ISO- Popular standards
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ISO 9000 Quality management
ISO 14000 Environmental management
ISO 3166 Country codes
ISO 26000 Social responsibility
ISO 50001 Energy management
ISO 31000 Risk management
ISO 22000 Food safety management
ISO 27001 Information security management
ISO 20121 Sustainable event
What is a standard?
A standard is a document that provides
requirements, specifications, guidelines or
characteristics that can be used consistently to
ensure that materials, products, processes and
services are fit for their purpose. There are over
19 500 International Standards that can be
purchased from the ISO store or from our
members.
What are the benefits of ISO International
Standards?
ISO International Standards ensure that products
and services are safe, reliable and of good quality.
For business, they are strategic tools that reduce
costs by minimizing waste and errors, and
increasing productivity. They help companies to
access new markets, level the playing field for
developing countries and facilitate free and fair
global trade.
Learn more about the benefits of ISO standards
ISO standards in action
We also have information about how ISO
standards work in the real world. For example, ISO
Standards in action: Water explains how ISO
standards help solve the global water challenge.
Learn more about ISO standards in action
ISO 9000 - Quality management
Make sure your products and services meet
customers' needs with this family of standards.
Learn more about ISO 9000
ISO 14000 - Environmental management
Improve your environmental performance with this
family of standards.
Learn more about ISO 14000
ISO 3166 - Country codes
Avoid confusion when referring to countries and
their subdivisions with this standard.
Learn more about ISO 3166
ISO 22000 - Food safety management
Inspire confidence in your food products with this
family of standards.
Learn more about ISO 22000
ISO 26000 - Social responsibility
Help your organization to operate in a socially
responsible way with this standard.
Learn more about ISO 26000
ISO 50001 - Energy management
Make energy savings and help make your
organization more efficient with this standard.
Learn more about ISO 50001
ISO 31000 - Risk management
Manage risks that could be negative for your
company’s performance with this standard.
Learn more about ISO 31000
ISO 4217 - Currency codes
Avoid confusion when referring to world currencies
with this standard.
Learn more about ISO 4217
ISO 639 - Language codes
Describe languages in an internationally accepted
way with this standard.
Learn more about ISO 639
ISO 20121 - Sustainable events
Manage the social, economic and environmental
impacts of your event with this standard.
Learn more about ISO 20121
ISO 27001 - Information security
Ensure your organization's information is secure
with this family of standards.
Learn more about ISO 27001
ISO 9000 - Quality management
The ISO 9000 family addresses various aspects of
quality management and contains some of ISO’s
best known standards. The standards provide
guidance and tools for companies and
organizations who want to ensure that their
products and services consistently meet
customer’s requirements, and that quality is
consistently improved.
There are many standards in the ISO 9000 family,
including:
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ISO 9001:2008 - sets out the requirements of a
quality management system
ISO 9000:2005 - covers the basic concepts and
language
ISO 9004:2009 - focuses on how to make a quality
management system more efficient and effective
ISO 19011:2011 - sets out guidance on internal and
external audits of quality management systems.
ISO 9001:2008
ISO 9001:2008 sets out the criteria for a quality
management system and is the only standard in
the family that can be certified to (although this is
not a requirement). It can be used by any
organization, large or small, regardless of its field
of activity. In fact ISO 9001:2008 is implemented
by over one million companies and organizations
in over 170 countries.
Quality Management Principles
The standard is based on a number of quality
management principles including a strong
customer focus, the motivation and implication of
top management, the process approach and
continual improvement. These principles are
explained in more detail in the pdf Quality
Management Principles. Using ISO 9001:2008
helps ensure that customers get consistent, good
quality products and services, which in turn brings
many business benefits.
Audits
Checking that the system works is a vital part of
ISO 9001:2008. An organization must perform
internal audits to check how its quality
management system is working. An organization
may decide to invite an independent certification
body to verify that it is in conformity to the
standard, but there is no requirement for this.
Alternatively, it might invite its clients to audit the
quality system for themselves. Read more about
certification to management system standards.
Preview ISO 9001:2008
You can preview the freely available sections of
ISO 9001:2008 on ISO's Online Browsing
Platform.
To purchase this standard please visit the ISO
Store.
ISO 9001 Revision
ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems is under
review and an updated version is expected by the
end of 2015. All ISO standards are reviewed every
5 years to make sure they remain as helpful and
relevant.
