Last September was a busy month with both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 revisions being published.
Both now align to the Annex SL structure which makes integrating them together, and with other standards, much simpler.
However, with a transition deadline of 2018, it’s tempting to delay the transition, which could put your organisation at a disadvantage.
What’s New?
We’ve previously covered the changes to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, but generally they have both been modernised, with less mandatory documents, and more emphasis on risk management.
This means a general update to documents and a new risk management process, which our consultants are well experienced with. The risk management process helps your organisation to properly focus on the threats and opportunities in your business, allowing resources to be directed in the right places.
More information:
Managing Transition through Surveillance Visits
To manage the transition in the most cost effective way, organisations should look carefully at their existing certification cycle and plan the transition audit in line with planned audits.
Certification Bodies are handling the transition process in different ways, with some performing an off site review first, and other attending site for a traditional stage 1, stage 2 setup.
So it’s important to engage with your certification body and discuss how you can effectively manage this process with them. As ISO Consultants we can help you manage this process.
We would also suggest that when you have made the decision to update your management system to the 2015 revisions, future external audits should assess the new system, and not the older version. This means ensuing that certification body’s auditors are clear that their are assessing your 2015 system and checking their plan reflect this ahead of their visit. We can also advise on audit plans to ensure the audit programme is most effective for your organisation.
Other things to Consider
Aside from updating and creating new documents to support the system, organisations should also consider key requirements of the system, particularly:
Internal audits: Which will be required against the new system prior to certification.
Management review: Which also has similar requirements, should take place before certification audits to ensure the transition changes have been addressed.
Training & Awareness: As is so often key to the success of management systems, staff training and awareness activity should be considered to ensure everyone in the organisation is aware of new policies, procedures and objectives.
Assent Can Help
We have managed ISO transitions for many clients and are happy to help you. Contact us to discuss how we can help.