عوامل انتقادی برای پیاده سازی استاندارد ایزو 14001 در شرکت های صنعتی در ایالات متحده آمریکا

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an empirical study carried out on a sample of certified industrial companies that operate in the United States, with the aim of identifying some of the critical factors for successful implementation of the ISO 14001 registration process. The paper reveals that it takes most of the companies between 8 to 19 months to obtain ISO 14001 certification. In addition, the ISO 14001 elements requiring the greatest effort are: identifying environmental aspects, environmental management system (EMS) documentation, training, EMS audits, operational control, environmental management program, objectives and targets, and document control. The survey also reveals that high certification cost and lack of other available resources are the greatest obstacles for implementing the ISO 14001 standard.

Since the introduction of ISO 14000 standards in 1996, many corporations around the world are adopting ISO 14000 and requiring that their suppliers move toward adopting the same set of standards. ISO 14000 is series of voluntary international standards for implementing an effective EMS. ISO 14000 series include 20 separate standards ranging from environmental labeling to assessing the life-cycle of products [1]. ISO 14000 standards are designed to help organizations establish management processes for controlling and improving their environmental performance and reducing their impact of operations on the environment. The most important of ISO 14000 standards is the EMS specification standard, ISO 14001. ISO 14001 is the only standard of the ISO 14000 series to be used for certification [2]. The ISO 14001 standard provides a framework for establishing or improving an EMS. The ISO 14001 standard is made up of five main elements: the environmental policy, the environmental plan, implementation and operation of programs to meet objectives and targets, checking and corrective action, and management review. Globally, many countries are adopting ISO 14000 standards. By mid-2001 more than 30,300 organizations worldwide were ISO 14001 certified [3]. In the United State, the adoption of ISO 14001 certification was not attractive at the beginning. In December 1997, there were only slightly more than 70 facilities certified to the standard in the US, compared to approximately 2,300 worldwide [4]. The number of ISO 14001 certified companies started to increase by the end of 1998. More than 330 organizations were certified in the United States by early 1999. The real push for ISO 14001 certification came from the “Big Three” automakers in the US. By the end of 2002, General Motors Inc. will require its suppliers to certify the implementation of EMS in their operations, in conformance with ISO 14000 [5]. Like General Motors, Ford Motor Company announced that it will require suppliers to certify at least one manufacturing site to the ISO 14001 standard by the end of 2001 and all manufacturing sites shipping products to Ford by July 1, 2003. This paper reports the results of a survey which explored some of the implications of ISO 14001 standards for US industrial companies. The objective of this paper is to identify the important information about ISO 14001 certification for companies that are in the process of adopting the standard to make their certification processs more efficient and successful. This paper reports the time it takes companies to obtain an ISO 14001 certificate. This will allow the companies to anticipate how long it may take them to obtain the certificate. Another important feature is to point out the ISO 14001 standard’s elements which require the greatest effort and time to implement. Finally, the paper identifies the biggest obstacles encountered by firms seeking ISO 14001 certification.

The ISO 14001 implementation process was examined using a questionnaire distributed to 584 firms in the United States. The results from the survey indicate that the time to obtain the certificate ranged from 8 to 19 months. In addition, the ISO standard’s elements which required the greatest effort and time to implement were “identifying environmental aspects”, “EMS documentation”, “training”, “EMS audits”, “operational control”, “environmental management program”, “objectives and targets”, and “document control”. Firms seeking ISO 14001 certification should note these time consuming elements and allocate sufficient resources to them. Moreover, the results of the survey showed that the high cost of certification was the greatest obstacle for ISO 14001 implementation. Lack of available resources was the next greatest obstacle to implementation. The mean scores for the obstacles ranged from 3.57 to 2.53. This suggests that the ISO 14001 certification was not considered by most respondents to be very difficult to obtain. The study provides information on what a firm can expect to encounter during implementing ISO 14001 in terms of the time needed for obtaining the certificate; the most critical ISO 14001 elements (in terms of time and effort); and obstacles encountered during the ISO 14001 certification process. This information could be useful to companies that are in the process of adopting the standard where they do not have clear pictures of the critical factors for successful implementation of ISO 14001.