ISO 14001 registrar: Conducting audits for ISO14001 certification

A registrar is a person who conducts the audit in the organizations to make sure if they have successfully adopted all the practices of ISO standards. Normally, every organization who is seeking ISO standards need to invite the registrar after they have implemented their management systems and the registrar comes and conducts the audit to check all the compliances.

But it does not mean that same registrar will be auditing for all the standards. So if you are seeking different standards then different registrars will conduct the audit. For example, an ISO 9001 registrar will be responsible for conducting the audit for 9001 standard and ISO 14001 registrar will be responsible for giving the approval for 14001 standard.

And getting your organization certified for ISO 14001 has become a necessity for trading while fulfilling the responsibility towards environment. With growing global warming at an alarming rate, EPA of US established this 14001 standard to establish global standard for conserving environment. And people all over the world have begun to realize the importance of the practices of 14001 standards and therefore prefer those organizations who have received the 14001 certification. And the organization receives the certification after the auditor gives a green signal after the audit.

As per the normal procedure, the registrar is asked to come to the organization after the organization has registered for the certification in accredited companies. But not everyone can become a 14001 registrar. He must possess all the information related to the standard and should be educated to be eligible for conducting the audit. And he should be trained as to how to conduct an effective audit. The ISO 14001 registrar needs to conduct the audits of two types:

Registration audit: this audit is conducted by registrar to ensure if all the requirements of the standard have been met successfully by EMS and then provide the registration.

Surveillance audit: this audit is conducted as a follow up to see if the EMS is successful or not. The registrar aims to check if the EMS is followed and maintained properly, hence the auditing is done after every 6 months.

But the good thing about the certification is that you can select your registrar. For that you may have to look for various options available. You can ask the accreditations body about the prospective registrar and can check with the prior customers about his work and methodology. Your organization can not achieve the 14001 certification till you get the approval of registrar. So, therefore all the steps should be taken carefully, so that you follow all the specifications of EMS well. Realize your responsibility towards environment and get the 14001 certification by following EMS successfully.

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For more information about ISO 9001 registrar, please visit www.myisocertification.net