Latest version of quality management standard to be released

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) is set to release the latest version of the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Standard, amid speculation it has been aligned with ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Standard.

The move by ISO reflects the demand from business to have their environmental performance and their quality performance measured and integrated with their day-to-day business operations.

Today, more than 20,000 Australian organisations are assessed against the quality benchmark each year and almost 1,000,000 world-wide, highlighting the value in this globally attractive ‘transaction passport’.

According to one of Australia’s leading independent business auditors, NCS International (NCSI), organisations currently certified to ISO 9001:2000 will be required to upgrade to the 2008 version of the standard by late 2010. Businesses undergoing routine surveillance or reassessment audits may also wish to upgrade to ISO 9001: 2008 before the 2010 deadline.

”While the new edition of the Standard builds on the previous version of the publication, aligning it with ISO14001:2004 will provide it with more resilience and capability in today’s greening economy. This provides a great opportunity for organisations to continue to improve their processes, deliver better outcomes for their customers and strategically integrate broad business management requirements,” said Robert Schonberger, general manager, business services, NCS International.