ISO 14001 is the international standard for an environmental management system (EMS), giving organizations a Plan-Do-Check-Act framework to manage environmental impacts and compliance.
ISO 14001 is an international standard that sets out the requirements for an environmental management system (EMS). It helps organizations of any size control their environmental aspects, meet legal requirements and continually improve their environmental performance. The current edition, ISO 14001:2015, uses the same high-level structure as ISO 45001 and ISO 9001, so they can be combined in an integrated QHSE system.
ISO 14001 follows the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. A revision of the standard has been under development, so organizations should watch for a new edition and its transition period.
A metal fabrication plant implemented ISO 14001 and found that its most significant aspects were solvent emissions, oily waste and stormwater runoff. It added drum bunding, a solvent substitution program and monthly stormwater inspections, then passed its certification audit.
No. It is voluntary, but customers and tenders often ask for it.
ISO 14001 covers environmental management and ISO 45001 covers occupational health and safety management. Their shared structure makes it easy to run them together.
Yes. A 2024 amendment added an explicit requirement to consider climate change when determining the organization's context.
Part of SafetyIQ's EHS glossary: plain-English definitions of workplace health and safety terms.
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