R2v3, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 as One Project: Who Runs It

If your electronics recycling company wants R2v3, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 together, you need two kinds of help, and they come from two different firms. A consultant builds the system. A certification body audits it and issues the certificates. The consultant can run the project, but only a certification body can certify you. One caveat up front: SERI also recognizes RIOS as a route to R2v3's environmental, health and safety requirements, which can change how many certificates you need. It is covered near the end of this article, and worth reading before you commit to all three.

That one sentence answers most of the question. The rest of this article covers the parts people get wrong: why the three standards fit into one project, what you build once and what you build twice, whether combining them shortens the audits (less than you probably hope), and how to choose the firms.

Who can run R2v3, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 as one project?

Two roles are involved, and they are easy to blur together.

A few terms, defined once so the rest of the article reads easily:

• R2v3 is the third version of the R2 Standard, the responsible recycling standard for electronics. It is owned and run by SERI, Sustainable Electronics Recycling International. You can find the standard and SERI's other program documents at sustainableelectronics.org.
• ISO 14001 is the international standard for an environmental management system. The current edition is ISO 14001:2015.
• ISO 45001 is the international standard for an occupational health and safety management system. The current edition is ISO 45001:2018.
• A management system is the set of policies, procedures, responsibilities and records a company uses to run an area of its business in a controlled, repeatable way.
• An integrated management system is a single set of policies, procedures and records that covers more than one standard, so you are not keeping three parallel systems.
• A certification body is the independent firm that audits you against a standard and issues the certificate. Under ISO/IEC 17021-1, the requirements standard for bodies that certify management systems, a certification body may not provide consulting to a client it certifies, which is why these are two separate firms.

So when someone asks who can run all three as one project, the honest answer is a consultant who builds one integrated management system, working alongside a certification body that is approved for all three. I would not hire a firm that promises to do both jobs for the same certificate. That is a conflict of interest under ISO/IEC 17021-1, and a good certification body will not allow it.

Why do these three standards fit into one project?

Because R2v3 already asks for what ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 provide. R2v3's core requirement for an environmental, health and safety management system calls for a certified system (see the current R2v3 Standard on sustainableelectronics.org). In practice, ISO 14001 covers the environmental side, ISO 45001 covers the health and safety side, and most recyclers use the two together to meet that requirement. RIOS is the other recognized route, discussed below.

That changes how you should think about the project. ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 are not extras bolted on for marketing. They are the foundation R2 stands on. If you treat them as separate projects, you end up with three sets of documents, three internal audit schedules and three sets of meetings, all describing the same warehouse and the same people.

The schedule rule that surprises people

SERI's certification requirements tie the R2 certificate to valid environmental and safety certificates, so the R2 certificate should not be issued ahead of them, and it is at risk if they lapse. Confirm the exact wording and any grace period in SERI's current certification body requirements, available at sustainableelectronics.org, because I am not quoting a specific clause here.

In my view, this is the single most important planning fact in the whole project. The ISO certificates are on the critical path, which means any delay in them delays the R2 certificate too. When I plan these projects at Certify Consulting, I work backward from the R2 audit and make sure the ISO certificates are in hand first. If you start with R2 and treat ISO as something to sort out later, you can finish all your R2 work and then sit and wait.

This linkage also matters after you are certified. A lapsed ISO 14001 or ISO 45001 certificate is not an ISO problem alone. It becomes an R2 problem with a deadline attached.

What do you build once, and what stays separate?

ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 share the same clause structure, known as the high-level structure. It is the common outline ISO uses for its management system standards, so the clause numbers line up: context in clause 4, leadership in clause 5, planning in clause 6, support in clause 7, operation in clause 8, performance evaluation in clause 9 and improvement in clause 10.

That shared outline is what makes an integrated management system practical. You can build several things once.

The two separate registers stay separate for a good reason. An environmental aspect is something your activities do that can affect the environment, such as shredder dust, battery storage or wastewater. A hazard is something that can hurt a person, such as a forklift, a lithium battery fire or noise at the shredder. They overlap on the shop floor, but they are different questions, and an auditor will look for each one.

ISO 45001:2018 clause 5.4 requires consultation and participation of workers, including non-managerial workers, in developing and running the safety system. A manager cannot write that part alone. Your project plan needs to leave room for real conversations with the people on the floor, and for records showing those conversations happened.

What R2 adds on top

Once the ISO foundation is in place, R2 adds its own requirements. Three examples that matter to recyclers (check the current R2v3 Standard for the full set of core requirements and appendices):

• Tracking throughput, meaning following equipment and materials as they move through your facility and out the door.
• Data security, meaning protecting the information on devices you receive, such as hard drives and phones.
• Checking your downstream recyclers, meaning the companies you send material to next, and the ones after them. R2 expects you to know where your material ends up and to verify that those companies handle it properly.

These are not covered by ISO 14001 or ISO 45001, so they need their own procedures and records. A good consultant folds them into the same integrated management system so they run on the same document control, audits and management review.

What does the work look like in practice?

A consultant who is running this as one project should not hand you three separate projects. Expect one of each of the following.

1. One gap assessment against all three standards. A gap assessment compares what you already do with what the standards require and lists what is missing. Done once, it avoids asking you the same question three times.
2. One integrated management system. One manual or system map, one policy, one procedure set, one records structure.
3. One internal audit program. Your own people (or your consultant) audit the system before the certification body arrives, covering all three standards in the same cycles.
4. One management review. Top management meets, looks at environmental, safety and R2 performance together, and records decisions.

To make this concrete, here is roughly what the documents look like. These are examples of structure, not templates from any standard.

