In this article, I’m going to cover the requirements of Clause 4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties. I am going to break it down and turn it into something you can understand. You’ll then be able to apply this to your own organization's system and understand what the requirements will look like for you.
No more guessing!
Clause 4.2 is called Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties. There are a few points in this clause, so I am going to break them down and explain them individually.
The first point, point a) states that
The organization shall determine the interested parties that are relevant to the environmental management system.
Before we can understand this fully, I think we need to take a step back and understand what an interested party is. I checked this in the Terms & Definitions clause of ISO 14001 (Clause 3) and it states that
An interested party is a person or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision or activity.
They give examples such as customers, communities, suppliers, regulators, investors, and employees. That makes sense then doesn’t it? We need to ask ourselves that when we make a decision, a change, or introduce a new activity or product even – who might be impacted by this?
A great tip for this is to separate who might be impacted either internally by the business or externally. This internal and external suggestion is not a mandatory requirement, but I find it helps me to think broadly.
As an example, internally this could be employees, the owners or shareholders of the business, sub-contractors, or even the board of directors. Externally this could be suppliers, communities, regulators, government bodies, customers, and even visitors to the workplace.
Identifying these interested parties is the first step and then the next point in this clause,
point b) states that
The organization shall determine the relevant needs and expectations (in other words - requirements) of these interested parties.
Now that we have identified who these internal and external interested parties are, we need to determine what they expect and need from us. I have actually seen this laid out quite nicely with an audit client I visit. This company simply uses an excel spreadsheet and on Worksheet 1 they have listed their Interested Parties and whether they are Internal or External and then finally the reason for their inclusion – which I think is a great addition as it demonstrates their thought process.
Then on Worksheet 2 they extended from this list of just interested parties and added another column documenting each interested parties needs and expectations.
For example, employees expect and require appropriate environmental training, and regulators would expect compliance with any relevant legislation applicable to what activities they conduct.
What this client has also done is extended this even one step further and has documented in their final column what their company's needs and expectations are from these interested parties.
So, it goes both ways – it is a relationship and I do think, that while this additional step isn’t a requirement in this clause, it really opens up the relationship and demonstrates that these needs and expectations go both ways.
If I recap those examples from earlier, I can explain this two-way street. Again, Employees expect and require appropriate environmental training from the organization and in turn, the organization expects compliance with these requirements.
Now, before we move on to the final point in clause 4.2, let us revisit the clause requirements for points a) and b) and see whether they now make sense with what we have learned and understood.
The organization shall determine a) the interested parties that are relevant to the environmental management system – check – we achieved this by determining who these were both internal and external to the organization. Then b) states that the organization shall determine the relevant needs and expectations of these interested parties. – check – we achieved this by documenting what each of the identified interested parties expected from an organization – so, compliance, training, and so on. Of course, I have only used a few examples here and when you go through this process within your own organization it will be so much clearer because you understand your business.
Now it’s time to move on to the final point –
Point c) states that
The organization shall determine which of these needs and expectations become its compliance obligations.
This should be a natural process from the work you have completed for points a) and b) – see the standard doesn’t make it that hard for us! Even in the example I used for the needs and expectations earlier, you would identify local laws, regulations, and environmental compliance requirements.
So, of course, this will prompt the identification of what I am going to call risk. Where needs and expectations do identify legal requirements then the next step is to determine what they are and how your organization is going to comply with them. This does feed nicely into Clause 6.1.3 Compliance Obligations.
Now, Compliance Obligations are referring to legal requirements and other requirements.
We know that legal requirements are what we have to comply with, right? It is not an option – we have to comply. This point also refers to ‘other requirements’ though – seems rather vague right?
Other requirements can still be ‘contained’ – it is essentially what your organization chooses to conform with – so this could be your own environmental management system, it could be contractual arrangements with customers, employment agreements, or even voluntary environmental programs within the community. Define what these ‘other requirements’ are based on your initial list of interested parties and their needs and expectations.
If you take a helicopter view of this now, you will see that this process in itself has identified risks and opportunities for your business. I love it when you can see it like this.
It isn’t just a pointless exercise to tick a few boxes against a standard – this process actually benefits your organization.
It helps you to identify the risks so you can put in place controls or treatment plans. It helps you to identify the opportunities out there and leverage them to be proactive in your environmental management system.
This is fantastic stuff – get excited about it!
If you are excited, why not check out our ISO 14001 qualifications and learn more today?