ISO 14000 : a Guide to the New Environmental Management Standards

Review: ISO 14000: A Guide to the New Environmental Management Standards. By Tom Tibor and Ira Feldman Reviewed by Frederick W. Stoss SUNY Buffalo Tibor, Tom and Ira Feldman. ISO 14000: A Guide to the New Environmental Management Standards. Burr Ridge, Illinois: Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996. 237 pp. 35. 00. ISBN 0-7863-0523-1. If you have not heard about the ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards, you need to know more about them. The ISO (International Standards Organization, Geneva, Switzerland) 14000 series of environmental management standards will soon affect every aspect of business and industry environmental operations. The ISO 14000 series is comprised of several guideline standards and one compliance standard. It is modeled after the BS 7750 (Environmental Management Systems) originally published in 1992 and updated in 1994. These standards will not replace regulations, legislation and codes of practice (such as Responsible Care) to which organizations must comply. However, the ISO standards will provide a voluntary mechanism to monitor, manage, and improve performance regarding environmental requirements. These standards will serve as the driving force for relations between business and the environment as we enter the 21st Century. ISO 14000: A Guide to the New Environmental Management Standards is a comprehensive preview of the ISO 14000 series for companies wanting to know what ISO 14000 is, how it will affect them, and what they can do in response. The book explores the ISO 14000 series in detail and traces the development of the standards. It describes the standards under development including: environmental management systems, environmental auditing, environmental labeling, environmental performance evaluation, and life cycle assessment. The authors, Tibor and Feldman, discuss some of the international and domestic implications of the standards, the probable registration process, and other relevant environmental management regulations, including the European Union's Eco-Management and Audit Regulation. Tibor and Feldman are currently working on a second ISO 14000 publication, an implementation guide to be