Top 5 ISO 14001 audit findings

ISO 14001 is an environmental management system designed for organizations that want to improve their environmental performance and reduce environmental pollution risks. To maintain the standard, the environmental management system must be periodically reviewed by an independent certifying body. World market leader DNV Business Assurance shares a top 5 of common audit findings in concrete and steel construction from its proprietary benchmarking tool Lumina.

In business, dealing with the environment, or environmental management, is moving up the executive agenda. ISO 14001 is a tool for giving the environment within the organization the attention it should receive. DNV is accredited as a certification body in the Netherlands by the RvA for ISO 14001, ISO 9001 (quality management system), ISO 45001 (health and safety at work) and VCA, among others. "Not only do we certify, but we also provide training in standards knowledge," says Joep Ottenheim, lead auditor and trainer at DNV. "In these, we give a practical explanation of the standard. What does it mean, what is the background and how could you set up an environmental management system? We also provide training on auditing skills. By means of internal audits, you can test yourself whether the requirements of ISO 14001 are met. This is only possible if you have knowledge of the standard and audit skills; who should I ask what questions and what is an appropriate answer?"

One of the pillars of ISO 14001 is its commitment to meeting its environmental compliance obligations. All ISO standards are based on the Plan - Do - Act - Check approach, Ottenheim continued. "The plan phase describes that you have to have visibility into your compliance obligations. So you have to meet these legal requirements. Based on that, you start setting up processes so that you can meet those regulations. And finally, a check takes place, verifying that you actually comply with the laws and regulations. Apparently, organizations in concrete and steel construction struggle with this issue. In fact, in our top 5 ISO 14001 audit findings, the number one spot is "the lack of an effective process to check for compliance with legal requirements. And at #4 is "having visibility into a possible change to this. And I get that, because keeping up with changing laws and regulations is complex. Who reads the Government Gazette? Fortunately, the option exists to outsource these tasks, and more and more use is being made of it."

ISO 14001 describes that you must have visibility into environmental aspects. "It is a kind of living document that is the beating heart of the environmental management system," Ottenheim clarifies. "After all, things are always changing within an organization, and you have to keep track of those changes. Good insight into the environmental aspects means you can make timely adjustments, where necessary, to safeguard environmental performance. Implementing ISO 14001 involves identifying environmental aspects of the products, activities and services that the organization can control and influence, but this is not a one-time exercise. With any serious change within your organization, this must be updated. If you don't do this, you will be behind the times. Yet the periodic nature is quite often overlooked, as our audit findings show." 

As soon as there is insight into the environmental aspects, interaction with the environment and legal obligations, you will have to set up your processes in such a way that you can carry them out in a controlled way, Ottenheim explains. "Where there are potential risks, you have to think about how to minimize those risks without deviating from the legal framework. You have to do that in a controlled way as well. The better thought is given to this in advance, the better the operational processes can be carried out in a controlled way. That, too, is a concern in many cases. Just like being prepared for emergencies. That means thinking about possible environmental risks and preparing, setting up and training the organization for that so you can manage an incident."

So it is imperative that employees within an organization have visibility into the intent behind ISO 14001, Ottenheim summarizes. "That they know what the standard means. Training can help with that. An ISO certification is meant to achieve something, and in this case to improve environmental performance, not to make life more difficult. That can only happen if enough employees are informed."

DNV collects data from thousands of management system audits conducted by the certifying body worldwide. This data is stored anonymously in Lumina, a database of more than 2.2 million audit findings. A free customer portal allows you to compare your organization with other organizations in the same industry. Both nationally and globally.