Learn more about the ISO 9001 revision
ISO Store
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ISO 19011:2011
Guidelines for auditing management systems
ISO 9001:2008
Quality management systems -- Requirements
ISO 9004:2009
Managing for the sustained success of an
organization -- A quality management approach
Visit the ISO Store to buy more standards
Online collection: Quality management
Make sure your products and services meet
customers' needs with this online collection.
More information
ISO 9001 - What does it mean in the supply
chain
Brochure with details of how to use ISO 9001 in
the supply chain
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Useful publications
Selection and use of the ISO 9000 family of
standards
Overview of the standards in the family and how
they form a basis for continual improvement.
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ISO 9001 for Small Businesses. What to do
Written by a group of ISO/TC 176 experts, this
handbook has been updated to take account of
ISO 9001:2008, which gives the requirements for
quality management systems.
The integrated use of management system
standards
This book provides organizations with guidance on
how to integrate requirements of multiple ISO or
non-ISO management system standards with their
organization's management system.
Support for implementing ISO 9001:2008
ISO 9001:2008 is published by ISO technical
committee (TC) ISO/TC 176, sub-committee 2.
When the standard was revised and updated in
2008 the TC prepared some guidance documents
to help organizations and companies implement
the revised version of the standard.
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Guidance on some of the frequently used words
found in the ISO 9000 family of standards Download pdf
Guidance on the concept and use of the process
approach for management systems - Download pdf
Implementation guidance for ISO 9001:2008 Download pdf
Guidance on ISO 9001:2008 - Sub-clause 1.2
Application' - Download pdf
Guidance on the documentation requirements of
ISO 9001:2008 - Download pdf
Guidance on 'Outsourced processes' - Download
pdf
More information can also be found on the website
run by ISO TC/176/SC2. Please note that this is
an external link.
Auditing ISO 9001
Support on auditing quality management systems
can be found on the website of the ISO 9001
Auditing Practices Group. This is an informal
group of quality management system experts,
auditors and practitioners from ISO/TC 176 and
the International Accreditation Forum.
ISO 14000 - Environmental management
The ISO 14000 family addresses various aspects
of environmental management. It provides
practical tools for companies and organizations
looking to identify and control their environmental
impact and constantly improve their environmental
performance. ISO 14001:2004 and ISO
14004:2004 focus on environmental management
systems. The other standards in the family focus
on specific environmental aspects such as life
cycle analysis, communication and auditing.
ISO 14001 is the world’s most recognized
framework for environmental
management systems (EMS) –
implemented from Argentina to Zimbabwe
– that helps organizations both to manage
better the impact of their activities on the
environment and to demonstrate sound
environmental management.
ISO 14001 has been adopted as a national
standard by more than half of the 160 national
members of ISO and its use is encouraged
by governments around the world. Although
certification of conformity to the standard is
not a requirement of ISO 14001, at the end of
2007, at least 154 572 certificates had been
issued in 148 countries and economies.
Other environmental management
tools developed by ISO/TC 207 include :
ISO 14004, which complements ISO 14001 by
providing additional guidance and useful
explanations.
Environmental audits are important tools
for assessing whether an EMS is properly
implemented and maintained. The auditing
standard, ISO 19011, is equally useful for
EMS and quality management system audits.
It provides guidance on principles of auditing,
managing audit programmes, the conduct of
audits and on the competence of auditors.
ISO 14031 provides guidance on
how an organization can evaluate its
environmental performance. The
standard also addresses the selection of
suitable performance indicators, so that
performance can be assessed against criteria
set by management. This information can
be used as a basis for internal and external
reporting on environmental performance.
Communication on the environmental
aspects of products and services is an
important way to use market forces to
influence environmental improvement.
Truthful and accurate information provides
the basis on which consumers can make
informed purchasing decisions.
The ISO 14020 series of standards
addresses a range of different approaches
to environmental labels and
declarations, including eco-labels (seals of
approval), self-declared environmental claims,
and quantified environmental information
about products and services.
ISO 14001 addresses not only the
environmental aspects of an organization’s
processes, but also those of its products
and services. Therefore ISO/TC 207 has
developed additional tools to assist in
addressing such aspects. Life-cycle
assessment (LCA) is a tool for identifying
and evaluating the environmental aspects
of products and services from the “cradle to
the grave” : from the extraction of resource
inputs to the eventual disposal of the product
or its waste.
