Iso 14001 Week 9 Final Paper

a. What are the benefits to an organisation after complying with ISO 14001 certification?

A number of benefits have been identified as a result of obtaining ISO 14001 certification. It can be illustrated as a chain of events as one benefit usually has the potential of creating an additional one. A major component of ISO 14001 mandates a company to assess its overall activities, this process has the benefit of identifying issues that would have been otherwise hard to identify and assist a company to rectify it. It also has the advantage of establishing an environmental target which results by a reduction of the pollution generated by a company. Doing so mandates a company to modify its production process to a more environmental friendly

What are examples of the regulatory pressures that may be solved by being complaint with ISO 14001? Can you cite others?
1. The fear of legal repercussions has been identified as being the main aspect as to why companies decide to implement an environmental program such as ISO 14001. By doing so, a company will decrease the amount of pollution it generates which has the potential to place it below the legal environmental limit. A company that is no longer closed or above the legal limit will likely decrease the risk of a civil or criminal litigation. By implementing such a program, a company will be in a better position to identify and correct a deficiency rapidly and benefit from the voluntary self-reporting programs established by a number of agencies such as the EPA and OSHA. These programs contain a number of incentives for the self-reporting of infractions such as a potential reduction of 25 % of civil base penalties for the OHSA and the complete elimination or a reduction by 75 % of the gravity based penalties for the EPA, as long as these deficiencies are reported within a prescribed period of time (McDaniel, 2000; Schultz,

Describe the characteristics of companies who are most likely to mandate certification to the ISO 14001 standard rather than just encourage.
The likeliness of having companies implement ISO 14001 on a mandatory basis has been explained by a number of similar characteristics. The first one being the regulatory pressure experienced by these companies. The risk of legal repercussions has convinced corporations to implement ISO 14001. By having such a program in place, a company will be in a better position to qualify for the penalty reduction program offered by a number of agencies. This program consists usually of reporting infractions before they are found in a formal inspection and could result in a substantial reduction of the prescribed penalty.
The second characteristic is the pressure imposed by the market. Consumer’s demand as to buy products from more environmentally responsible industries have forced them to implement such a standard and companies being perceived as non-environmentally responsible could suffer a decline in their sales.
The third characteristic is the strength of the complementary resources, a company that has the ability to have its resources cooperate well within one another will strengthen the company and increase its ability to integrate a standard such as ISO 14001 more