What is ISO 9001 and How Does it Relate to Other Standards?
ISO 9001:2015 – Quality management systems – Requirements is a recognized international standard that establishes the guidelines for a sound quality management system in any organization. On a wider scale, it is also responsible for creating the general system among standards that addresses the continual improvement of a specific concept within an organization. For ISO 9001, that concept is quality, but other ISO management system standards use the same methodology to meet other needs.
ISO 14001 – The Standard for Environmental Management Systems
One of the better known ISO management system standards other than ISO 9001 was the first one to borrow ideas from the original quality management system: ISO 14001. ISO 14001:2015 – Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use specifies the requirements for an environmental management system. This allows any organization to assure its own environmental sustainability.
ISO 55001 and Other Management Systems Standards
However, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are not the only two ISO management standards that are applicable to almost any organization. ISO 55001:2014 – Asset management – Management systems – Requirements gives the specifications for an asset management system, in which an organization can control their assets in a manner beneficial to them. Also serving a more general purpose for an immense variety of organizations is ISO 30301:2019 – Information and documentation – Management systems for records – Requirements.
While still written to be nonprescriptive, some of these ISO management standards specify a system that does not apply to any organization, instead being used for a specific industry or purpose. For example, ISO 21101:2014 – Adventure tourism – Safety management systems – Requirements establishes the specifications for a safety management system for use only in the adventure tourism industry.
The guidelines in ISO 21101:2014 are unique to the adventure tourism industry because it is based off the idea of people taking risks to achieve rewards. However, because these risks can also bring dangers to the consumer, the standard calls for adventure tourism providers to plan, communicate about, and deliver adventure tourism activities as safely as practicable.
What Unifies ISO Management System Standards?
Because of the variety of ISO management system standards and the similarities between their guidelines and recommended execution, in the 2010s ISO created a standardized way of drafting new ISO management standards called the High Level Structure (HLS).
The HLS is defined in the Annex SL, which we have discussed in past posts. This allows for a general structure that is universal among the different management system standards, with common terms and definitions. This shared structure so allows for interoperability with different standards published years apart and simplifies the process for compliant organizations. Annex SL assures quality within ISO standards.
List of ISO Management Systems Standards
In addition to the aforementioned standards, some other ISO management system standards that make use of the HLS include:
ISO 18788:2015 – Management system for private security operations – Requirements with guidance for use
ISO 22000:2018 – Food safety management systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain
ISO 22301:2019 – Security And Resilience- Business continuity management systems – Requirements
ISO 24518:2015 – Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services – Crisis management of water utilities
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 – Information technology – Security techniques – Information security management systems – Requirements
ISO 37301:2021 – Compliance management systems – Requirements with guidance for use
ISO 37001:2016 – Anti-bribery management systems – Requirements with guidance for use
ISO 45001:2018 – Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirements with guidance for use
ANAB Management Systems Certification Body Accreditation
These various management systems standards are the benchmarks for their respective programs, however, how can an organization demonstrate that they have fulfilled those requirements sufficiently? The answer is certification, although this might also make one wonder how exactly certification bodies can be trusted to adequately assess an organization’s compliance to the management system. This, at the very top of this scheme, is the service provided by accreditation.
The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) accredits management systems certification bodies to ISO/IEC 17021-1. The mark of ANAB accreditation demonstrates excellence to the certification body, which then assures organizations seeking certification that the program is reliable.
ANAB offers management systems accreditation programs for bodies issuing certification to numerous ISO management system standards, including those for ISO 9001 quality management systems, ISO 14001 environmental management systems, ISO 37001 for anti-bribery, ISO 55001 for asset management, ISO 50001 for energy management, ISO 41001 for facility management, ISO 22000 for food safety, ISO/IEC 27001 for security management, ISO/IEC 20000-1 for IT service, ISO 45001 for OHSMS, and ISO 28000 for supply chain security.
Great article Brad! We at JLB have seen the adoption of the ISO Higher Level Structure is making it far easier for companies to integrate multiple management systems into one, easy to manage, Integrated Management System. Keep up the great articles.
Agreed Sean and well said. This is a solid article and should compel ambitious companies to go down this path. We do indeed have similar philosophies here at JLB even though we are based out of Adelaide, South Australia, the message is the same. Good blog Brad, keep sharing – we support it.