ISO 14001 Implementation Plan

The ISO 14001 implementation plan describes the practical way to run the environmental management system certification. It covers how air, soil, water, natural resources, plants and animal diversity, and people are considered in a production setting, with their interconnections acknowledged.

A system owner should be identified, trained on environmental topics, and assigned as the responsible person for the management system.

An environmental management team of up to 8 people should be formed, drawn from different functions and different levels of the hierarchy.

The assessment of the environmental management system should be carried out using ISO 14001, and the assessment findings should be captured in a report. The report should cover the adequacy of the current processes and rules and any need for new rules.

Environmental policies, environmental protection objectives, and an action plan should be prepared, with the resulting plan printed. The policies set out in the plan should be communicated by senior management.

Leaders should be developed to create and spread environmental awareness. Leaders and the environmental team should know the subject matter in detail, both to understand it and to communicate it.

Organisational structure and responsibilities should be defined. The defined items should be captured in a formal document, with names, responsibilities, and related details kept current.

Staff should be engaged in and contribute to the development of the system through briefing sessions, team-work replays, lessons-learned feedback, and other training and development programmes.

A decision should be made about the document-coding method to be used. From the first day of system-documentation development, the chosen form should be applied consistently.

A process-flow chart should be prepared that shows core processes and their supporting processes in sequence. Core processes should be placed first in the chart, and supporting processes should be defined in relation to them.

All forms should be coded under the agreed coding method; each form should belong to a process in use, and forms that are no longer useful should be retired.

Forms should be aligned with the process-flow chart. Each form should have a position in the chart; if any do not, the chart should be checked for completeness.

The accuracy of the process-flow charts and their fit with real events should be checked.

The process-flow charts should serve as method documents. Attention should be paid to ensuring that the purpose of each process supports environmental protection.

Methods should be reviewed. They should also be assessed by other staff, and feedback from staff should be taken into account. New processes and methods for the audit of environmental management systems and for actions required during emergencies should be prepared, and staff should be trained for implementation.

New methods related to the environmental management programme should be published.

The full system in use should be described in the environmental management system manual. Information should be kept short and clear so that staff, suppliers, and customers can understand it easily.

At this point, the system should be started and requests for revision should be met promptly. Encouraging everyone to think about continual improvement is useful.

Audit activity should begin to secure continuous improvement of the integrated system. A pre-assessment of the system should be carried out at least 2 months before registration.

During the pre-assessment, care should be taken to use a registered system auditor and to keep all corrective actions up to date.

Completing the activities listed above can take between 6 and 18 months. The length depends on the formality of the system in use, the skill of the people carrying out the work, the level of management engagement, and the volume of work.