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ISO 14001 and the Big Picture
Looking at the number of companies that hold an ISO 14001 certificate can provide a useful barometer of the success of the ISO system (accreditation and certification) around the world. Broadly speaking, there are currently around 130,000 certificates issued worldwide, with about 5,500 in the UK. China and India lead the field with around 15,000 to 20,000 each. Estimation of numbers is not an exact science, nor should it be given that one certificate could cover a significant number of sites for a large manufacturing and warehousing business.
The number of companies certified to ISO 9001 globally is around 750,000, and the number of certificates issued to OHSAS 18001 I personally believe exceeds the number of ISO 14001 certificates issued. This is to be expected given that ‘quality’ and ‘health & safety’ are ubiquitous. Companies supply goods and services and have employees, so it follows that they require extensive sets of procedures that deal with the range of applicable issues.
It could also be quite easily argued that environment affects all businesses as well. Banks, insurance companies, architects, warehouse operations, transport fleets, salmon farms, as examples, all have their share of environmental issues to address. So why are the numbers of certificates less for ISO 14001 than for ISO 9001? Why is the rate of growth of OHSAS 18001 certificates much greater than the steady climb in numbers for ISO 14001?
One reason could be that the direct environmental issues (the significant aspects associated with it’s defined scope) are perceived to be fewer in number than the range of ‘quality’ or ‘H&S’ issues that apply to a typical business. The many thousands of small businesses that already hold an ISO 9001 certificate collectively most probably have a huge impact on the environment. If that is true, it would surely be advantageous to the environment of our world if an integrated management system standard could be developed that would encourage the 400,000 companies to bolt-on the one or two relatively ‘big’ environmental issues into their existing management system.
One example is a small but thriving road repair business that operates in my village. It already has ISO 9001 and has built health and safety into the system. The management of gas, fuel, waste containers and bitumen could easily become a documented process that would be managed, monitored and controlled systematically. The integrated management system auditor would then simply add this to the scope and at appropriate intervals ensure that the company follows it’s obligations stated in the policy.
Replicate that over 400,000 times and you have a very worthwhile achievement in place.
John Marsden (FIEMA)
info@marsden-international.com
John is an independent management system auditor who works for a number of international certification bodies.
