ISO Includes sustainability requirements
In support of the ISO London Declaration on Climate Change, ISO adopted a resolution that will result in two new text declarations will be added to a number of existing standards for management systems, and will be included in all new standards under development/revision, to address the need to assess the effect of climate change on the ability to achieve the intended results of the management system. The changes will be introduced initially as amendments to these published standards.
Changes to the standards:
4.1 Understand the organization and its context.
The organization shall determine external and internal matters relevant to the purpose of the organization and
affecting its ability to achieve the intended result(s) of its management system.
Added: The organization will determine whether climate change is a relevant issue
.4.2 Understand stakeholders' needs and expectations.The organization shall decide:• the interested parties relevant to the management system.• the relevant requirements of these stakeholders.• which of these requirements will be addressed through the management system.
Added: NOTE: Relevant stakeholders may have climate change related requirements
Expectations of certified organizations
Certified organisations shall ensure that they have assessed aspects and risks related to climate change in the development, maintenance and effectiveness of their own management system(s). Climate change, together with other issues, should be considered relevant or not, and if so, assessed within a risk assessment, within the framework of management system standards. Where an organisation operates more than one management system (such as quality management and health and safety management), it should ensure that climate change, if deemed relevant, is considered within the framework of each standard. Some aspects and risks related to climate change may be of a general nature, independent of the applicable management system scope or the industry (e.g. when related to regulatory compliance or operational adaptability; and organizational resilience), while others will be specifically indexed to the requirements of the management system standards, to specific industries (e.g., energy production, agriculture, and fisheries), and to characteristics of the organization (e.g., geographic location, nature of the supply chain, or dynamics of the workforce).
As a certification body, we will:
Ensure that the organisation has addressed internal and external issues related to climate change and considered how this may affect the development, maintenance and effectiveness of management systems, as required in points 4.1 and 4.2 of the standards. We will follow up on how the organisation has identified and determined whether climate change is relevant and how this has been addressed in the management system included in; goals, improvement work, measures and action plans. In cases where the organisation has not identified relevant topics for climate change, we will ensure that the process to arrive at this was effective and effective.
Changes to ISO standards and certificates.
The ISO standards will go through the ISO change process, but it is not expected to be necessary to issue a revised certificates.
How climate change may affect business:
Changes in temperature, water levels, and natural resources can cause organizations to change production processes, materials, development sites, and products. The changing environment can also create demand for solutions to ecological problems.
Changes may also lead to changes in laws and regulations as well as the operating permits the company has.
How does climate change affect occupational health and safety?
Climate change could put indoor and outdoor workers at greater risk for heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke and exhaustion, especially in jobs that are physically demanding. Heat-related fatigue can also affect a worker's alertness to job-related dangers, such as may increase the chance of injury or death. Climate change contributing to more extreme weather also represents a significant risk associated with outdoor work through, exposure, frostbite, traffic accidents, landslides and landslides as well as more difficult to access emergency services.