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Achieve effective and efficient energy usage by using the ISO 50001 energy management system. Learn the seven key areas of the associated audit so your company can achieve certification.
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The ISO 50001 audit checklist is a document that contains a list of requirements needed to pass the audit for ISO 50001: Energy Management Systems.
Energy has always been a fundamental core of an organization's operations since it catalyzes essential business processes such as manufacturing, logistics, and management. So, for organizations, more energy usage would mean more revenue.
However, energy usage has significantly increased over the years and is still growing exponentially. And this poses two major problems: the exponential depletion rate of finite energy resources and the large chunk of contributions to global warming. And that is why the International Organization of Standardization has created ISO 50001 which serves as a standard framework for creating energy management systems.
What is an energy management system? Energy management refers to setting up a system that enables organizations to efficiently and effectively use their energy resources. This involves designing and implementing policies and procedures to achieve goals pertaining to energy resources. Similar measures also exist for landlords of private or commercial buildings and is known as the Energy Performance Certificate.
In this brief guide, we will be talking about the key requirements on how to achieve the requirements based on the ISO 50001 audit checklist as well as the significant benefits that an organization will experience upon implementing this international standard.
1. Key areas in the ISO 50001 Energy Management Standard
2. Benefits of implementing the ISO 50001 standard
3. Mobile app for better ISO 50001 audits
Based on the ISO 50001 audit checklist, there are seven key areas that need to be evaluated and improved in order to pass the energy management standard. Below are each key areas as well as some recommendations on how to be ready for the audit.
This key area refers to an organization's internal and external structure and how it relates and affects energy consumption. In the ISO 50001 audit checklist, the organization must carefully identify and evaluate the essential factors contributing greatly to energy usage.
Stakeholders should also be considered in this key area by knowing their expectations and concerns. This will be of great help in getting their support for establishing and developing an energy management system. Aside from stakeholders, updates to legal requirements and other obligations pertaining to energy consumption should also be considered.
This key area refers to the role of the top management for an organization to be ready for the audit. In the ISO 50001 audit checklist, an organization's top management is required to be directly involved in the energy management systems. This means that they have to demonstrate that they are committed: ensuring the energy management's direction, checking the details of the plans, driving continuous improvement, and properly communicating the policies to each organization member.
But being directly involved doesn't mean doing all the work. That is why the ISO 50001 emphasizes that proper delegation and establishing accountability are critical to the success of an energy management system.
This key area refers to creating a plan to address the identified issues and consumption factors while analyzing the organization's structure. The ISO 50001 audit checklist focuses not on how to address the issues. Rather, it focuses on how to plan effectively.
One of the most crucial aspects of planning is the energy review, which is collecting and analyzing the total and sectoral energy of consumption of the organization. This review is crucial since it enables the optimization of energy usage.
When planning, the ISO 50001 recommends establishing clear objectives and goals regarding energy performance, which will guide creating the energy management system. Also, this would provide clear means of measuring the success of the program as well as what improvements could be made in the long run.
This key area refers to allocating sufficient resources to implement the plan and achieve the set goals. According to the ISO 50001 audit checklist, providing sufficient support is the key to proper implementation. It enables organization members to have sufficient competencies and tools to carry out the delegated tasks and responsibilities.
Support comes in various forms, like allotting a budget and providing training for energy management. And it is important to document each of these actions as proof of evidence for the ISO audit.
This key area refers to the specific set of requirements during the implementation phase that is needed to pass the ISO certification for energy management. It involves integrating the created energy management systems into the organization's current processes.
Implementation can be the most difficult since this is where most of the disruptions happen. That is why the ISO standard has been divided into three decisive portions (operational control and planning, design, and procurement) that greatly affect the success of the implementation.
Operational control refers to setting up procedures that will control significant energy usage in the organization. Design refers to setting up improvements to facilities that are new or being renovated. Procurement refers to replacing equipment with more efficient ones as well as affecting the supply chain in order to optimize the process.
This key area refers to constantly measuring, monitoring, and assessing the organization's energy performance. Internal audits are one of the recommended methods as it enables being flexible in setting up the evaluation criteria.
According to the ISO 50001 internal audit checklist, this involves calculating the effectiveness of the energy management system (which will serve as the basis for improvements) through the energy performance indicators that were set during the planning phase. Aside from being the basis for improvements, a performance evaluation is a great way to communicate the program's success to the stakeholders.
As we've previously mentioned, the ISO 50001 audit checklist recommends constantly searching for ways to improve an organization's energy performance by using the results from the performance evaluation. This also involves setting up measures to detect any non-conformities to the energy management standards.
To constantly improve an organization's energy performance is to seek technological innovations that greatly reduce energy consumption continuously. This also applies to new studies and techniques that apply to the organization.
As previously mentioned, energy management systems greatly aid in optimizing the energy usage of an organization. This means producing more outputs even with the same energy consumption, leading to capacity expansion and increased revenue.
Also, efficient energy use reduces the environmental impact that an organization may create through its business operations. This can be a good branding opportunity for an organization that aims to be labeled as an environmentally friendly company.
With Lumiform's mobile app, you can easily carry out the energy audit according to the ISO 50001 via tablet or smartphone - online or offline. With the desktop software, you create checkpoints for your ISO 50001 audit checklist. The app then guides you step by step through the audit without forgetting important queries. This significantly reduces the risk of quality loss and documentation errors.
In addition, clean and transparent documentation helps to meet the requirements of the energy management system according to IS0 50001. Lumiform's powerful app and desktop software offers numerous advantages over paper documents:
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