Our Aspects methodology

You may be asked about the methodology used to determine the significance of your aspects. Below is some helpful information provided by our expert consultants regarding the methodology used in the default significance evaluation criteria.

“How does the scoring in your Aspects register work?“

The standard scoring mechanism gives you six criteria you score aspects against, each with a 1-3 option. The numbers selected for each criteria are multiplied by each other to reach a final score for each aspect.

The ISO 14001:2015 Standard does not tell you what criteria to use when determining significant (scoring) aspects. The default scoring has been developed by our team based on their years of experience and the guidance given in the Annex to the Standard. It allows for a thorough assessment of each aspect to fully determine what aspects are significant for the organisation.

We have briefly explained the six criteria further below for you:

Quantity – how much of this aspect is used/produced (in comparison to your other aspects) i.e. if general waste is produced every day would have a higher quantity score than WEEE waste that may only have a few items a year – do you have any measurement data to support this, such as waste quantities from a waste contractor?

Environmental impact – how negative is the impact of this aspect on the environment, e.g. the creation of hazardous waste will have a larger impact than a small noise emission once a month during a manufacturing process.

Compliance obligation – does any environmental legislation (or other non-statutory compliance obligations you may have) apply to this aspect? E.g. waste aspects will have waste legislation that applies.

Interested parties’ needs and expectations – who are your interested parties (should be decided on for clause 4) Are any of them interested in any of your aspects – an example would be a regulator (EA/NRW/SEPA/local authority) would be interested in the air emissions from a stack if you had an environmental permit for this emissions or neighbours may be an interested party regarding any nuisance issues you may create (noise/light/dust/litter etc.)

Current control measures – how well are you currently controlling the aspect and what control measures have you got in place? Such as for the aspect of electricity use, do you have the control measures for monitoring energy use/LEDs/using energy efficient equipment/turning off stickers etc.?

Improvement potential – can you identify any improvements regarding this aspect? E.g. if you are not monitoring quantities of waste produced, is this a feasible improvement that can be implemented? Can you recycle more? Think about actions you have in place to achieve environmental objectives.