Leveraging ISO 14001:2015 & ISO 45001:2016 to Enhance EHS Leadership

Wilk, Lisa
(Capaccio Environmental Engineering, Inc. / Marlborough, MA)

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The release of ISO 14001:2015 environmental management systems (EMS) standard and the closely aligned ISO 45001:2016 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (HSMS) standard facilitate new opportunities for environmental health & safety (EHS) leadership to demonstrate business value. Most significantly, the combined standards identify changes to organizational approaches to EHS management, including an emphasis on the need to integrate EHS management into the organization’s overall strategic business planning. These changes provide opportunities for EHS leaders to better align with the core business, and ultimately to drive performance improvements for both the business and EHS. This presentation will review the new requirements as they relate to business integration with a focus on ways in which the new standards provide opportunities to enhance value and EHS leadership. Specific approaches and examples of integrating EHS with core business organizational strategies to create value will be examined. EHS leaders can use these new ISO changes as an opportunity to ensure that they are effectively integrated and aligned with the core business of their organizations. Understanding the overall organizational vision, and taking a bigger picture view of EH&S within the context of this larger vision provides a framework around which EHS leaders can think and plan strategically to ensure the success of their organization. The ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2016 standards can be leveraged to provide strong transformational EHS leadership to achieve meaningful outcomes. While change always presents challenges, these new revisions provide significant opportunities for EHS leaders to provide greater value to their business organization as a whole, communicate and gain broader support, and make a measurable impact on the success of their organization from both EHS and business perspectives.

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