ISO 14000 environmental management systems and its relationship to ISO 9000

ISO 14000 is a series of standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that provides specifications and guidance for planning, implementing, measuring and evaluating an organization's environmental management. ISO 14001 provides the specification for establishing an environmental management system (EMS) against which a third-party registration can be granted, similar to the ISO 9001/9002 registration process. The ISO 14001 and ISO 9001/9002 standards share many similarities in their requirements and can be integrated into a single program. You, as quality professionals, need to understand the similarities and differences in the standards if you intend to be prepared for a decision by your organization to implement both standards into one integrated system.