Similar to ISO 9001 documentation structures, many companies certified to ISO 14001 choose a four-level documentation model that includes records. This 4-level Environmental management system is shown below:
Manual - level 1
Procedures - level 2
Works Instructions - level 3
Records - level 4
If we start from our manual, how are we going to know what standard this manual is for? The Environmental Policy defines what standard or standards, a business wants to comply with. If you like this idea, your ISO 14001 EMS will contain five levels as in the following list:
Policy - level 1
Manual - level 2
Procedures - level 3
Instructions - level 4
EMS Records - level 5
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Naming your documents
Companies use various approaches to titling their Environmental Manuals, procedures, instructions, etc. For example, one of my customers titled their EMS documentation management procedure as “Documentation Management - Document Control Operating Procedure.” This very descriptive title does define the document, but it does not appear to be efficient.
As a rule, regulated industries are known for calling 2nd-level documents Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs. I always wonder if these companies also have “Non-standard Operating Procedures”, so these long titles differentiate them. Since a short name identifies an EMS document, I really cannot justify long names for documents. I preach Environmental Management System optimization and reduction of waste in all elements. I invite you too not to make things more difficult than they have to be to deliver the message.
Document No’s for your 14001 Management System
It is not a specific requirement of the ISO 14001 or any other standard to uniquely number a document. It is a common-sense measure and a worldwide practice in any documentation system, to give a document or a component a number and a title, and to identify its revision level. Similar to document titles that we discussed earlier, document numbering formats very often are also an opportunity for optimization.
A company had some 50 employees. They used two part number formats: one for procedures, another for drawings. Procedures used AA-nnn number format. Drawings were numbered as nnnnn-nnn. One of the drawings had a number 00027-003. Assemblers simplified the system and called it “Twenty seven.”
Is it not illegal to have long and difficult-to-read and remember document numbers, but it takes time to read, write and remember them. In the example above, the procedure number, without the tab, contained six digits. This meant that the Environmental system was prepared to handle almost one million document or part numbers. The company had approximately 160 documents and probably would never go beyond 200. If nothing else, just reading these numbers with three-four sequential zeros in the front may give one a headache. Surprisingly, this is not the worst case. The organization that won my “The Worst Part Number” Grand Prize assigned twelve (!) digits to their part numbers in the alphanumeric format.
If you are developing or optimizing your ISO 14001 Environmental management system, consider a simple rule:”the shorter - the better”. If you are constructing a hydro electric plant or building an aircraft carrier, you will need millions of parts. To number this kind of inventory, one will definitely need long numbers. If not, think optimization. Once I audited an ISO 14001 certified start-up that numbered their documents 105. 105, 106, etc. I think they deserve applauds!
After we simplified our 14001 document numbering, Let’s take a look at another opportunity for improvement - part number designation. Many companies associate a document number with the document type. For example, WI-nnnn indicates an instruction, DR-nnnn indicates a drawing, SOP-nnnn indicates a standard operating procedure, etc. My practice with a few ISO 14001 systems that used P/N designation approaches showed that “no designation” systems are more practical. Several EMS that used designation I have worked with have failed. Not long ago, one of my clients mentioned that they ran out of range in their EMS document numbering format. The system initially permitted for identifying suppliers through a two-digit identifier within the part number. While the company grew, the number of supplier increased beyond expectations and eventually the company needed more than 99 suppliers. This resulted in the document number format not to be able to support new needs.
There are good news and bad news. The bed news is that designation systems can fail. The good news is that there is another way of dealing with 14001 document numbers: no designation at all! Using such systems, you give documents or parts just sequential numbers. Going further, isn’t the part title the best identifier of the part? One company I know did not use part numbers at all - their ISO procedures and instructions were simply identified by titles and their revision levels. Why would one care if the Environmental Aspects Procedure 01 also has 000764-01 identifier?!
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