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W h e n R e s u l t s C o u n t . I S O S t a n d a r d s .IMSISO Management Systems

ISSN 1680-8096

Vol. 8, No. 2 March-April 2008

Oil

ISO 9001 and corporate governance

China and ISO 14001 Eco-efficiency

& GasISO/TS 29001

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Asian Development Bank

and ISO 14001

Korean standards for services

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ISO Management Systems March-April 2008 1

EDITORIALby Roger Frost

I

This is strictly off the record

ts a paradox that, considering the amount of paper journalists generate, most journalists, me included, dislike paperwork,

which is equated with bureaucracy. It probably has something to do with the ethos of the press where there is a strong professional conscience to do all that it takes, no matter what the problems, to get the newspaper out on the streets in time, but anything considered extraneous to this objective would get thrown out through the window. Well, dont tell any of my confreres, but Ive changed my mind.

To explain why, I need to start with the Special Report in this issue on the new version of ISO/TS 29001, the quality management specification for the oil and gas sector. It reminded me of a particularly interesting point made by the same authors in their article which we published in 2004 on the first version of the document.

TS 29001 adds sector-specific requirements to the generic requirements of ISO 9001:2000. The authors pointed out that these included addi-tional requirements for documentation. This was rather surprising since ISO 9001:2000 had actually reduced the number of documented procedures required. One of the criticisms made of ISO 9001 in the past had been the amount of paperwork it generated and some accused it of being no more than a generator of paper-work.

The year 2000 edition addressed this criticism by emphasizing that the paperwork should reflect the needs of the organization, no more and no less, with an ISO 9001 quality management system being a documented system, and not a system of documentation. So why did TS 29001 seem to be going in the opposite direction of more paperwork ?

The explanation given by the authors, Ken Peurifoy and Lanny Gookin, was an interesting one : Documenting the best way to perform a process, as well as documenting the required acceptance criteria for the process, will be key to many industries, particularly with the upcoming changes to the age demographics of the work force in the industry. Within the next few years, many workers in the oil and gas industry will be reaching retirement age and younger workers will need to rely on documented methods to perform processes and convey lessons learned.

The changing average age and loss of experienced workers in the oil and gas industry has prompted many organizations in the sector to actively pursue knowledge management (KM) technolo-gies and ensure that valuable experience is documented and retained for future employees. Documented control features help ensure that KM is preserved for those organizations that utilize ISO/TS 29001 as the basis for their quality management system.

The link between an appropriately documented quality manage-ment system and knowledge management was brought home to me last year. Through a combination of retirement, illness, preg-nancy and someone leaving for a new job, I suddenly found myself in charge of a team short-handed by 40 %. What was left of the team went into survival mode

We concentrated our efforts and resources on getting out the products and services our internal and external customers need. Paperwork quality records, filing and QM maintenance got thrown out of the window. While understandable, this can

only go on for so long. There comes a point where the inability to quickly locate, for example, an order to a supplier, makes you lose more time than properly filing it would have done, or a cardinal sin for a standardization organization in reinventing the wheel.

A second difficulty was that when we were integrat-ing new team members, we realized that our practice had evolved, but some of our documented processes had not kept pace which made induction of the

newcomers more time-consuming than it should have been.

However, this was partly a blessing in disguise because it forced us to re-appraise our procedures and to identify both gaps to fill and opportunities to simplify what existed. In other words, we had the newcomers help to create what documentation they would have liked to exist when they arrived.

At the same time, we got everyone to input and comment on the forms we used. While it took longer than the manager imposing what he might have thought was the best way, in fact it produced seemingly small improvements that added up to a big overall improvement and that all important buy in .

If at this point youre scratching your head and wondering why Im preaching to the converted on the advantages of a documented quality system, then its well known that the recently converted are the most enthusiastic. So there you are my path from paperwork hater to a fan of (an appropriate amount of the right) documenta-tion. But like I said, this confession is strictly off the record.

My path from paperwork hater

to a fan of

documentation

ISO Management Systems, www.iso.org/ims

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CONTENTS

5VIEWPOINT

ISO INSIDER 14

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Integrated use of management system standards All ISO standards for food safety management systems included on one CD Towards a new framework for eco-efficiency ISO publishes international benchmark for incident prepared-ness and operational continuity management ISO standards highlighted at Bali conference as essential to voluntary and regulatory efforts to fight climate change Consumers, manufacturers, regulators and many others may benefit from free new brochure on ISO/IEC guides New ISO standards to improve quality of water services to consumers

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Cover photo : BP

China powerhouse embraces ISO 14001 certificationChina pioneered ISO 14001 implementation as a pilot project in 1996, before the actual publication of the international standard. From this head start, the country was ranked 2nd in the world ISO

14001 league table by end 2006, and has well over 30 000 certified organizations to date.

