Experience has now been accumulated in auditing to the 2000 version of ISO 9001 and it is evident that the latest revision presents a better structure and business logic to quality systems auditors and implementing organisations. But, in these days of integration, does it relate to the requirements of the standard ISO 14001 for environmental management systems (EMS), and the quasi-standard OHSAS 18001 for health and safety management systems (HSMS)?

Compared to its 1994 predecessor, the short answer is a definite yes.

Before going further it is worth recognising the following:
" Integration of quality, environmental and safety risk management is more than just the paper aspects of management systems. It is a philosophy to combine descriptions, mechanisms, regimes and preferably the organisational structure so as to achieve one concerted management system with a view to attaining efficiency of operation.

" All management systems have various relevant interested parties depending on the type of risk being managed. For quality the customer is king, for environment we have regulators, reputation, investors, neighbours and for health and safety those primarily concerned are the employees and others affected by the organisations activities.

" Any standards that are meant to address risks to quality, environment and safety and health (QESH) should contain requirements that address the three qualitative principles of risk management. These are (a) identify the risk (b) manage the risk and (c) monitor the effectiveness of the management of the risk and aim for continual improvement.

So how does ISO 9001:2000 relate to its counterparts for environment and safety?
ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 require processes for identifying risk, always bearing in mind the interested parties. The new QMS standard does not explicitly require a quality-critical risk assessment, but there is strong implication to do so through several of its clauses and sub-clauses.

The HSE standards demand that organisations have procedures to understand the regulatory framework in which they are meant to work so too does ISO 9001:2000 with regard to the product or output of the organisation. A first step in minimising risk of a legal breach is to understand the pertinent laws.

The concept of continual improvement and the processes for setting measurable objectives and targets are fundamental to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. There are similar demands in the 2000 version of ISO 9001.

For the HSE standards, gaining assurance of the capability of employees involves appropriate deployment on tasks as well as continually ensuring appropriate competence. This is now the case with the new version of the QMS standard with respect to quality of product and customer expectations.

The 1994 version of ISO 9001 demanded a documented procedure for every aspect of life! Like its HSE counterparts, the 2000 version of ISO 9001 is not so insistent and in effect relates the need for a documented procedure to risk.

Communications with interested parties are given considerable importance in ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. The new standard is equally useful to a business in that it encourages feedback from customers with a view to not only forestalling complaints but also to facilitate improvement.

In summary ISO 9001:2000 is green and safe.