Ireland - Certification

Certification

Certification is becoming more and more important for companies working on the international market. A third party certification is not only evidence for us and for our customers that we are "on the right track", but it is also a push for continuous improvement of quality and environmental control.
There are currently two major international sets of standards sought by companies within the EU, these are the ISO standards and the EMAS standards. ISO stands for International Organisation for Standardisation, and it comprises of more than 100 national standards and organisations from around the world. EMAS stands for Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, and each member state within the EU must nominate an independent national authority to supervise the scheme. It is a regulation developed to meet the needs and expectations of governments, citizens and consumers in the EU Member States. Although it is voluntary for private industrial organisations to join, once a organisation has been certified all regulations must be abided by. EMAS was set up to encourage the private sector to improve its environmental performance.

ISO 9000 - is primarily concerned with quality management. It employs a systematic approach so that a business produces products and services conforming to customer expectations.
ISO 9001 - is an international standard used when conformance to specified requirements, is to be assured by the supplier during design, development, production, installation and servicing of a product.

ISO 14000 - is primarily concerned with environmental management. It employs a systematic approach so that a product either during production or disposal, has the least harmful impact possible on the environment through pollution or depleting natural resources. The ISO 14000 standards are voluntary instruments, reflecting input from a variety of interested parties worldwide, which are intended for use in countries at all stages of economic development, under a wide range of governmental systems.

The key factors are:

Policy: the requirements to pursue this policy via objectives, targets, and programs.

Planning: the analysis of the processes of the organisation, including the products and services used, as well as the products and services produced by the organisation.

Implementation and operation: the processes to control and improve operational activities of both products and services of the organisation.

Checking and corrective action: the monitoring, measurement, recording, analysis and planning of corrective activities that are important for customer satisfaction.

Management review: the review of the management system to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness by the management of the organisation.

Continual improvement: the strive for continual improvement is a key concept of the environmental management system and completes the circle of; plan, implement, check, review and continually improve.

EMAS - the eco-management and audit scheme, is an european community initiative, which was implemented by council regulation (EEC) No. 1836/93 0f 29th June 1993. It is similar to the ISO 14001, standard, though more targeted towards industry. It is entirely voluntary, like IS0 14001, yet for companies participating in the scheme there is a strict emphasis on the preparation of a publicly available environmental review and independent auditing. A reason behind the establishment of EMAS is the laws and regulations would not be sufficient; there would be need for a voluntary responsibility and participation from industry.

We shall fulfil the demands in the environment management standards ISO 14001 and/or the EMAS directive. The defined demands in the two systems are clarified and self-evident in the responsibilities for managers and a natural part of all employees' work. For the working environment we have applied the same type of management system. When there is an international standard for safety and health we will apply for certification.