ISO 9001 Standards: June 2011

General Description of ISO14001 Standards

General Description of ISO14001 Standards

ISO14001 Standards requires an Environmental Policy to be in existence within the organisation, fully supported by senior management, and outlining the policies of the company, not only to the staff but to the public. The policy needs to clarify compliance with Environmental Legislation that may effect the organization and stress a commitment to continuous improvement. Emphasis has been placed on policy as this provides the direction for the remainder of the Management System.

Those companies who have witnessed ISO9000 Assessments will know that the policy is frequently discussed during the assessment, many staff are asked if they understand or are aware of the policy, and any problems associated with the policy are seldom serious. The Environmental Policy is different, this provides the initial foundation and direction for the Management System and will be more stringently reviewed than a similar ISO9000 policy. The statement must be publicised in non-technical language so that it can be understood by the majority of readers. It should relate to the sites within the organisation encompassed by the Management System, it should provide an overview of the company’s activities on the site and a description of those activities. A clear picture of the company’s operations.

The preparatory review and definition of the organization’s environmental effects is not part of aISO14001 Assessment, however examination of this data will provide an external audit with a wealth of information on the methods adopted by the company. The preparatory review itself should be comprehensive in consideration of input processes and output at the site. This review should be designed to identify all relevant environmental aspects that may arise from existence on the site. These may relate to current operations, they may relate to future, perhaps even unplanned future activities, and they will certainly relate to the activities performed on site in

the past (i.e. contamination of land).

The initial or preparatory review will also include a wide-ranging consideration of the legislation which may effect the site, whether it is currently being complied with, and perhaps even whether copies of the legislation are available. Many of the environmental assessments undertaken already have highlighted that companies are often unaware of ALL of the legislation that affects them, and being unaware, are often not meeting the requirements of that legislation.

The company will declare its primary environmental objectives, those that can have most environmental impact. In order to gain most benefit these will become the primary areas of consideration within the improvement process, and the company’s environmental program. The program will be the plan to achieve specific goals or targets along the route to a specific goal and describe the means to reach those objectives such that they are real and achievable. The Environmental Management Systemprovides further detail on the environmental program. The EMS establishes procedures, work instructions and controls to ensure that implementation of the policy and achievement of the targets can become a reality. Communication is a vital factor, enabling people in the organisation to be aware of their responsibilities, aware of the objectives of the scheme, and able to contribute to its success.

As with ISO 9000 the Environmental Management System requires a planned comprehensive periodic audit of the Environmental Management System to ensure that it is effective in operation, is meeting specified goals, and the system continues to perform in accordance with relevant regulations and standards. The audits are designed to provide additional information in order to exercise effective management of the system, providing information on practices which differ to the current procedures or offer an opportunity for improvement.

In addition to audit, there is a requirement for Management Review of the system to ensure that it is suitable (for the organization and the objectives) and effective in operation. The management review is the ideal forum to make decisions on howe to improve for the future.

Read more on ISO 14001 Standards at http://www.iso14000store.com

ISO 9000 Standards – Design and development

Planning the design and development of a product means determining the design objectives and the design strategy, the design stages, timescales, costs, resources and responsibilities needed to accomplish
them. Sometimes the activity of design itself is considered to be a planning activity but what is being planned is not the design but the product.

The purpose of planning is to determine the provisions needed to achieve an objective. In most cases, these objectives include not only a requirement for a new or modified product but also requirements governing the costs and product introduction timescales (Quality, Cost and Delivery or QCD). Remove these constraints and planning becomes less important but there are few situations when cost and time is not a constraint. It is therefore necessary to work out in advance whether the objective can be achieved within the budget and timescale. One problem with design is that it is often a journey into the unknown and the cost and time it will take cannot always be predicted. It may
in fact result in disaster and either a complete reassessment of the design objective or the technology of the design solution. This has been proven time and again with major international projects such as Concorde, the Channel Tunnel and the International Space Station. Without a best guess these projects would not get off (or under!) the ground and so planning is vital firstly to get the funding and secondly to define the known and unknown so that risks can be assessed and quantified.

Design and development plans need to identify the activities to be performed, by whom they will be perform and when they should commence and be complete. One good technique is to use a network chart (often called a PERT chart), which links all the activities together. Alternatively a bar chart may be adequate. There does need to be some narrative in addition as charts in isolation rarely conveys everything required.

Design and development is not complete until the design has been proven as meeting the design requirements, so in drawing up a design and development plan you will need to cover the planning of design verification and validation activities. The plans should identify as a minimum:
- The design requirements
- The design and development programme showing activities against time
- The work packages and names of those who will execute them (Work
packages are the parcels of work that are to be handed out either internally or to suppliers)
- The work breakdown structure showing the relationship between all the parcels of work
- The reviews to be held for authorizing work to proceed from stage to
stage
- The resources in terms of finance, manpower and facilities
- The risks to success and the plans to minimize them
- The controls that will be exercised to keep the design on course
Planning for all phases at once can be difficult as information for subsequent phases will not be available until earlier phases have been completed. So, your design and development plans may consist of separate documents, one for each phase and each containing some detail of the plans you have made for subsequent phases.
Your design and development plans may also need to be subdivided into
plans for special aspects of the design such as reliability plans, safety plans, electromagnetic compatibility plans, configuration management plans. With simple designs there may be only one person carrying out the design activities. As the design and development plan needs to identify all design and development activities, even in this situation you will need to identify who carries out the design, who will review the design and who will verify the design. The same person may perform both the design and the design verification activities, however, it is good practice to allocate design verification to another person or organization because it will reveal problems overlooked by the designer. On larger design projects you may need to employ staff of various disciplines such as mechanical engineers, electronic engineers, reliability engineers etc. The responsibilities of all these people or groups need to be identified and a useful way of parcelling up the work is to use work packages that list all the activities to be performed by a particular group. If you subcontract any of the design activities, the supplier’s plans need to be integrated with your plans and your plan should identify which activities are the supplier’s responsibility. While purchasing is dealt with in clause 7.4 of the standard, the requirements also apply to design activities.

Read more on ISO 9001 Standards at http://www.iso9001store.com

ISO 14001 Standards – Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans

ISO 14001 Section 4.4.7, Emergency Preparedness and Response, requires that organizations establish and maintain procedure(s) to:

1. Identify potential accidents and emergencies

2. Respond to accidents and emergencies

3. Prevent and mitigate the environmental impacts that may be associated with accidents and emergencies.

Section 4.4.7 also requires that organizations review and revise, when necessary, their emergency preparedness

and response procedure(s), especially after an accident or emergency situation. Organizations must also periodically test such procedures where practicable.

Most organizations have already developed and implemented emergency response plans to comply with various federal and state regulations that require such plans. Examples of federal regulations that require such plans include:

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Contingency Plans

• Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plans

• Facility Oil Response Plans under the Oil Pollution Prevention Act of 1990

• Employee Emergency and Fire Prevention Plans under Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Some states have regulations that require similar emergency response plans. For instance, the state of Pennsylvania requires certain facilities to develop and implement a Preparedness, Prevention, and Contingency (PPC) Plan in addition to federal requirements.

The ISO 14001 requirements are similar to the requirements of most regulatory emergency plans. Whether your facility has emergency response plans or not, you should review the following sections to ensure you meet the ISO 14001 emergency response requirements.

ISO 14001 Section 4.4.7, Emergency Preparedness and Response, requires that organizations establish and maintain procedure(s) to: