ISO Management Systems, www.iso.

org/ims

ISO INSIDER

ISO handbook on integrated use

of management system standards
by Dick Hortensius

ISO is to develop a handbook

on the integrated use of management system standards,
whether they originate from
ISO or from another source.
ISOs Technical Management
Board (TMB) has set up a task
force on the integrated use of
management system standards
(ISO/TMB TF IUMSS). Its job
is to develop a handbook that
will help organizations to integrate multiple ISO or non-ISO
management system standards
(MSS) into their central management systems.
However, the handbook will
not constitute an ISO requirements or guidelines standard
for integrated management
systems and will not give preference to any MSS approach.

The task force had its first

meeting in Delft, The Netherlands, on 22-24 September
2004, when it discussed the
scope of work and prepared
an outline of the handbook. A
follow-up meeting was scheduled for 19-21 January 2005, in
Paris, France, with the objective of developing a first rough
draft. The task force aims to
complete a final draft for TMB
approval by the end of 2005.

The handbook will not

give preference to any MSS
approach
The handbook will take the
form of a workbook containing a mix of theory, examples,

Members of the new ISO task force developing a handbook on the

integrated use of management system standards, at the groups
inaugural meeting. Its Chair, Petra Eckl, is standing, first on right,
and secretary, Dick Hortensius, is standing, fourth from right.

22 ISO Management Systems January-February 2005

 ISO Management Systems, www.iso.org/ims

ISO INSIDER

lessons learned and questions that an organization

should ask itself in deciding
its approach to MSS integration. It will examine the following points :
how organizations operate management systems,
and how they help organizations do business and
achieve goals,
MSS requirements, and how
they relate to the purpose
of an organizations management system,
how to develop generic
approaches to integrating
multiple MSS elements and
requirements based on business processes, and management of risks and opportunities,
identifying and understanding multiple MSS requirements and their interrelationships, and mapping
these against business processes as a basis for integration, and
integrating multiple MSS
requirements with business processes.

In addition to professionals involved in establishing,

implementing, maintaining
and improving multiple MSS
standards, the handbook is
also expected to be of interest to auditors, trainers and
managers.
Membership of the task force
is set at 15 and includes representatives from Europe and
North America of the following sectors and activities :
automotive, certification and
consultancy, chemical, defence,
government, and information
and communication technologies. They include management system experts and representatives of ISO national
member institutes.
The task force is chaired by
Petra Eckl, who has responsibilities relating to the health,
safety, environmental and
regulatory management system implemented by MLPC,
of France. T he secretariat is
provided by the Netherlands Standardization Institute
(NEN).

Included will be a glossary of

terms and examples of good
practice from organizations
that have implemented ISO
9001:2000 and ISO 14001:
2004.

NEN Management Systems,

PO Box 5059, 2600 GB Delft,
The Netherlands.
Tel. + 31 15 2690 115.
Fax + 31 15 2690 207.
E-mail dick.hortensius@nen.nl
Web www.nen.nl

ISO Management Systems January-February 2005 23