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IV.
ISO 14001 EMS CERTIFICATION PROCESS
Third-party certification is performed by a registered
external auditing organisation, normally referred to as a
Certification Body (CB). An expert third-party audits the EMS
for compliance with all elements of ISO 14001. Third-party
certification of an organisation's EMS can help to establish
credibility and inspire greater confidence in external
stakeholders (e.g., customers, the public, regulators,
governments, and other organisations) because of the
perception that third-party certifiers act independently and
audit an organisation's EMS in an unbiased manner.
This
Section details the typical ISO 14001 certification process in
line with the requirements of ISO/IEC Guide 66 (General
requirements for bodies operating assessment and
certification/registration of environmental management
systems).
The certification process is a multi-stage process as
shown in Figure 4, which is based on the requirements of ISO/IEC
Guide 66 and common practices of certification bodies in Hong
Kong, however there may be some variation in practice between
certification bodies.
Organisations planning for certification must appoint a CB ahead of time and provide usually 3 months
of implementation evidence before certification.
The cost for certification can be varied among companies with
different size and risks to the environment, and also among
CBs.
As a reference, the average manday rate for
certification is about $7,000 and the total cost for SMEs can
be ranging from $20,000 to $50,000, based on the year of 2004
estimate, depending on the scope and nature of the
organisation.
For further enquiry on the cost for certification,
please consult individual CBs as listed in
Appendix 4.
Table 7 briefs the
general steps toward ISO 14001 certification and certification
requirements.
Table
7. General steps toward ISO 14001 Certification
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Step
1:
Select
Certification Body
|
Select your Certification Body
(CB), a list of Certification Body common in Hong Kong
is provided in Appendix 4.
Some CBs will pay an initial visit to clients to
explain their certification process and to understand
the potential clients' activities on site in order to
give the client an accurate quotation for the
certification.
|
|
Step
2 :
Complete
Questionnaire and Establish Contract
|
When
applying for ISO 14001 certification, it is necessary to
complete a questionnaire to allow CB to assess the
nature, scale and complexity of your organisation.
This will determine the skill and time allocation
required to carry out a comprehensive and efficient
assessment. From this a quotation will be produced
confirming the cost of certification, ongoing
surveillance and re-assessment. Following
acceptance of the quotation, the CB will arrange
certification schedule for your organisation.
|
|
Stage
3 :
Document
Review
|
CB
will ask you to provide your organisation's EMS
document for auditor review.
The purpose of document review is to check that
the documented EMS fully reflects all necessary
requirements and is capable of delivering full
compliance with ISO 14001.
|
|
Stage
4 :
First
Stage Assessment
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The first stage assessment (FSA)
consists of a site tour and system overview to establish
that your EMS relates to your environmental aspects.
A detailed plan is provided in advance of the visit and
a full report produced on-site, together with a plan for
the certification assessment. Any nonconformity
identified at this stage will require a corrective
action plan.
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Stage
5 :
Certification
Assessment
|
The
certification assessment, which normally follows
approximately one month after the FSA, is a review of
the effectiveness of the implemented EMS against ISO
14001 Standard and your organisation's own
requirements. A full report is prepared at the end
of the audit. This is reviewed with you at a
closing meeting, and a recommendation for registration
will be made if there is no major nonconformity found.
Where necessary you will be requested to provide a
corrective action and preventive action plan or
follow-up visit before a recommendation is made.
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Stage
6 :
Award
Certification
|
If satisfactory, an independent review will be
conducted on the report. Following a satisfactory
review, CB will award certification. Certificates
are valid for three years, subject to satisfactory
surveillance visits.
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Step
7 :
Surveillance
Visit
|
Following certification, routine surveillance is
carried out on a six to twelve month basis. The
final visit in the certification cycle is termed a
renewal visit.
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Step
8 :
Renewal
Assessment
|
A recommendation is made from this review on
certificate renewal, together with any adjustment
required to the ongoing surveillance plan. The
renewal package is then reviewed independently and if
satisfactory, certification is renewed for another
three-year period.
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