CASE STUDY: ISO 14000 - BENEFITS TO THE BOTTOM LINE

Using the information in the case study provided below and your new understanding of ISO, answer the following questions. (30 marks)

1. What prompted this company to seek ISO registration? (1 mark)

2. What were some of the indications that the Environmental Department was working in a reactive mode? (2 marks)

3. How would you go about determining which of any companys aspects are significant? (7 marks)

4. What were the two significant aspects this company defined? Does this strike you as too limited? (3 marks)

5. How do you recommend a company begin the task of the development of documentation? (3 marks)

6. The study refers to Level II procedures. What are the four levels of the ISO documentation hierarchy? (4 marks)

7. Why would you consider selecting a Registrar before you are ready for the certification/registration audit? (3 marks)

8. After registration/certification is achieved, what two types of audits should be conducted periodically to ensure the maintenance of the EMS? (2 marks)

9. What are the benefits that this company achieved through this process? (5 marks)

Case Study: Iso 14000 - Benefits To The Bottom Line

Edwin Pinero, CPG, ISO 14000 Services Manager P. Charles Mason, CHMM, Senior Environmental Scientist EnSafe Inc.

INTRODUCTION Many organizations have developed an understanding of ISO 14000 and the potential benefits of corporate environmental management in todays global economy. This paper is a case study of an ISO 14000 program at a major pharmaceutical manufacturer. It focuses specifically on what spurred the decision to develop the program, the different program steps and requirements, and the financial and other benefits derived.

The environmental department of this pharmaceutical manufacturer was in a reactivemode, spending more than half of every working day with environmental compliance recordkeeping and other clerical duties. Increases in regulatory and corporate requirements ensured that these tasks would only add to the burdens of a department perceived as a drain on profits. Likewise, creativity and enthusiasm were stifled. Overall, the department felt that it could play a greater role in its firms success.

When the facility environmental manager learned of ISO 14000 through a public seminar, he proposed a program for the facility to become ISO 14000 certified. The goals of the program included operating procedure development and implementation, continuous improvement in management systems through effectively using existing resources, cost control and cost improvement, and perhaps most importantly, forward-thinking. These steps are transforming the environmental department functions into a revenue-generating mindset, which has helped to improve the financial performance of the company. The tasks followed in developing the program are outlined below.

EVALUATION STAGE

In order to decide on whether to proceed and to accurately plan for implementation, it was necessary to assess and evaluate existing conditions at the facility.

Task 1: Educate Management The initial step in developing the ISO 14000 program was to obtain top management commitment to pursue an inquiry toward implementing an effective program via awareness training. The goal of this training was to help management develop an understanding of the program and convince them of the need to at least proceed with data gathering. This commitment was obtained through a three-hour executive training session. The session introduced ISO 14000 and its core elements, how to implement the program, strategic benefits, and accreditation and certification procedures. It was also important to learn about facility and corporate goals, what was expected as a final product, and what type of support was needed. Once management commitment was obtained, the relatively inexpensive initial review was performed in Tasks 2 through 4.

Task 2: Gap Analysis The gap analysis is a very short and straightforward process. The goal of the gap analysis is to quickly obtain an overall assessment of the companys current environmental management activities in comparison to the ISO 14000 standard requirements. This was accomplished through a review and comparison to each requirement of the standard and completion of a questionnaire about these requirements.

Specifically, the work under this task included the following. Note that none of these tasks were focused solely on regulatory issues:

Briefly reviewing and comparing the following to the appropriate sections of ISO 14001:

The companys environmental policy

Current management system procedures and structure and whether the procedures were documented and implemented.

Current environmental management records related to the site

Determining the in-house capabilities and organization of the companys personnel and processes.

Conducting a closing meeting to inform the company of any findings identified during the assessment and preliminary report on the gap analysis results.

A graphical presentation and a written report outlining all pertinent findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

To conduct the gap analysis, each requirement of the standard (each shall) was converted to question form. Rather than a yes or no answer, the responses were rated on the scale below.

5 - conformant to ISO 14000 4 - procedure implemented but not documented 3 - procedure documented but not implemented 2 - no procedure 1 - no answer/not known

This scoring system provides a better understanding of the existing gaps, which in turn provided for more accurate implementation planning. Answers to these questions were graphed to provide a detailed method to assess any sub-element and visually compare all sub-elements within each major element. The graphs provided an effective method of communicating the companys status in relation to the ISO 14000 standard.

Task 3: Aspect Analysis ISO 14000 requires that a facility or site establish and maintain a procedure to identify environmental aspects of activities, products and services ". . . in order to determine those which have or can have significant impacts on the environment" (ISO 14000, Section 4.3).

The aspect analysis is a general data gathering to establish the sites environmental interactions as opposed to a comprehensive audit or assessment. An environmental aspect is any element of the organizations activities, products, and services that can interact with the environment that can be controlled or influenced. The impact is the change that occurs in the environment, positive or negative, and is not based on compliance. Current as well as potential aspects and impacts were identified.

For the initial assessment, environmental aspects were identified that applied to company activities, products, and services. These aspects were then sorted into various aspect categories such as air emissions, water releases, solid and hazardous waste, ecosystem interaction, energy, and natural resources. Related impacts on the environment were then identified for each aspect.

Specifically, the aspect analysis procedure involved:

Review of the site operations to prepare a list of categories for activities, products and services. These categories included manufacturing and production, chemical storage, wastewater treatment, and product transportation, among others.

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Interviews with appropriate personnel and a site reconnaissance to identify the facilitys various operational units that interact with the environment. Migration and transport pathways and environmental receptors were noted to document how the activity, product, or services were identified as relevant.

Review of documented corporate environmental policies and related documents (performance standards, procedures, and compliance management tools) to assist in determining the facilitys environmental character.

Preparation of tables which presented the facilitys aspects and associated impacts, sorted by activity, product, or service.

From the list of aspects, the company determined which were significant. These significant aspects were then used to build objectives, targets, and the ISO 14000 program as a whole. The significance of the environmental aspects depended on a variety of considerations related to the business and its environmental issues. Strictly speaking, ISO 14000 did not require use of enumerated criteria to determine significance. It was up to the company to apply appropriate criteria and determine significance through a framework that made sense to the business, the nature of the environmental aspects and impact risks, regulatory and legal liability factors, and the interests of the community and other stakeholders.

Compliance Assessment: Because compliance with regulations and other requirements is so important to an effective environmental management system in the United States, the company conducted a regulatory compliance review at the facility to evaluate compliance with local, state, and federal environmental regulations. ISO 14000 requires that compliance monitoring be a component of Monitoring and Measurement (Checking and Corrective Action, Section 4.5: The organization shall establish and maintain a documented procedure for periodically evaluating compliance with relevant environmental legislation and regulations. Also, the standard requires a commitment to regulatory compliance (Policy, Section 4.2).