Iso 14001:2004 Certification and Operational Performance of Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited

Abstract

As businesses become increasingly aware of the significant role that they should play for them to effectively adapt to climate change, a systemic approach achieved through a world class environmental management system (EMS) has been mooted as one way to combat the challenges of the change. This study sought to establish the effect of one such system, ISO 14001 certification, on the operational performance of Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited, specifically to determine the effect of ISO 14001 certification on operational cost of KPRL, to establish the effect of ISO 14001 certification on safety at KPRL and to determine the effect of ISO 14001 certification on operational efficiency at KPRL. The study was anchored on two theories, the resource based view and the natural resource based view with a longitudinal case study being adopted as the research design where the effect of ISO 14001 on KPRL‟s operational performance was studied for a period of 36 months pre and post certification. The findings are based on secondary data obtained from KPRL management. The study concluded that proper implementation of the requirements of ISO 14001 EMS standard leads to improvement in the operational performance of an organisation, in terms of operational cost, operational efficiency as well as safety. The study finally recommends that KPRL brands its vehicles, the company logo, bill boards, and sign posts with the words “ISO 14001 Certified Company”. This will serve to notify the public of the company‟s concern about environmental management and as such lead to better corporate image, improved stakeholders confidence as well as improved staff morale. The study also recommends that the standard (ISO 14001 certification) be made compulsory for other oil companies, especially in the oil exploration sector so as to provide an environmental management framework which will help reduce environmental incidents when crude oil production goes full blast in Turkana in the near future.