system (ISO 9001).
What's more, with the strengthening of leadership and employee participation and consultation, environment, health and safety are no longer just a matter for EHS specialists; they are becoming an integral part of corporate strategy and therefore of business management.
Photo credit: Scott Graham