We’ve commented previously on planned updates to the quality management standard and whilst there’s nothing significant to report, any information on incremental development is welcome. The latest news on the draft standard includes a reminder that the project timeline remains the same with the expectation being that the draft international standard (DIS) will be issued within the next few months.
There seems to have been progress made on completed resolution of comments on Clause 10 with Clause 8.5 having been started so what progress that indicates is open to interpretation.
Interestingly proposed changes to ‘harmonized structure’ text, which is relevant to all management systems, have all been identified although not approved as yet. Justification and changes to the framework structure is one to watch and we’ll be interested as to how those changes manifests themselves.
ISO 14001 Updates
Also, in development at this time is a revised ISO14001.Cited as being at the enquiry stage with ISO members there’s no DIS available at this time but its likely content have been widely speculated on. Here are some changes that may be included:
- A new focus on climate change and biodiversity as environmental conditions with EMS planning considering not just pollution levels but ecosystem health too.
- A more precise expectation to ‘meet compliance obligations’
- Enhanced life cycle perspective integration into EMS decision making including raw material to final disposal.
- Environmental information made available to interested parties – boosting transparency its not just about documented information.
- Risk based planning will require companies to expand consideration of how risk and opportunity may directly link to external environmental changes and internal decision making.
A reminder that all of these changes and updates are still in draft but its at least good to know what might be coming around the corner.
