ISO 14001 Compliance - Do I need an Accredited Registrar?

[Icy Mountain]

My company is nearly ISO14001 compliant (i.e. we do the work but are lacking the required procedures and records). Someone intelligent is trying to save me a fortune by suggesting that accredited third-party registration is not a requirement. I have quoted the accredited folks and they want to spend several thousands of my dollars every year to overdo a 14001 compliance audit.

Here's my plan:
Put a Continual Improvement in my system to become ISO 14001 compliant.
Write my manuals/procedures.
Train and implement.
Have my IRCA certified internal audit contractor/supplier add ISO14001 to our audit list with a one day per year audit.
Have my contract auditor issue my company a certificate from his company stating that we are ISO14001 compliant.
Pay 1/3 of what an accredited certification body quoted.

Lacking any customer requirement for compliance to ISO 14001, certified by an accredited third party, is there any reason not to do this? We could always add this to our DNV audits should a customer requirement arise (and said customer is willing to pay for the extra accreditation).

Does anyone know of any customers that require an ISO14001 certificate from an accredited (e.g. by ANAB, RvA, RAB, etc.) third-party?

 

[AndyN]

Re: ISO 14001, Do I need an accredited registrar?

Yes, several major customers require accredited ISO 14001 certification. The accreditation aspect is that they want confidence that the CB has the correct system in place to ensure a believable outcome.

They may question the competency of your contracted internal auditor, for example. Just how did you ensure (since IRCA isn't necessarily a 'catch-all') that they are competent!

 

[Marc]

<snip> Lacking any customer requirement for compliance to ISO 14001 <snip>

Nope - Not if you have no customer requirements for *certification/registration* and no customer requirements for compliance. If none of yours does, it's a cost issue to your company.

But as Andy says, some companies do require ISO 14001 certification, so as many companies have done with ISO 9001 you might want an accredited CB to certify your company if only from a sales potential perspective.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

Does anyone know of any customers that require an ISO14001 certificate from an accredited (e.g. by ANAB, RvA, RAB, etc.) third-party?

The Chrysler Group requires certification, but it does not specifically mention accredited one. Have a look at their CSR document, section 5.2, which reads

5.2 Third-Party Registration
Production and service part organizations to Chrysler shall be third-party registered to ISO 14001:2004.
Organizations shall submit proof of registration by sending a digital copy (PDF file) of their current registration certificate to Chrysler at [email protected]. Submission instructions are available from the Chrysler ISO 14001 website, accessible through the Chrysler Global Supplier Portal.

I suspect that if you submit a non-accredited or pseudo-accredited certificate, you will be asked some questions about the "pedigree" of the certificate.

 

[Marc]

I think Ford requires it. I know Ford used to because I did some implementations some years back in companies where Ford was a customer and required ISO 14001 registration by a CB.

 

[kgott]

Does anyone know of any customers that require an ISO14001 certificate from an accredited (e.g. by ANAB, RvA, RAB, etc.) third-party?

My expereince in a mining and offshore project realted employment sectors has been that the big customers did in the early days require certification to ISO 9001 and or ISO 14001 but these days I have noticed that they now send questionaires about the tenderers quality, safety and environmental management systems. They do also enquire about certification but they dont insist on it.

I often wodner if this is because their experience has taught them to be somewhat cynicaly about certification or is it about the client making their own assessment about where the supplier is at with these things.

In my last position I used to deal with the question you ask by saying in our bid documents something like "our xyz mangement system is consistent with the requirements of the xyz standard.' then offer futher information by saying something like 'we have established processes for this and that which are consistent with the xyz standard.

I would further add something like ' certification to xyz standard is not sought at this stage however should the client whish to audit our xyz system any such audit will be welcomed.'

hope this helps

 

[Helmut Jilling]

My company is nearly ISO14001 compliant (i.e. we do the work but are lacking the required procedures and records). Someone intelligent is trying to save me a fortune by suggesting that accredited third-party registration is not a requirement. I have quoted the accredited folks and they want to spend several thousands of my dollars every year to overdo a 14001 compliance audit.

Here's my plan:
Put a Continual Improvement in my system to become ISO 14001 compliant.
Write my manuals/procedures.
Train and implement.
Have my IRCA certified internal audit contractor/supplier add ISO14001 to our audit list with a one day per year audit.
Have my contract auditor issue my company a certificate from his company stating that we are ISO14001 compliant.
Pay 1/3 of what an accredited certification body quoted.

Lacking any customer requirement for compliance to ISO 14001, certified by an accredited third party, is there any reason not to do this? We could always add this to our DNV audits should a customer requirement arise (and said customer is willing to pay for the extra accreditation).

Does anyone know of any customers that require an ISO14001 certificate from an accredited (e.g. by ANAB, RvA, RAB, etc.) third-party?

ICY, your conversation focuses on reducing costs. You can do that with a one day audit, but not much meaningful.

When I audit a 14001 client, I focus on improvements that improve the environment and reduce costs. That takes more than one day.

 

[Randy]

I believe not only Chrysler, but Ford and GM as well. I'm sure the other manufacturers are in the mix as well.

 

[Dr. L. Ramakrishnan]

Philips Electronics too requires its major suppliers to be ISO-14001 certified

 

[somashekar]

Philips Electronics too requires its major suppliers to be ISO-14001 certified

I know of Philips and apart from this, they also drive the customers to look at sustainability per guidelines laid down by Philips and audited by third party (recognized names)
Customers who require suppliers to align with ISO14k know about 14k and aspects about Accredited Registrars.
If the 14k is purely a management love and decision then a certification is really not necessary. If it is attached to a customers requirement for continued business association, it better be from an Accredited Registrar ....