The main objective of this work is to assess the benefits and difficulties of Environmental Management Systems based on ISO 14001 within industries in the State of São Paulo through a research survey. A questionnaire was sent to 194 companies on the database of INMETRO (National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality) of which 69 responded, representing a return rate of 35.36%. Two hypotheses were established for the study: one stating the potential benefits and other difficulties of environmental management based on ISO 14001. These hypotheses were partially confirmed. This paper is structured as follows: introduction, environmental management system, ISO 14001, research method, presentation and analysis of results, conclusion and references.
Environmental management; Environmental management system; ISO 14001; Certifiable systems
