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NAPA Announces 14001 Project Director

The National Academy of Public Administration, in coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected Janice Mazurek to carry forward the ISO 14001 registration practices study. The study is designed to provide an independent, objective evaluation of how the ISO 14001 registration process is working in the United States. Mazurek will assume the project responsibilities for Richard Minard, former associate director of the Academy's Center for the Economy and the Environment. Minard now is the Deputy Director for the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. Mazurek has worked closely with Minard, with former Center Director DeWitt John and with EPA to ensure a thorough project transition and timely project completion.

ISO 14001 is an international standard defining essential elements of an "environmental management system" (EMS). This standard gives participating organizations the option to use third party auditors to verify that systems are in place to better manage their environmental programs and environmental impacts. EPA and the Academy are particularly interested in understanding how auditors do their job: their qualifications, what they do during a certification audit or a surveillance audit, how they relate to their clients, and how their accrediting bodies maintain the integrity of the registration process.

The ISO 14001 project is supervised by a five-member panel of the National Academy of Public Administration. Mazurek is working closely with panel chair Richard N.L. "Pete" Andrews and U.S. EPA project sponsor Jim Horne to carry the effort forward. Mazurek currently is meeting with ISO participants across the United States. She plans to complete the ISO 14001 field research by late November and to deliver a final report, with the panel's approval, no later than April 2001. The report will include the panel's findings about the strengths and weaknesses of the registration practices and, possibly, a set of recommendations to improve the registration system.

Mazurek has evaluated voluntary environmental approaches such as Project XL and Responsible Care for U.S. and international research organizations including Resources for the Future and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Prior to that she worked on a 1994 NAPA study on how EPA sets priorities.

The National Academy of Public Administration is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization chartered by Congress to help the nation improve its system of governance.

For additional information, please contact Jan Mazurek at jvmazurek@aol.com or Jim Horne at horne.james@epa.gov.