Articles and Presentations Library
Suppliers, Contractors and ISO 14001
These days it is usual for suppliers of products and services to be included within a database together with supporting information. The process requires the supplier or contractor to complete a questionnaire, usually running to several pages in which various criteria deemed to be relevant to the process are listed. After careful scrutiny, the client company usually approves the supplier for a period which may last for several years. It sounds like a really useful activity - rooting out the poor performers and rewarding those suppliers who meet the purchasing requirements.
I have seen some effective procedures for undertaking supplier evaluation especially where there are a number of potential suppliers of the same service or products and where the service is relatively non-specialised. However, as you would expect from an integrated management system that probably originated from a QMS, most of these relate to product approvals, supplier confidence issues and price. EMS’s often include the need to assess the environmental impacts of products and services. This good intention vaporises once the environmental requirements become subsumed within the overall purchasing department’s strategy for appointing contractors or purchasing products. Having said that, there are many examples of success in purchasing strategy involving individual changes to purchasing policy, for example the phasing out of solvents, chemicals and processes that are environmentally damaging. A specific objective is usually set for these examples, making them auditable within the EMS in a number of areas.
The near absence of any reference to purchasing policy and environmental improvement within ISO 14001 makes it difficult for the EMS auditor to carry out an effective audit within this topic area, even if the potential supply-chain impacts on the environment far outweigh the impacts within the factory gates. So how does the auditor work around this difficult situation without moving into ‘subjectivity’ and ‘auditors own opinion’? One way is to review the aspects register to see if the company has considered how it’s purchasing decisions impact on the environment. However, experience shows that the aspect register would be unlikely to cover individual purchases unless the scale was large enough (boiler refurbishment, process change).
Within ISO 14001, Operational control (4.4.6) mentions the word ‘suppliers’ within the relevant section, but the clarity of language that would enable the auditor to ask the right question is missing. This omission makes it very difficult for the EMS auditor to drive forwards the necessary improvements that should be made to the enactment of the purchasing policy. In my opinion, the requirement for a simplified LCA, as part of the aspect evaluation, should be carried out to identify where in the supply chain the significant environmental impacts are arising. The ISO 14001 registered company should then purchase from suppliers who have lower impacts and the auditor would seek evidence that this is being completed.
It’s as simple as that!
John Marsden (FIEMA)
info@marsden-international.com
John is an independent management system auditor who works for a number of international certification bodies.
