Scope- Physical boundaries

So, an interesting conversation broke out specific to 4.3-c. Questions were raised regarding the literal intent/definition (in the context of ISO 14001;2015) of the following terms...

* organizational units
* "..functions.
* physical boundaries.

What say all of you?

 

I believe Annex A.4.3 adequately provided the clarification of the intent of clause 4.3. Some of the highlights include:

• organization has the freedom and flexibility to define its boundaries;
• can choose to implement throughout the entire organization or only in specific parts of the organization;
• scoping should not be used to exclude activities, products, services, facilities that have or can have significant aspects, or to evade compliance obligation.

So if an organization's plant that produces a product where the painting shop is also located, all the activities and facilities on that plant must be included in the scope. The organization cannot just limit their scope to cover only the paint shop since painting is not the product of the organization but only part of the process that produces their product.

 

Thanks @tony s !