Understanding ISO 14001:2015 Clause 6.1.4 Planning Action

In this article I’m going to cover clause 6.1.4 Planning action which is the final clause under the overarching clause 6 Planning. I’m going to break this clause down and turn it into something you can all 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!

Before we get stuck into the actual clause requirements, I want to point out that this final clause is all about actually doing something with what you’ve learned throughout the rest of clause 6. This means the Standard ensures that it’s not just all warm and fuzzy stuff, but that you actually have to do something with it.

Ok, let’s get started! Clause 6.1.4 starts off by stating

The organization shall plan:

1. a) to take actions to address its:

   • 1) significant environmental aspects; 

   • 2) compliance obligations; 

   • 3) risks and opportunities identified in 6.1.1.

I don’t really have to explain too much here because the clause is already pointing you in the direction of the other clauses to refer to! They’ve made it really easy for you! Basically, what they’re saying is that there would be actions required as a result of meeting the requirements of the clauses:

• 6.1.1 General which is a part of 6.1 Actions to address risks and opportunities
• 6.1.2 Environmental aspects.
• 6.1.3 Compliance obligations
•  

1. b) how to:

   • 1) integrate and implement the actions into its environmental management system processes (see 6.2, Clause 7, Clause 8 and 9.1), or other business processes; 
   •  
   • 2) evaluate the effectiveness of these actions (see 9.1).

    

I love this! This is saying that your plan and your actions are to be a part of your environmental management system, its policies, procedures, and processes. Again, this is not something that just sits in the corner, these actions become integrated into your business, and they become ‘just how things are done around here’. This clause has even provided clause numbers that you can integrate your actions and processes into. These are:

• 6.2 Environmental objectives and planning to achieve them
• 7 Support
• 8 Operations 
• 9.1 Monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation

To evaluate the effectiveness of the actions that are integrated into your environmental management system, you could use clause 9.1 Monitoring, measurement, analysis, and evaluation, and even Clause 9.2 Internal audit to monitor and determine the effectiveness. Even if this identifies improvements or nonconformances – that’s what you actually want your system to do! Find where the gaps are and implement corrective action to always be improving.

And then finally the last sentence of this clause states:

When planning these actions, the organization shall consider its technological options and its financial, operational and business requirements.

The actions that you take should align with what resources and operations the business already has in place. Look at what you already have in the form of processes and systems and integrate your actions within these firstly.

Also, understand what the ‘normal’ practice is in your industry while also considering your access to technology and your own financial resources. These actions aren’t meant to send you broke! Your financial, technological, and operational resources will influence the level of action you can take.

Now that I’ve explained all of these requirements, can you see more clearly how you could action and demonstrate this within your management system and what it might look like for your business?

While there is no specific documented information requirement stated for this clause, the requirement of integrating and implementing the actions into other business processes indicates that as an auditor you will find these actions within the system as a whole.

If you are implementing a system, be sure to use what is already created in the system and embed the actions within the system. It may not be necessary to create something brand new!

Learn even more by completing a qualification in one of our ISO 14001 courses.