Global concerns regarding the state of our environment have been loud and clear. Pollution of our air due to emissions of toxic substances from motor vehicles, pollution of our water supplies from effluent wastes from industrial plants, pollution of our land from similar sources and depletion of the ozone layer of our stratosphere are some of the many issues that confront our various governments. Separate laws and legislation have been drafted to address the many problems of the environment.
At the international level, the International Organisation for, Standardisation (ISO) is setting in place the environmental management systems standards to assist industries to adopt environmentally friendly policies and practices. These are the ISO 14000 series of standards on environmental management systems.
At the Second Global Quality Congress held in August this year, the President of the ISO, Mr. Eberhard Mollmann, announced that ISO is finalising this set of environmental management systems, ISO 14000, which will be launched next June.
This is one area where ASEAN member states could consider working on towards a programme of harmonisation. If individual ASEAN member, states could align, their standards on environmental management systems to the ISO 14000 series, an ASEAN framework could be established based on the adoption of ISO 14000 either in its entirety or a modified form.
In Singapore, a National Committee will be formed to help local industry prepare for the new international standards. The committee will draw up a scheme to accredit companies seeking ISO 14000 certification and start training programme on environmental management systems.
In July this year, SISIR announced that it would soon be certifying companies ,which conform to international environmental quality management systems, namely ISO 14000 standards.
What is ISO 14000?
Like ISO 9000, the ISO 14000 is a set of quality management tools designed t. minimise the impact of companies' activities on the environment. ISO 14000 like its BS 7750 equivalent are meant to promote continuous improvement of environmental performance by the industry. It does this by committing a company to adopt environmental policies and procedures to evaluate their environmental performance.
To conform to ISO 14000, a company must have records on the following :
(i) the environmental laws it must follow,
(ii) the impact of its operations on the environment, and
(ii) its environmentally-friendly work processes and procedures.
Two of the six groups of published ISO 14000 standards will be introduced in Singapore next year. They are :
(i) Environmental Management System, Standard - a management system to minimise the effects of a company's operations on the environment.
(ii) Environmental Audit Standards - guides auditors on how to conduct checks on a company's environmental programme.
The ISO 14000 environmental management systems provide a framework for companies to enhance their environmental performance and do their pat towards the goal of a cleaner greener global environment.
by Lena Soh and Lena Kua, SISIR, Singapore
