The certificationaudit

Beware of the pre-assessment audit

A pre-assessment audit may be recommended by the Accredited Certification Body prior to the certification (registration) audit to identify any gaps, however, this is not a requirement of certification. From experience, areas for improvement identified by the Auditors can be unclear and they'll only tell you what is wrong but not how to fix it. This additional audit can also be costly and unfortunately may not value add.

Organisations unsure whether they are ready for certification could consider going to an experienced and independent Environmental Auditor. They'll be able to provide advice and solutions (which Accredited Certification Bodies cannot do), and usually they are significantly less expensive than an Auditor from an Accredited Certification Body.

Organisations can also gain credit for this audit as part of their internal auditing program (element 4.5.5) when undertaken by an independent Environmental Auditor but not when undertaken by the Accredited Certification Body.

The certificationaudit

The Accredited Certification Body will assess the system to both the requirements of ISO 14001 and the organisation’s environmental policy. Where successful the Accredited Certification Body will issue a certificate of registration.

Organisations not yet achieving the requirements of standard will have the opportunity to meet these requirements. Typically further review or audits will be arranged by the Certification Body.

ISO 14001 certificates are valid for three years.

The surveillance audits

Ongoing annual ISO 14001 surveillance audits may focus on specific elements of the ISO 14001 EMS. Where an organisation has multiple sites that are certified, a sample of these sites may be selected for surveillance audits. ISO 14001 certification audits occur every three years and are more comprehensive than ISO 14001 surveillance audits.

Whereby an organisation is underachieving or the organisation is very large surveillance audits can occur more frequently. When organisations are concerned over the frequency of their audits they should discuss their concerns with their Certification Body.

An alternative to certification

ISO 14001 certification is a voluntary scheme however there is increasing pressure by customers for their suppliers to be ISO 14001 certified. As an alternative to ISO 14001 certification organisations could consider developing and implementing an ISO 14001 EMS but only having it internally audited or audited externally by an independent and experienced Environmental Auditor. This may reduce the financial burden where ISO 14001 certification isn't specifically required but whereby organisations still require a robust ISO 14001 environmental management system.