Management system guidance
8.0 Operation
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8.1 EMS operational planning and control
You should seek and record evidence that your organization has determined the design and its processes to meet the requirements of your customers and the requirements of your EMS. Evidence that the process, including all inputs, outputs, resources, controls, criteria, and process measurement and performance indicators being planned should be sought. ISO 14001:2015 introduces three new issues to consider:
Changes: Planned changes to be controlled, or unintended changes to be reviewed for their consequences. Controls can include engineering controls, procedures, documented procedure, etc. They can be implemented following a hierarchy (e.g. elimination, substitution, administrative) and can be used singly or in combination.
Life cycle perspective: To design and develop products and services taking into account the environmental impact throughout their life cycle. Include environmental requirements in the purchasing specifications of products and services, and communicate these environmental requirements to external providers. When necessary, provide information on potential environmental impacts related to the transportation, use, end of life treatment and final disposal of its products and services.
Considering that some of your organization’s environmental impacts can occur once the products and services have been delivered to the customers, organizations need to provide information to those that will transport, use, treat or dispose of the products and services in order to prevent adverse environmental impacts.
Your organization´s ability to exert control or influence can vary from full control to no influence. Controls can include engineering controls, procedures, documented procedure, etc. They can be implemented following a hierarchy (e.g. elimination, substitution, administrative) and can be used singly or in combination.
Considering that some of your organization’s environmental impacts can occur once the products and services have been delivered to the customers, organizations need to provide information to those that will transport, use, treat or dispose of the products and services in order to prevent adverse environmental impacts. The Life cycle perspective means that your organization must also:
- Design and develop products and services taking into account the environmental impact throughout their life cycle;
- Include environmental requirements in the purchasing specifications of products and services;
- Communicate these environmental requirements to external providers;
- When necessary, provide information on potential environmental impacts related to the transportation, use, end of life treatment and final disposal of its products and services.
Outsourced Processes: Outsourced process affecting EMS compliance must be controlled or influenced. Auditors will be alert and identify instances of outsourcing highly pollutant processes with the intention of dropping them out of EMS.
Considering that some of your organization’s environmental impacts can occur once the products and services have been delivered to the customers, organizations need to provide information to those that will transport, use, treat or dispose of the products and services in order to prevent adverse environmental impacts. The Life cycle perspective means that your organization must also:
- Design and develop products and services taking into account the environmental impact throughout their life cycle;
- Include environmental requirements in the purchasing specifications of products and services;
- Communicate these environmental requirements to external providers;
- When necessary, provide information on potential environmental impacts related to the transportation, use, end of life treatment and final disposal of its products and services.
Ensure that those with responsibility for each stage of the lifecycle, for example; procurement, design, logistics, operations, sales, and after sales, are represented in environmental aspects identification and evaluation. Again, a workshop scenario works well. Where significant aspects relate to other stages of the lifecycle, these can be managed or coordinated through the EMS, for example by operational control and environmental objectives.
For those risks and opportunities that your organization has identified, you should seek evidence that these actions have been integrated into the management system; as such, these actions should be verifiable at process level – for example, evidence of controls, acceptance criteria and resources to address the risks and opportunities. Review the acceptability criteria; this may include targets, measures, values, KPIs, specifications and other criteria as relevant to the output.
You should ensure that the implemented processes are controlled as planned and that there is evidence that your organization has evaluated the effectiveness of actions taken when addressing risks and opportunities. Evaluate and record any evidence pertaining to planned and unintended changes.
All operational factors must be determined and risks associated with the environment must be managed in a way that conforms to your management system's environmental policy and commitments. There should be a process for developing work instructions that detail standard practice for performing tasks that comply with all management system requirements, as well as a process for identifying and controlling all non-routine tasks and ensuring all environmental requirements are met.
More information on PDCA
Planning
Context
Planning
Support
Doing
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Operations
Checking
Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation
Acting
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