ISO 14001 2004

PLAIN ENGLISH OVERVIEW

The ISO 14001 standard expects you to:

•  Develop an environmental policy for your organization.
   Your policy should make it clear that your organization supports
   the establishment of an environmental management system.
   It should also make it clear that you are committed to protecting
   the environment and improving your organization’s
   environmental performance.

•  Establish an environmental management system (EMS).
   An EMS is a network of interrelated elements. These elements
   include responsibilities, authorities, relationships, functions,
   processes, practices, procedures, and resources.

•  Identify the most significant environmental aspects of your
   past, present, and future activities, products, and services.
   An environmental aspect is any feature or characteristic of 
   an activity, product, or service that has or could have
   an impact on the environment.

•  Clarify and respect the legal and other requirements that apply
   to your organization’s environmental aspects. ISO 14001 wants
   you to identify and meet these requirements.

•  Set environmental objectives and targets for all relevant functions
   and levels within your organization. Your objectives and targets
   should address significant environmental aspects and be
   consistent with your environmental policy.

•  Create programs to implement your environmental policy and 
   achieve your environmental objectives and targets. Make sure
   that your programs allocate responsibility for implementing your
   environmental policy and achieving your environmental
   objectives and targets.

•  Evaluate your environmental management system in order
   to identify opportunities for improvement. ISO 14001 expects
   you to monitor, measure, audit, and review your EMS in order
   to identify corrective and preventive actions and to improve
   your overall environmental performance. It also expects you
   to make sure that your environmental policy is appropriate
   and being applied, and that your environmental objectives
   and targets are being achieved.