Key specification of each of the 17 elements of ISO 14001: 2004 are discussed below

Clause 4.2 : Environmental Policy

Continual improvement Pollution prevention Compliance with legal requirements

Clause 4.3.1 : Environmental aspects (evaluate products, activities and service;Determine which have significant impacts)

Ecological effects Human health impacts need procedures Catastrophic effects Resource depletion Scale, severity and duration of impacts Probability of occurrence Cost of changing Other business effects

Clause 4.3.2 : Legal and other requirements

Identify requirements Analyze impacts Communicate to personnel Acts applicable

Clause 4.3.3 : Objective, targets and Programme

Documented objectives and targets at relevant levels within the organization … consistent with environmental policy. Establish a process for tracking and reporting progress Action plan to meet objectives an targets Include responsibilities, means and time frames. Incorporate environmental concerns Communicate, plan and track progress internally

Clause 4.4.1 : Resources, roles, responsibility and authority

Roles for ISO 14001 environmental management, and communicated internally Assessed resources needed Designated a management representative.

Clause 4.4.2 : Training awareness and competency

Identified training needs Developed a training plan Provided training at all levels Tracked an documented training

Clause 4.4.3 : Communication

Establish procedure for internal and external communication Responsibility for responding to external communication Identified target audiences Determined proper communication methods for each audience.

Clause 4.4.4 : EMS documentation

Documented the environmental policy, organization, key procedures and other EMS elements. Described where people could find documents. Explained relationship among EMS elements

Clause 4.4.5 : Document control

Procedure to control EMS documents. Established responsibilities and authorities for document.

Clause 4.4.6 : Operational control

Procedures to control key operations/ activities Trained employees for these Covered normal operations, abnormal operations and emergencies

Clause 4.4.7 : Emergency preparedness and response

Review operations for potential emergency situations Plans and procedures to manage the above Trained personnel and equipment needed for these Feedback loop to learn from these

Clause 4.5.1 : Monitoring and measurement

Key process characteristics to be measured Process to evaluate compliance Compare measured values against objectives/ targets Calibration of equipment

Clause 4.5.2 : Evaluation of Compliance

Establish, implement and maintain a procedure for periodically evaluating compliance with applicable legal requirements. Keep records of the results of the periodic evaluations.

Clause 4.5.3 : Nonconformance Corrective and Preventive action

Procedure for investigation, correcting and preventing system deficiencies Process for assigning responsibilities to track the above Set up a process to revise EMS documents for above

Clause 4.5.4 : Control of Records

Identified records to be maintained Determined their retention times Set up a good storage and retrieval system

Clause 4.5.5 : Internal auditing

Developed an audit program Determined audit frequency Selected and trained auditors and auditor independency Conducted audits Kept records of audits

Clause 4.6 : Management review

Process for periodic reviews of EMS Documented the results of such reviews Followed –up on action items to ensure closure