There has never been a greater need than now for organisations to consider the environment and their impact upon it.  ISO 14001 is a framework to enable your organisation to develop an environmental management system.

The purpose of this standard is to provide organisations with a framework to protect the environment and respond to changing environmental conditions in balance with socio-economic needs.  It specifies requirements that enable an organisation to achieve the intended outcomes it sets for its environmental management system.

ISO 14001 provides an environmental management system framework for micro, SME’s and large organisations to consider the aspects of their actions and activities, how they impact either positively or negatively, with the environment, measure the significance of those impacts, and set environmental objectives from this based on the control and influence the organisation has.

A systematic approach to environmental management can provide top management with information to build success over the long term and create options for contributing to sustainable development by:

• Protecting the environment by preventing or mitigating adverse environmental impacts
• Mitigating the potential adverse effect of environmental conditions on the organisation
• Assisting the organisation in the fulfilment of compliance obligations
• Enhancing environmental performance
• Controlling or influencing the way the organisations products and services are designed, manufactured, distributed, consumed and dispose by using a life cycle perspective that can prevent environmental impacts from being unintentionally shifted elsewhere within the life cycle
• Achieving financial and operational benefits that can result from implementing environmentally sound alternatives that strengthen the organisations market position
• Communication environmental information to relevant interested parties