ASPECTS BANNER

Our Environmental Aspects Training for ISO 14001:2015  has been created for anyone who needs to know more about environmental aspects or wants to refresh their knowledge.

In this course you will learn how to build the environmental aspects register for your organisation from start to finish, allowing you to get stuck in and gain valuable feedback from our experienced consultants. (Even if you already have a register, you will pick up tips to improve and refresh your current register.)

Our aspects course has been built “remote first”, meaning we’ve tailored this course to be delivered virtually via Microsoft Teams. We’ve also split the course over two half-day sessions to help ease the burden on your schedule and to avoid training fatigue. Our consultants are qualified virtual trainers, and as a team, we know that attendees get more out of this format than an all-day remote training course.

To book on to the course or for more information, visit the course page below.

The user survey for the continual improvement of ISO 14001 and ISO 14004 is open. Now is your chance to give your views and experiences of the international standard for an Environmental Management System (EMS). Your feedback will identify its weaknesses, highlight its future challenges, and provide information for its improvement. 
What is ISO 14001 and ISO 14004?
ISO 14001 is an international standard which provides a framework for creating and applying an EMS. This standard specifies the requirements for achieving an effective EMS. It is entirely voluntary to implement ISO 14001 into your organisation, though there are a vast number of benefits in doing so.

ISO 14004 provides guidance on how to establish, implement, maintain, and improve an EMS. This is a guidance document, and it is not a set of requirements.
Why are they doing the survey?
The global survey gives users the chance to share their opinions and experiences of the management systems. The objective is to use the feedback given to gain an understanding of users’ needs and obtain information that support the revision of ISO 14001, ISO 14004 and other related ISO standards.
Who is the survey intended for?
The survey is seeking views from:

On average, the survey should take 20 minutes to complete, and responses can be saved to continue later. While mobile phones can be used, it is recommended to use a laptop or PC to complete the survey, due to the formatting of some questions.

The results of the survey will be published on the ISO/TC 207/SC 1 website. All responses would be confidential and individual respondents would not be identified.

The survey can be completed here: ISO 14001 Continual Improvement Survey – 2021 (qualtrics.com)

The survey will close on 13th November 2021.

 

Are you interested in learning more about ISO 14001:2015 or need guidance on meeting the requirements of the standard? Why not click the image below and book on to one of our excellent courses? Specially designed by our experienced in-house consultants, this course has been built to be delivered remotely, so it can be easily fitted into your busy schedule. The course has been split into 2 modules that will be delivered at different times to avoid online training fatigue. 

WHAT IS AN ASPECT?

‘An element of an organisation’s activities or products or services that interacts or can interact with the environment’.

So environmental aspects are all the things that you do in carrying out your activities and services that can affect the environment in some way, either positively or negatively, for example:

WHAT IS AN IMPACT?

‘change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, resulting from an organisation’s environmental aspects.’

If an impact is the effect or the result on the environment from an environmental aspect, we can therefore look at an aspect as the cause or reason of this effect.

The aspects suggested above will have a negative or positive impact on the environment, whether that is contributing to global warming and climate change when using electricity, water pollution from discharging dirty water to a local stream, or increasing biodiversity by planting a wildlife area.

WHAT ACTIVITIES SHOULD MY ASPECTS COVER?


HOW DO I SCORE MY ASPECTS?

The method you choose needs to be consistent i.e. the same way used for every aspect. There are suggestions in the Annex to the Standard to criteria that can be used including those that relate to the aspect (type, size and frequency) or the impact (scale, severity, duration, exposure) as well as organisation issues such as legal requirements or interested party concerns. You also need to ensure the criteria is written down as it is a documented information requirement within the Standard.

Using the standard scoring criteria in the aspects tool within LUS will ensure your aspects are scored appropriately as this has been developed by our experienced consultancy team and when used correctly has great feedback from external auditors.


HOW MANY ASPECTS SHOULD I HAVE?

HOW MANY SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS SHOULD I HAVE?

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I REVIEW MY ASPECTS REGISTER?

The requirements of ISO 14001:2015 when it comes to environmental aspects registers can be confusing and unclear but they don’t have to be if you break it down into steps and keep it simple. Hopefully this article has addressed some issues you may have with aspects.

The Compliance People Consultant, Hannah Williams, outlines what environmental aspects and impacts are for the purposes of ISO 14001:2015. 

If your organisation is certified, or is aiming to become certified, to ISO 14001:2015 (‘the Standard’) you will have heard the terms ‘environmental aspect’ and ‘environmental impact. But what do they mean?  

 

What is an environmental aspect?  

 

The Standard defines an environmental aspect as the following:  

 

An element of an organisation’s activities or products or services that interacts or can interact with the environment’.  

So environmental aspects are all the things that you do in carrying out you your activities and services that can affect the environment in some way, either positively or negatively, for example: 

  • using electricity used to power IT equipment; 
  • producing waste water during a manufacturing process; 
  • creating a noise nuisance from transport activities; or 
  • creating a wildlife area on site. 

All of these things will have an impact on the environment, whether that is contributing to global warming and climate change when using electricitywater pollution from discharging dirty water to a local stream, or increasing biodiversity by planting a wildlife area. 

 

Typically, all aspects sit under one of the following categories:  

  • use of raw materials and natural resources, e.g. use of metal to manufacture a product; 
  • use of energy, e.g. electricity or gas 
  • emissions to air, e.g. greenhouse gas emissions from a chimney stack;  
  • releases to water, e.g. domestic sewerage from washrooms; 
  • releases to land, e.g. an oil spill on unmade ground; 
  • energy emitted, e.g. heat or steam from a process; and 
  • generation of waste and / or by-products, e.g. mixed recycling waste. 

It is important when identifying aspects that you consider all activities within the scope of your environmental management system; keeping these categories in mind during this process can help ensure nothing is missed. 

 

What is an environmental impact?  

 

The Standard asks you to identify the environmental impacts associated with your aspectsIt defines impacts as:  

change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, resulting from an organisation’s environmental aspects.’  

If an impact is the effect or the result on the environment from an environmental aspect, we can therefore look at an aspect as the cause or reason of this effect.  

 

Examples of environmental impacts include: 

  • air pollution; 
  • land pollution; 
  • global warming and climate change; 
  • deforestation; 
  • habitat creation; and 
  • improved soil quality.  

You can see from this list that impacts can be either positive or negative and an aspect can have more than one impact. For instance, use of electricity can lead to air pollution, global warming, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. 

 

Luckily, the environmental aspects tool that comes as part of a subscription to our Legislation Update Service provides you with a handy list of potential environmental impacts for you to pick from when youre recording your aspects within the tool. 

 

For more information on what exactly an environmental aspects register is and why your organisation needs one, be sure to check out our bitesize webinar.

 

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