SO WHAT IS ISO 14000 ANYWAY?
A review of efforts to develop uniform environmental protection standards

by Ted Miller and Ed Pinero

We've all heard about the "global economy" to the point that the expression, while absolutely fact, has become almost trite. It is evident, however, that we can no longer exist in a vacuum without considering the economy of rest of the world and its effect on us, whether direct or indirect. In order to lower barriers and compare apples to apples so to speak, a trend toward international standards has been taking place. It includes standards for doing business, standards for product quality, and now standards for environmental management systems. That is where ISO l4000 comes in, and you do not have to be conducting business internationally to be affected.

Before we delve into the question, "What is ISO l4000?," let's look at the question, "What is ISO?" ISO is the International Organization for Standardization in Geneva, Switzerland. The goal of ISO is to develop standards on a world-wide basis to "even the playing field" and allow commerce to transcend national boundaries without creating trade barriers. The foundation of ISO systems standards is a total quality management (TQM) approach, where systems and processes are critical, in turn resulting in a quality product. Because such standards are process-oriented, they don't establish goals or limits. Instead they establish management system guidelines that help an organization assure compliance with customer-, industry-, or regulatory-specific limits.

Members of the business community may be familiar with ISO 9000, the recently developed international quality management standards. ISO 14000 is its equivalent for addressing world-wide environmental standards. The "l4000" is simply a number series designated by ISO to cover environmental management standards. Specifically, ISO l4000 is being developed by Technical Committee 207 (TC 207) made up of approximately 50 countries. TC 207 is divided into subcommittees, and then further divided into work groups which focus on individual issues. Additionally, many of the member countries (including the United States) have technical advisory groups (TAG) which correspond to TC 207; subTAGs, which correspond to the international subcommittees; and sub work groups, which correspond to the international work groups. The U.S. TAG consists of approximately 300 members, composed of industry representatives, technical personnel, standards organizations, and regulatory agencies.

The work groups create the individual standards documents for the following specified topics: Environmental Management Systems, Environmental Auditing, Environmental Performance Systems, Environmental Labeling, Terms and Definitions, LifeCycle Assessment and Environmental Aspects in Product Standards.

These standards documents are not technical guidelines or limits, but rather are standards for management systems. In other words, standards for how to evaluate management systems, not to set specific limits or criteria.

It is anticipated that these standards will be completed by early 1996; some parts are in the final draft stage and need only to go through the internal committee review process and subsequent balloting. Once accepted, the standards are available to any organization for use. Companies that trade overseas are directly affected and may be required to be ISO-certified, whereas companies that trade with firms that trade overseas may need to be at least ISO-compliant, if not certified.

The requirements of ISO certification will most likely consist of a rigorous audit procedure conducted by a certified ISO auditor. It is assumed the process to be followed will be that a company first learns what is required, then audits its processes and identifies any deficiencies. Next, the company will address any deficiencies and finally get an ISO-certified audit to

document compliance.

It is important to remember that ISO 14000 is a series of management systems standards, not standards with defined performance criteria. In the United States, we have historically focused on regulatory standards with very specific defined limits.

It is believed that ISO 14000 will fit more easily and rapidly into the international community than in this country. The main reason is that the European and other international communities already operate on the "voluntary standards" concept. Ironically, the European community has not fared well in the regulatory enforcement approach. Performance standards and public scrutiny and discretion are very influential; companies will incorporate "voluntary" programs to avoid any negative perception in the eyes of the public.

The United States, on the other hand, has always depended on command and control methods, as illustrated by our vast regulatory packages and the imposing presence of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Also, the U.S. ethic has, for a long time, been that of minimal effort for compliance purposes only. The concept of voluntary public disclosure of environmental performance records was relatively unheard of in this country until recently, although this is a basic theme of ISO and other similar standards.

It must be remembered that ISO will not be another "regulatory" package. It is more a standardized method to develop processes which, among other benefits, will assist with compliance. In reality, ISO 14000 should actually reduce the paperwork and hassles of regulatory compliance. For the United States, it will fit in by providing a tool to assist in complying with our existing regulatory framework. Additionally, it is even possible that ISO 14000 compliance may be accepted by agencies such as the EPA as the method of documenting processes which in turn monitor compliance.

With regard to the future, it is highly probable that ISO 14000 will develop and grow in much the same way as ISO 9000 has developed and continues to grow. When ISO 9000 was initially released, we saw several major corporations (particularly the petro-chemical industry) embrace the standard because it made the job of standardizing activities in a global marketplace easier. Other industries followed, and the ISO 9000 standard was incorporated into the regulatory requirements of the European Union. Now, many U.S. agencies are integrating ISO 9000 into their quality requirements and more and more companies are passing the requirements through to their suppliers. Based on the trend toward international standards and the emphasis the international community has placed on environmental matters, it appears that ISO 14000 will not only follow the path of ISO 9000 but that it will do so more rapidly. Fortune magazine recently reported that while only 5 percent of businesses used international standards versus corporate or national standards in 1970, fully 50 percent are expected to do so by 1995.

Technology, such as telecommunications, has made our world a great deal smaller than it used to be. International commerce is now nearly as common as interstate commerce. We cannot avoid the philosophies and expectations of foreign markets any more than they can avoid ours. If we wish to, at a minimum, maintain our market position, and hopefully continue to improve it, we need to be sensitive to foreign interests. One must also be aware of the indirect effects. Even if you do not market directly overseas, selling to another vendor who does may still require you to comply, as a pass-through requirement.

Another reason to address ISO 14000 now is the growing public awareness of environmental performance. It is no longer good enough to say you comply with all regulations. That is now considered minimum performance. The concept of public evaluation by your customers is common elsewhere in the world, and it is coming to the United States. Finally, it is also expected that ISO 14000 standards will be incorporated into U.S. standards, whether or not they pertain to international dealings.

Another very important benefit is the cost savings and increased efficiency aspects of the ISO standards. As with the TQM movement, such management systems actually improve the efficiency of processes, resulting in lower operating costs and lower frequency of expensive errors.

It is not at all unrealistic to expect that compliance with ISO 14000 will be a requirement of doing business in the future. And the benefits of such will be far-reaching, including increased operations efficiency; assistance with ensuring regulatory compliance by providing an overall system incorporating those that are applicable; and facilitating business relationships.

Ted Miller and Ed Pinero are with Miller-RETTEW, an ISO 14000 consulting and training firm located at 119 South Centerville Road in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They can be reached at 717 295-7764.

NOTE: Since this article appeared Ed Pinero has joined DEP's Office of Energy and Technology Development.