ABSTRACT
ISO 14001 was designed to be an auditable standard and, within this book, references have been made to ‘certification bodies’ and ‘third-party’ auditors who will undertake this auditing process. Having committed themselves to obtaining ISO 14001 certification, organizations naturally enough focus on gathering environmental information, allocating resources and employing environmental consultants (if required). Budgets will have been prepared, and personnel coached in how to answer the auditor's questions. A tremendous amount of preparation will have been done to enable certification to be obtained within the planned time-scale. However, it could be that no face-to-face contact has been made with the representatives of the certification body (that is, the auditors) until implementation is well in progress and the deadline for the stage 1 audit is fast approaching.