• Environmental aspects register: a table with columns such as activity (for example, battery sorting), aspect (possible leak or fire), impact (soil, water or air), a significance rating, and the control (containment, training, inspection frequency).
• Hazard and risk register: a table with columns such as task (for example, loading a shredder), hazard (moving parts, noise), who is exposed, the risk rating, and the control (guarding, hearing protection, lockout procedure).
• Legal requirements register: one list of permits and rules that apply to your site, who owns each one, and when it is next reviewed. Your existing environmental permits, fire code inspections and workplace safety records all belong here.
• Downstream file: for each downstream recycler, the audit or certificate you rely on, the date you last checked it, and what you send them.

That is why my usual first request to a new client is simple: list the permits, safety programs and downstream files you already have. Most recyclers already own more of this system than they think. The work is organizing it and filling gaps, not starting from nothing.

If you want help with either ISO standard on its own, see our pages on ISO 14001 consulting and ISO 45001 consulting.

Does running one project shorten the audits?

Less than people hope. As I read SERI's audit requirements, a certification body may schedule the R2 audit alongside other audits, but SERI's audit time tables for R2 still apply. Verify this in SERI's current audit time requirements at sustainableelectronics.org. Combining ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 with R2 should not be expected to discount the R2 audit itself.

I raise this early because some firms sell an integrated project on the promise of far fewer audit days. Ask for the number in writing, and ask which audit it applies to. If a firm quotes a reduced R2 audit because you are bundling ISO, compare that with SERI's published audit time requirements before you sign.

The one small exception: test and repair

If you test and repair equipment, R2 also requires a quality management system. A quality management system controls the quality of that work, and it is usually certified to ISO 9001. You would add it to the same project as a fourth certificate.

SERI's audit time requirements may allow some adjustment for test and repair when the quality system is audited at the same time, and it does not come from ISO 14001 or ISO 45001. Ask your certification body to show you the specific provision and facility-size thresholds in SERI's current audit time document before you count on any saving.

Where the savings really are

In my view, the real savings are on your side of the table.

• You maintain one system instead of three.
• You run one internal audit program and one management review.
• You keep one set of documents.
• One certification body can schedule the audits together, so you do not have three separate visits interrupting the floor.

The savings are in management time and floor disruption. Audit fees may or may not be lower, so ask.

How do you choose the certification body?

Pick one that is authorized by SERI for R2 and also accredited for ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. Accredited means an accreditation body, the organization that checks the checkers, has confirmed the certification body is competent to audit that standard. Both approvals matter. A certification body with one but not the other forces you back into two audit firms.

SERI keeps a list of authorized certification bodies on sustainableelectronics.org. Check the current list directly, because it changes. Do not rely on a consultant's memory or an old article, including this one.

Before you sign with a certification body, ask for these in writing:

• A combined audit schedule showing which standards are audited on which days.
• A fee quote for the full set of audits, not just the first one.
• Confirmation of how they handle the order of certificates, so the ISO certificates are issued before the R2 certificate.

How do you choose the consultant?

Ask your consultant a direct question: do you only build the system, or do you also coordinate the audits with the certification body? Both models are legitimate. Coordination means someone is managing the calendar, the document requests and the corrective actions, which matters when you are juggling a floor full of production. Just make sure you know which one you are buying.

Also ask whether the consultant will do one gap assessment and one internal audit program across all three standards. If the proposal lists three separate scopes with three separate prices, you are buying three projects, not one.

Is there a simpler path than three certificates?

Possibly. RIOS is a single certification that SERI recognizes as meeting R2v3's environmental, health and safety, and quality requirements on its own. Confirm the current equivalence in SERI's documents at sustainableelectronics.org. That means ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 are one way to meet the requirement, not the only way. RIOS stands for Recycling Industry Operating Standard. If none of your customers ask for ISO by name, RIOS can be the simpler path.

If they do, the ISO route answers their vendor questionnaires directly. A customer who asks "are you certified to ISO 14001?" wants to see that certificate, and a RIOS certificate does not give them that.

So the question I would sit with before you commit: which of your customers name ISO 14001 or ISO 45001 in their vendor requirements? That answer usually decides whether you need all three.

How do you start this week?

Start with what you already have. Gather your environmental and operating permits, your written safety programs (lockout, forklift, battery handling, emergency response), and your files on the companies you send material to. Bring them to a first conversation with a consultant. A consultant can then map what you have against R2v3, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 before you spend anything on audits.

The order of work matters more than the speed of it: one gap assessment, one integrated management system, ISO certificates first, R2 certificate after.

Last updated: 2026-11-10

Frequently Asked Questions

Can one consultant run R2v3, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 together?

Yes. A consultant can build one integrated management system covering all three and run one gap assessment and one internal audit program. The consultant cannot certify you. Only a certification body, the independent auditing firm, can audit the system and issue the certificates.

Do I need ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 for R2v3?

R2v3 Core Requirement 3 requires a certified environmental, health and safety management system. Most recyclers meet it with ISO 14001 for the environment and ISO 45001 for health and safety. SERI also recognizes RIOS as a single certification that meets R2v3's environmental, health and safety, and quality requirements.

Does combining the audits reduce R2 audit time?

Not for the R2 audit itself. SERI allows a certification body to combine the management system part of the R2 audit with other audits, but the R2 audit times in its tables must not be reduced. The one exception is test and repair with 1 to 25 employees, where audit time drops from a day to half a day if the quality system is audited at the same time.

Which certificate has to come first?

The ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certificates. SERI says an R2 certificate is never issued ahead of the environmental and safety certificates, and if those certificates stay invalid for six months, the R2 certificate is withdrawn.

What should I ask a certification body before hiring them?

Confirm they are authorized by SERI for R2 and accredited for ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. Check SERI's current list, since it changes. Ask for a combined audit schedule and the full set of fees in writing.