Raising awareness of the benefits of certification and assurance services
‘Does ISO 14001 work in Brazil?’ (Otávio José de Oliveira, José Roberto Serra, Manoel Henrique Salgado, 2010) focuses on surveys gathered from 69 companies from 194 who were sent them in São Paulo certified to ISO 14001. 93% of the companies were also certified to ISO 9001 As the reports states, ‘Almost all of the questionnaires were answered by managers directly responsible for the surveyed organizations’ environmental management systems (Management Representatives). This professional probably has the most comprehensive vision of the EMS in most companies, and considerable knowledge about the strategic, operational and financial aspects of the EMS. The questionnaire had 7 questions to characterize responding companies and 19 statements about benefits and difficulties in ISO 14001 management. There were also some open questions to complement them’.
The report’s conclusion sets out clearly the positive nature of tools such as environmental management, ISO 14001 and certification, ‘Environmental management is a real and actual alternative used by companies around the world to improve and control their activities in order to pollute the environment less. This generates savings and, consequently, greater competitiveness as a result of project and process modernization and the reduction of waste, residue emissions and the number of occurrences and fines from inspection bodies. ISO 14001 has been one of the most used instruments for developing environmental management in industries. Its adoption has increased continuously over the years in Brazil, indicating maturity in environmental awareness by business owners seeking sustainable management. As discussed in this text, scientific literature has disclosed several benefits and difficulties in relation to environmental management systems based on ISO 14001 studies conducted around the world. Knowledge of these factors is of utmost importance to organizations because it avoids already broadly known basic errors and it strengthens results by anticipating and solving potential problems’.
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UNESP – São Paulo State University, São Paulo 17033-360, Brazil