Re: What does ISO14001 Clause 4.4.4 c) mean?
Hi Darkafar,
Looking at your process map, I have a few questions which you may help to us to understand more:
a) Is this process map demonstrating the whole processes of your company EMS? Or is there more?
The profile, yes! Not all EMS elements are detailed in this process map, some are in the sub process map. For example, the EMS Process Design process includes EMS processes such as environmental aspect identification process, applicable legal and other requirements identification process, document and process creating process, legal and other requirements compliance evaluation process.
b) What is the main input to your EMS? Customers? Interested parties?
Requirements from interested parties, namely, the big bosses, the authorities, the customers, they are shown in directives, laws, and customer-specific requirements.
c) Does all these processes documented subjected to identification of aspects, evaluation of their impacts?
Yes. However, the EMS Process Design Process, by its name, is used to design EMS processes. We haven’t identified an Environmental aspect for this process.
d) Was your aspects & impacts evaluation process being documented? If not, how do you do it?
Yes, they are. In the document, EMS Process Design procedure, we have an Environmental Aspects and Impacts Evaluation Sheet, in which we list all Environmental aspects and their impacts, and mark the significant environmental aspect.
e) Are waste, noise management resulted from the aspects & impacts evaluation? Or was it output from the processes described? How do you provide these link?
Yes, they are evaluated. We have internal audit procedure, the findings will provide information to EMS Process Design process, which, considers all other requirements, services to design waste, noise management processes.
f) Are there others pollution control apart of waste, noise management (I would presumed that these were your significant environmental aspects that you're controlling)?
That’s right. The judging criteria are laws. As we have just established EMS system, we do not expect our system perform better than laws expect, so all the process elements that may conflict with laws are identified as significant Environmental aspects.
g) What is "EMS process" described here? Is there a special EMS process map?
If you mean the EMS Process Design process, it is a sub process map. Its main function is to design EMS processes, something like
APQP.
h) How does your emergency response come about? What is the input associated with it?
The emergency response Procedure is an output of the EMS Process Design process, the inputs includes law requirements, customer requirements, boss’s directives, and the company’s real situation.
i) If your worker need to understand the EMS process, i.e., emergency preparedness, how do you described the interaction based on your input-output process approach? What are the relevant documentations required which are traceable to this processes?
The emergency response procedure mainly tells how the employees should react should an emergency happens. It consists of several processes, which, correspond to several imagined emergency situations.
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. Thanks for your detail explanation. Appreciate those.
