Appendix 3. Sustainability-Related Management System Standards

• Author: William R. Blackburn
• Pages: 687-702

Appendix 3

Sustainability-Related Management System

Standards

List of Codes Summarized in this Appendix 3

3.1 ISO 9001 Quality Management

System Standard

3.2 ISO 14001 Environmental

Management System Standard

3.3 ISO 26000 Social Responsibility

Guidance Standard (proposed)

3.4 OHSAS 18001

3.5 ILO Guidelines on OSH

Management Systems

3.6 ANSI Z10 OHS Management

System

3.7 EMAS

3.8 Responsible Care® Management

Standards

3.9 SIGMA Management

Framework

3.10 BS 8900 Sustainability

Management Guidelines

(proposed)

3.11 Baldridge Award Criteria

3.12 Australian Business Excellence

Framework

3.13 AS 8000-8004

Australian Governance Series

Standards (including CSR

Standard)

3.14 U.S. DOE Performance-Based

Management Handbook

3.15 IFC Social and Environmental

Management System

3.16 Austrian Model CSR

Management System Guide

ON-V 23

3.17 Mexican Standard IMNC SAST

004 Social Responsibility

System

Guideline (draft)

3.18 AFNOR Guide SD 21000

3.19 Q-RES Management Model

3.20 German Values Management

System Standard

3.21 U.K. Investors in People

Standard

3.22 SA 8000

3.23 The Natural Step Framework

3.24 Reitaku Ethics Compliance

Standard 2000

3.25 ISO 27001 and 28000 Security

Management System Standards

3.26 Compliance Program Elements

of the U.S. Sentencing

Guidelines

3.27 U.S. EPA Compliance-Focused

Environmental Management

System

3.1 ISO 9001Quality Management System Standard

(http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/iso9000-14000/index.html)

This quality management system standard, the most famous of all man-

agement system standards, was developed by a technical committee of

the International Organization of Standardization (ISO). It defines a pro-

cess for continual improvement in operational performance aimed at

meeting product requirements. The standard is organized around the fol-

687

lowing elements: (1) management responsibility; (2) resource manage-

ment; (3) product realization, including the establishment of product-re-

lated objectives, processes, communications, monitoring, validation,

and recordkeeping; and (4) measurement, analysis, and improvement.

Registration bodies around the world are empowered to authorize certain

auditing firms to evaluate facilities and issue formal certifications of con-

formance to the standard. Certification of production facilities is now a

common requirement imposed on suppliers by their large customers. Un-

fortunately, ISO 9001 does not say how much improvement must be

made or require any mechanism for holding employees accountable for

results. Also, because ISO 9001 applies only to facilities, it doesn’t ad-

dress the role of division and corporate staff or of the use of teams of peo-

ple from the facility and other business units. These omissions can some-

times hamper the ability of the standard to drive results. More than

500,000 facilities around the world hold ISO 9001 certification. China,

the country with the most certifications, has over 7%.

As of 2006, ISO was in the preparatory stages of developing an up-

dated version of its 9004 standard, a 9001-related document entitled

Quality Management Systems—Guidelines for Performance Improve-

ment. The new version, labeled Managing for Sustainability—A Quality

Management System Approach, would adapt the 9001 approach to ad-

dress sustainability.

3.2 ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard

(http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?

CSNUMBER=31807&ICS1=13&ICS2=20&ICS3=10)

This is ISO’s environmental management system (EMS) standard for

continually improving performance. The standard is organized around

(1) the environmental policy, (2) planning, (3) implementation and op-

eration, (4) checking and corrective action, and (5) management re-

view.It is similar to ISO 9001 in many ways. However, it introduces the

planning concept of an “environmental aspects analysis” under which a

determination is made about the relative importance of various as-

pects—things like air pollution equipment and waste generation that

can have either a positive or negative effect on the environment. Some

customers, including many automobile makers, require ISO 14001 cer-

tification of their suppliers. ISO 14001 has many of the same weak-

nesses of ISO 9001. Another shortcoming is that certification to the

688 THE SUSTAINABILITY HANDBOOK