ISO 14001:2015 8.1: Operational planning and control

What does 8.1 require?

The organization sets up, runs, controls and maintains the processes its EMS needs, and the processes that carry out the actions it identified under 6.1 and 6.2, by setting operating criteria for those processes and controlling them in line with the criteria. Controls may be engineering controls or procedures and may follow a hierarchy. It controls changes that are planned, reviews the effects of changes that were not intended and acts to reduce any adverse effects as needed, and makes sure outsourced processes are controlled or influenced, with the system defining what kind of control or influence applies and how much. Taking a life cycle perspective, it puts controls in place as appropriate so that its environmental requirements are dealt with when products or services are designed and developed, considering every stage of their life cycle; it decides as appropriate what environmental requirements apply when it buys products and services; it tells external providers, contractors included, which of its environmental requirements are relevant to them; and it considers whether it needs to give information on potentially significant environmental impacts that arise when its products and services are transported or delivered, used, treated at end of life and finally disposed of. Documented information is kept to the extent needed to be confident that the processes were carried out as planned.