The International Standards Organization (ISO) recently confirmed ISO 14001:2015 – Environmental management systems. Consequently, the 2015 version of the standard remains current. The ISO performs a systematic review of a standard every five years to ensure that it remains current and globally relevant.
A systematic review by the ISO results in one of three outcomes:
- Confirmation, which means the standard is retained without technical changes;
- Revision or Amendment, which means the standard is still relevant but requires technical changes; or
- Withdrawal, which means the standard is no longer relevant at an international level for one or more reasons including: the standard does not reflect current practices or research, is unsuitable for new and existing applications, or is incompatible with current views and expectations on quality, safety, and the environment.
In July 2020, the ISO announced its review of ISO 14001:2015. The review period closed in December 2020, and the ISO confirmed the standard in March 2021. Visit the ISO’s website for more on 14001:2015 and the Guidance on the Systematic Review Process in ISO.
Meeting your duty of care: Apply ISO standards, including ISO 14001:2015, to help ensure that policies and procedures in environmental management systems (EMS) are effective. For instance, ISO 14001:2015 includes Clause 10.2 – Nonconformity and corrective actions. A robust system to address non-conformities (that is, failures to meet EMS needs or expectations) should consist of controls to manage both actual and potential non-conformities and facilitate corrective and preventive actions. Both corrective and preventive actions require root cause analysis to eliminate the root, initiating or ultimate cause of the non-conformity. Root causes may not be immediately apparent.
Log in to Operations and Marketing PolicyPro, which includes the new policy, OP 5.13 – Non-conformity and Corrective Actions, for the policies and other tools to help you implement and sustain effective environmental management programs based on ISO and other standards.
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