ISO14 -- Setting the Standard in Environmental Management

To ensure that you satisfy the commitments in your environmental policy, the operations and activities that are associated with significant environmental aspects must be controlled. The company should ensure that these activities will be carried out under specific conditions.

Documented procedures should be established where the absence of procedures could lead to deviations from the environmental policy (including the commitments to compliance and pollution prevention) or from your objectives and targets. Determining which operations should be covered by documented procedures and how those operations should be controlled is a critical step in designing an effective EMS. Keep in mind that you will need operational controls in order to manage significant aspects or legal requirements, regardless of whether you established objectives and targets for each of them.

In determining the specific conditions of the operations and activities that need to be controlled, look beyond routine production or service. Activities such as equipment maintenance, management of on-site contractors, and services provided by suppliers or vendors could affect your organization's environmental performance significantly.

Step: 11 of 17