US companies gear up for ISO 14001 certification
Expecting the first international environmental management systems (EMS) standard to be in print and official by mid-summer, several U.S. companies are moving ahead with early certification plans. In fact, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics has claimed the first facility certification in the U.S. to the draft international standard (DIS) version developed and approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This certification refers to the EMS specification standard identified as ISO 14001, which provides for the basic tenets of an environmental management system. Austria, Switzerland, and Turkey adopted an early committee-draft (CD) version of 14001. The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is asking companies to prepare new environmental-management plans that conform with 14001 by the end of 1996. Some Japan observers speculate that MITI is using the 14001 process to spur Japanese companies into raising environmental performance levels. Already, 30 companies are DIS 14001 certified. The U.S. firms that have been taking a wait-and-see approach may want to reevaluate their positions, suggests Joseph Cascio, chairman of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) developing the U.S. position on the EMS standards. {open_quotes}The benefits may far outweight the risks,{close_quotes} Cascio says. {open_quotes}While it is true that there is not a product-quality driver in ISO 14001 as in ISO 9000, there are other drivers having to do with reliable management of environmental obligations, reduced risk, potential regulatory relief, and satisfying customer demand for responsible environmental behavior. ISO 14000 has to do with demonstrating intention and responsibility through conscious, organized, institutional commitment to an environmental mode of doing business.{close_quotes}
- OSTI ID:
- 486242
- Journal Information:
- InTech, Vol. 43, Issue 5; Other Information: PBD: May 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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