| 1. Typical registration process
that registrars follow: |
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A. Require the potential client
to submit an Application |
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a. Section 3.1.2.1 of ANSI –
RAB National Accreditation Program Criteria states, “The
registration body shall require an official application form
duly completed, and signed by a duly authorized representative
of the applicant, in which or attached to which: |
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a) the scope of the desired registration
is appropriately and accurately defined; |
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b) the applicant agrees to comply
with the requirements for registration and to supply any information
needed for its evaluation.” |
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B. Require the client to submit
the organization’s Level 1 Policy Manual and Level 2 Procedures
to the registrar’s lead auditor to conduct a Document
Review against the requirements of the ISO 14001 Standard to
determine if each of the elements has been properly addressed. |
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C. Conduct an On-site Readiness
Review. NOTE: Some registrars send the document review results
to the client a few weeks before the On-site Readiness Review;
other registrars deliver the Document Review, and review the
results, during, and as part of, the On-site Readiness Review.
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D. Conduct an On-site Registration
Audit. Usually, a team of qualified auditors will assess the
organization’s EMS to determine if the documented system
has been implemented and conforms to the ISO 14001 Standard.
The audit team makes one of the following recommendations to
the registrar: |
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a. Recommend registration, |
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b. Recommend registration pending
verification of corrective action, or |
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c. Recommend not to register
(on-site reassessment required) |
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E. Registration Determination.
The registrar’s certification board will make the final
registration determination based on a review of the audit information
submitted by the lead auditor. |
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F. Surveillance Audits. After
initial registration, surveillance audits will be conducted
to verify that the organization’s EMS is being maintained
to ISO 14001 Standards. The frequency is every six months or
once per year. With semi-annual audits, all of the elements
are audited within a three-year period and no audit of all of
the elements at one time is required. Organizations that choose
the annual audits will have a complete audit of all elements
conducted at the end of three years. |
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| 2. Section 3.2.6 of ANSI –
RAB National Accreditation Program Criteria states, “The
registration body shall audit an organization’s EMS in
two stages. This two-stage process shall include the following: |
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A. Stage 1 should provide a focus
for planning the audit by gaining an understanding of the EMS
in the context of possible significant environmental aspects
of the applicant and of the organization’s state of preparedness
for the audit. This stage is based on, but not limited to, document
review. In addition to the document review, the registration
body shall visit the applicant’s location in order to
better evaluate the appropriateness of the EMS in light of possible
significant environmental aspects. This step is performed to
plan and allocate resources for further document review where
required; provide an opportunity for immediate feedback of information
to the client organization; collect necessary information regarding
the process and location(s) of the organization; and agree with
the organization on the detail of the audit (Stage 2) |
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B. Stage 2 takes place at the
location of the organization and is the audit performed to evaluate
the implementation of the organization’s EMS.” |
