Help/Opinions wanted please

[Rob3205]

I am after some help from people.

As a certification body we carry out assessments and certification against ISO 14001:2004.

I am interested to here peoples feedback as to what they think the benefits of this certifications is, and if they know what it is/does.

We promote several benefits, but I am interested to find out if people from outside the industry are aware of them.

So, if you would be so kind, can you let me know what you think an Environmental Management System certified against ISO 14001:2004 would do for yoru organisation ?

Many thanks

Rob

[alex redmond]

In my experience, most companies won't spend on certification unless a customer insists on it.
Like the rest of us, I guess you need to tell your prospects what the benefits are and why they're indispensable.
I don't want to discourage you as I think it's a good thing in principle but too easy to put off.

Alex

[AdamJ]

I looked at it a few years ago when I worked for a large multi-national. We decided that paying someone to certify what we were doing was ultimately of little value to us internally. In effect, we were already following such a system internally so why pay to have it confirmed. However, the strength of these things lies in the purchasing chain - its all very well knowing you are doing it internally but when it comes to convincing a 3rd party that external certificate becomes all important and to me that's where the value lies, not in making you do it yourself, but in making you prove that you are doing it to others.

Whether a company wants to do that is then up to them and how they perceive their relationship with their customers.

[garethkane]

You'd be surprised - a few years ago I found only the big dirty industries wanted ISO14001, now about once a month I come across a service industry co who wants certification.

Third party certification of all green claims will be the next big thing IMHO, as too many people are getting their claims torn to shreds in public.

It's not a service we provide tho...