The ISO 14040 standards give
guidelines on the principles and conduct of
LCA studies that provide an organization with
information on how to reduce the overall
environmental impact of its products and
services.
ISO 14064 parts 1, 2 and 3 are international
greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting
and verification standards which provide
a set of clear and verifiable requirements to
support organizations and proponents of GHG
emission reduction projects.
ISO 14065 complements ISO 14064
by specifying requirements to accredit
or recognize organizational bodies that
undertake GHG validation or verification using
ISO 14064 or other relevant standards or
specifications.
ISO 14063, on environmental
communication guidelines and examples,
helps companies to make the important linkto
external stakeholders.
P-D-C-A
PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT
Role of Committees
For Example
ISO/TC 207 address the following areas :
• Environmental management systems
• Environmental auditing
• Environmental investigations
• Environmental performance evaluation
• Environmental labelling
• Life cycle assessment
• Environmental communication
• Environmental aspects of product design
and development
• Environmental aspects in product
standards
• Terms and definitions
• Greenhouse gas management and related
activities
• Measuring the carbon footprint of product
ISO 9000 and Other Standards
Quality professionals use the term “standards” to mean
many things, such as metrics, specifications, gages,
statements, categories, segments, groupings or
behaviors.
But usually when they talk about standards, they’re
talking about quality management.
Management standards address the needs of
organizations in training, quality auditing and qualitymanagement systems. The ISO 9000 Series, for
example, is a set of international standards for quality
management and quality assurance. The standards
were developed to help companies effectively document
the elements they need to maintain an efficient quality
system. They are not specific to any one industry.
The ISO 9000 Series
ISO 9000 can help a company satisfy its customers,
meet regulatory requirements and achieve continual
improvement. But it’s a first step, many quality
professionals will tell you, the base level of a quality
system, not a complete guarantee of quality.
ISO 9000 Facts
Originally published in 1987 by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO), a specialized
international agency for standardization composed of
the national standards bodies of 90 countries.
• Underwent major revision in 2000.
• Now includes ISO 9000:2005 (definitions), ISO
9001:2008 (requirements) and ISO 9004:2009
(continuous improvement).
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The revised ISO 9000:2008 series of standards is based
on eight quality management principles that senior
management can apply for organizational improvement:
1. Customer focus
2. Leadership
3. Involvement of people
4. Process approach
5. System approach to management
6. Continual improvement
7. Factual approach to decision-making
8. Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
Resources on the ISO 9000 Series
ISO’s Frequently Asked Questions on ISO 9000
The eight quality management principles of ISO 9000
Publicizing your ISO 9001 certification
Other Standards
Standards addressing the specialized needs and
circumstances of certain industries and applications also
exist:
Environment. The ISO 14000 series of international
standards integrate environmental considerations into
operations and product standards. The standards
specify requirements for establishing an environmental
policy, determining environmental impacts of products or
services, planning environmental objectives,
implementation of programs to meet objectives,
corrective action and management review.
Aerospace. AS9100, the international quality
management standard for the aerospace industry, was
released in November 1999.
Automotive. There are three popular standards used in
the automotive industry:
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QS-9000 is a quality management system developed
by Daimler-Chrysler, Ford and General Motors for
suppliers of production parts, materials and services to
the automotive industry.
• ISO/TS 16949, developed by the International
Automotive Task Force, aligns existing American,
German, French and Italian automotive quality
standards within the global automotive industry.
ISO 14001 environmental standards are being applied
by automotive suppliers as a requirement from Ford
and General Motors.
Statistics. Statistical standards provide methods for
collecting, analyzing and interpreting data. ANSI/ASQ
Z1.4-2008 establishes sampling plans and procedures
for inspection by attributes. ANSI/ASQ Z1.9-2008
establishes sampling plans and procedures for
inspection by variables.
Telecommunications. TL 9000 defines the
telecommunications quality system requirements for the
design, development, production, delivery, installation
and maintenance of products and services in the
telecommunications industry. It uses ISO 9000 as a
foundation but goes a step further to include industryspecific requirements and metrics.
Three ways to purchase ISO 9001:2008:
Order the print version.
• Order the e-standard.
Purchase a site license for your entire organization.
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MP3 Audiocasts on the Eight Management
Principles