Having endured yet another “B” movie on TV last night, which spelt out in Hollywood style how we and the planet are all doomed, it got me thinking about the environment! This has inspired me to blog about ISO 14001 today.

ISO 14001 is a management system which will help companies and organisations to implement better environmental controls. Ask members of the public why we need to have environmental controls and many might be able to give reasonable answers.

In my opinion, the main reasons, though, are:

1. Moral
We all have a duty of care to ourselves and the place where we live. We don’t own this planet, we just pay rent, it was here before us and (hopefully) it will still be here long after we have gone. In the meantime we need to do more to ensure that some liveable habitat is available for the generations to come.

2. Legal
There are a host of Acts of Parliament and Regulations that apply to Environmental issues. The scope is wide-ranging and cannot be listed here. Failure to abide by them can have a detrimental effect on reason 3 below, as well as your reputation. ISO 14001 will identify the applicable legislation and allows organisations to understand and comply.

3. Costs
The true damage to the environment cannot be easily calculated. Basic clean up costs cannot put right any long term effects on the plants and animals affected. If a company pollutes air, land and/or water, then a big fine can be expected. In addition to that, the “polluter pays principle” means that the big clean up costs will be met by the polluter. Other costs will also be incurred such as increases in insurance premiums and hidden costs. The hidden costs include bad publicity, loss of production, cancelled orders and low staff morale. ISO 14001 will look at an organisations activities and introduce emergency plans which will help to limit damage to the environment and provide workable emergency plans.

We at OMS have experience implementing and maintaining ISO 14001. Making life easier for all of us and safer for the blue planet.

Posted by Mark Grayson