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Environmental and quality management synergy.

By Ed Bones

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 28May2009
Word count: 406
Viewed: 88 time(s)

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In this time of reduced business expenditure there is a marked reduction in the willingness of companies to embark on new ventures, such as the implementation of ISO management systems. What is in evidence is a renewed drive to embrace policies and strategies that have customer appeal. For us, new business has come from the need for organisations to be concerned with environmental issues, and ISO14001 has become a focus of attention.

From a study of both standards there is much that is common in the documented requirements, and integrated management systems have become the consequence of this commonality. It would follow that an organisation can legitimately claim to be operating an environmentally friendly (and ISO14K compliant) business without having formally adopted the 14K standard through third party assessment and registration.

The ISO9001 document allows for the organisation to take cognisance of requirements not arising from the customer, or statutory legislation, but adopted through choice by the organisation. So apart from the registration, and the public recognition(?) that is expected to follow, the ISO14K standard has little to offer an organisation with a sensibly implemented ISO9001 management system and a determination to develop it sensibly. Herein lies the real problem with the ISO standards as generally implemented and publicly recognised.

With ISO9001 having the potential to combine environmental with quality issues in its scope, the 14K standard is of little value - as a standard. But it isn't being used as a standard for management purposes, but for registration and publicity. Arguably the only real beneficiaries of ISO14001 are the registrars. But is this situation peculiar to the environmental standard? I think not.

The ISO9001 standard has as its title - Quality management systems. Followers of the prescribed rules are led to believe the outcome to be ever improving quality. Quality of what? Certainly not the product, there is no claim for that to happen. Any improvement that happens is an improvement to the system. What constitutes an actual improvement seems not to have been seriously considered by either the ISO standards authority, the registrars, or those who pay for the assessment and registration process.

The real problem lies in the nomenclature and the consequential expectation of all stakeholders. Quality management is not simply following systems, but understanding and managing work objectives and practices. ISO9001 is not about quality management, it may be quality control, even quality assurance, but it is not quality management.

Ed. Bones is a chartered quality professional, an IRCA registered Lead Auditor, and is a senior partner with Meon Consulting Group, providing expert audit and consultant services for ISO9001 & ISO14001 management systems. The company web site provides detailed information, and includes the offer of FREE Advice.

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