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  • 1.  ISO 14000

    Posted 08-21-2008 08:16
    Our EH&S department is trying to gather support for an effort to become ISO 14000 certified. From wiikipedia I found the following description:

    "The ISO 14000 environmental management standards exist to help organizations minimize how their operations negatively affect the environment (cause adverse changes to air, water, or land) and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

    ISO 14001 is the international specification for an environmental management system (EMS). It specifies requirements for establishing an environmental policy, determining environmental aspects and impacts of products/activities/services, planning environmental objectives and measurable targets, implementation and operation of programs to meet objectives and targets, checking and corrective action, and management review."

    I am trying to see ho wit will affect my organization, Facilities Maintenance and Operations. Does anyone have any experience going through an ISO 14000 implementation and if so would you be willing to share your thoughts on the process.

    Thanks,

    John


  • 2.  RE: ISO 14000

    Posted 07-26-2010 01:44
    Hi GiantOCR,

    You may suggest that some of these things may be covered by ISO 14000.

    - paperless transactions (justify how you were able to automate transactions when your company for example was able to achieve paperless or even lessen you paper transactions by an acceptable percentage.

    - awareness across all departments on putting a signature on your email with something like this - "do not print this email if it's not that important. Let's save paper and ink and help mother earth".

    - Use paints that clean the air, yes this is possible, try to google it and research that some paint companies are now bragging that they can clean the air, might as well use that in your vicinity.

    - use flourescent bulbs instead of those "orange" bulbs, they consume less and emits brighter lights.

    - recycle plastic bags, reuse them, research on how to fold them to the extent wherein they would be easy to keep which wouldn't take enough space.

    - use recycled papers in your office if it's amenable.

    - encourage your colleagues to use their car only once a week and use public transportation instead of bringing them everyday in the office or yet promote carpool, less costs, less pollution.

    - enlighten people in the office to turn off their computers before going home, switch off the monitor when not in use.

    hope this helps.

    Chris Valencia


  • 3.  RE: ISO 14000

    Posted 08-10-2010 08:24
    Hey GiantOCR,

    you have a Giant Wink task in front of you should you take this on. We are in stage two (third party)audit at our facility and it was a monster of a task to get here. ISO 14000 covers everything from securing document sign off templates used every day like fork lift readiness, safety, and condition to ensuring lubricants and chemicals can not be inter-mingled in storage. 5 S gave us a leg up as far as organizing (everything has a place and every thing in its place when not in use).

    We have 650 full time employees in food manufacturing. Add the food safety regulations to the 14000 aspects and the task is even more complex. We have a full time team dedicated for the process and have been at it for about for 6 months or better with additional resources as needed / when needed. I believe we are doing 22000 and another (maybe 18000) at the same time.

    It would be very difficult to sum up the purpose of ISO 14000 in a paragraph but the spirit of the certification is to be prepared to mitigate any foreseeable system failures by having documented response procedures for each and every failure that may occur to the person, place, product, or environment as humanly possible. My 2¢... ☺