ISO 14001 and Hurricane Sandy
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There are a growing number of people who are convinced that
the freak
weather patterns we have been experiencing are down to global
warming. In the UK we have had a severe drought followed by
the wettest summer for a hundred years . In the USA hurricane Sandy
caused immense damage even when it was downgraded to a storm.
The President of the United States of America has even admitted that
global warming is a reality; it may be that a pollution
reduction plan is on the cards throughout the USA.
In Europe reduction in pollution and recycling has been a feature for
many years and an increasing number of industries are adopting the
Environmental Standard ISO 14001:2004.
Put simply 14001 requires an organisation to address the four
'R's:
Reduce - energy consumption
Recycle - paper, plastics, metal, glass etc
Reuse - refurbish and where possible give it a
second life
Repair - fix it don’t throw it away
In addition they must have an EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
PLAN. The organisation should identify those activities which
could potentially impact on the environment if an accident or emergency
situation arises.
The organisation should be able to respond to emergencies &
accidents and review and revise procedures with the view to mitigating
the environmental impacts that are associated with them.
Many organisations are responding to the need for quality and
environmental by installing ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001
(Environmental) Management systems.
It is becoming the norm when completing quotations and tenders to be
asked if you have these Standards in place. if The answer is 'YES' then
you just tick the boxes. If the answer is 'NO; then
it requires a lengthy set of questions to be answered.
I suspect that if the short-list contains companies with the
two
Standards and companies without them, then those with 9001 and 14001
are going to have a greater chance of success.
About the Author
Chris Eden FIBC, MISSA, ACQI is a director of Quality Matters
Limited an established independent management consultancy based in
Essex, UK which specialises in ISO14001
Environmental Management consultancy.
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2013-01-09 09:03:12 in Business Articles
