Author Description

As the global marketplace imposes increasing demands on companies to minimize the environmental impact of their products, it is becoming of utmost importance that organizations integrate a sound environmental management system (EMS) into their overall business structure. Crucial to this initiative is ISO 14000, regarded as the most far-reaching series of quality management standards released to date. In the ISO 14000 Answer Book, three experts in the field explain and clarify the numerous intricacies and unique requirements of ISO 14000 by providing quick and reliable answers to commonly asked questions. Intended to organize and restructure a company's environmental systems to foster continuous improvement, ISO 14000 offers various benefits --reduced regulatory oversight, increased management efficiencies, easing of command and control requirements --to organizations that comply with its guidelines. Though compliance and subsequent certification are not mandatory, lack of certification can mean the potential loss of market share --both here and abroad --to corporations that have embraced the new management standards. Written and structured to help you understand the implications of ISO 14000 international environmental management standards on your business, this concise and user-friendly reference addresses 250 crucial questions about ISO 14000 and ISO 14001, a specific standard in the series. With clear, concise explanations, you'll find details on: * Planning your environmental management system --drawing up an implementation plan, determining your company's "environmental aspects," identifying legal requirements * Implementing an EMS under ISO 14001 --early considerations, the role of top manage-ment, developing an environmental policy, evaluating your EMS * EMS audits --objectives, audit policy and audit privilege, auditing and the ISO 14001 certification process * Standards for evaluating environmental performance --selecting i