ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are Changing! Are you Prepared?
Each ISO standard is reviewed every five years to determine if an update is required for it to remain relevant for the marketplace. This fall, ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems) are being updated. If you are certified to either standard, you will need to get up to speed on the revisions in order to maintain your certification.
According to ISO.org, the new ISO 9001 “is very strongly based on three basic core concepts: that process approach which was very successful in the 2008 version of the standard… superimposed on that system of processes is the plan-do-check act methodology, and a third core concept which is new in the 2015 version is risk based thinking, aiming at preventing undesirable outcomes.”
In a recent blog post, IES Improvement Specialist Charlie Parrish said that an increased emphasis on risk assessment is one major revision to the 14001 standard, as well. Other revisions to the standard require organizations to identify aspects associated with products from a lifecycle perspective, and implementing environmental controls associated with design, use, end of life and disposal.
Organizations that are certified to either standard will be granted a three-year transition period after the new standards are published to migrate their systems. Getting up-to-date on the new standards will take time, effort and thought, so do not delay—get in touch with IES today. We can help make your transition a seamless one.