ISO 9001:2000 an instrument for corporate governance

Asian Development Bank HQ reduces environmental footprint through ISO 14001

KATS develops standards for 30 Korean service sectorsWith the service sector accounting for approximately 57 % of Koreas gross domestic product, the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards

(KATS) has put a major effort into developing consumer-oriented service standards.

STANDARDS FOR SERVICES 39

The confluence of small business, succession and sustainabilityLynn Johannson, a Canadian expert representing the interests of SMEs in ISO/TC 207, Environmental management, points out that globally, the ownership of small business is about to experience incredible shifts as the

current generation of owners retire and predicts that this is going to be a test of a countrys ability to evolve towards sustainability.

Quality for the oil and gas sector New, improved edition of ISO/TS 29001As well as describing whats new about the 2007 version of ISO/ TS 29001, the quality system requirement for the oil and gas sector, this feature looks at the roll-out of ISO/TS 29001 in the industry since it was launched in 2003. The article also covers the system now in place for providing third-party certification to ISO/TS 29001, along with an estimate of the number of certificates issued to date.

INTERNATIONAL 25

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VIEWPOINT

The confluence of small business, succession and sustainability

by Lynn Johansson

Smal l bus iness i s t h e f o u nda t i o n o f

most national economies

Even with varying levels of contribution to a countrys gross domestic product (GDP), the health and wealth of most countries is based on the col-lective success of their small businesses.

Globally, the ownership of small business is about to expe-rience incredible shifts as baby boomers want to retire. This is truly going to be a test of a countrys ability to evolve towards sustainability. For ISO, the confluence of these three factors is significant.

Call them what you will; baby boomers, grey-hair entrepre-neurs, however you brand them, they are a growing mar-ket. As boomers age, they are going to change the shape of things to come, particularly over the next two decades. Boomers were born between 1945 and 1961 ; the oldest in this group is now 63 years old, and the youngest is now 47.

Boomers are about to cause some ripples in the social fab-ric, in the flow of commerce and in how environmental issues are managed in our respective countries. This has implications on every aspect of life, from politics, econom-ics, education and culture to the kinds of products, servic-es, and processes that gener-ates our wealth and our ability to evolve to being sustaina-ble nations.

While demographics do not necessarily dictate destiny, they can dramatically affect

it. Between now and the half century mark, population experts project a significant increase in the global popu-lation, from its current 6 643 193 734 people to a projected 9 401 550 854 by mid 2050.

Note that as this issue is unfold-ing so is our concern about another important issue sus-tainability. The planet, as host to humans or as the market-place in which we operate, is not going to expand its girth or suddenly increase its resource base to accommodate another 2 758 357 120 people.

Challenges

Whether the challenges to sustainabi l i ty are framed as climate change, chemical management or waste, action must be taken to address the current situation, and now. Many believe the planet can-not endure additional pres-sure, that humankind is liv-ing on the edge now. Popping off to Mars with the overflow is not really an option at the present time, and arguably may never be.

These population numbers are global. How demographics play out in each country will not be the same; each pattern carries its own opportunities and challenges. One of the realities of this demographic transition relates to succes-sion, a phenomenon that will impact all walks of life.

However, it is important to understand the challenges

that succession will pose spe-cific to small business and to their respective economy ; the impact that small business in this position will have on the sustainability of their respec-tive nations; and the conflu-ence of these three factors.

There is an opportunity for ISO to position itself as an enabler in this transition peri-od. Change is required. As ISO is a servant of its mem-bers, the challenge is whether its respective national mem-ber bodies are ready to learn about the needs of small busi-ness as customer and take action to meet this market opportunity.

Canada case study

Canada offers good statistics and has a heads up story as a case study. As a nation, Canadians enjoy a truly beau-tiful terrain that contains a vast and diverse geography with a relatively small pop-ulation, about 33 mil l ion, which is concentrated in a relatively narrow ribbon at the southern border.

Small business, as defined as entities with less than 100 employees, represents the greatest number of compa-

Lynn Johannson is a Canadian expert representing the interests of SMEs in ISO/TC 207, Environmental management, since 1997.

E-mail [email protected]

Web www.e2management.com


6 ISO Management Systems March-April 2008

nies, as shown in Figure 1, scattered across the country. Collectively they account for at least 45 % of gross domes-tic product (GDP).

For the purposes of this article, small business is also defined as being independent, not as a subsidiary or division. Many small business owners are boomers, and as others in this age range, are having thoughts about retiring.

ness, generational succession, management/employee buy-out, realisation (liquidation) of assets and public listing. Succession will impact such factors as :

business innovation ;

employment ;

job creation ;

economic development ;

banks and insurers (client base) ;

government (tax base) ;

overall economic growth ;

sustainability of the com-munity (including their eco-prosperity).

Sixty-six percent of Canadas small business owners intend to retire over the next 10 years. This translates into approx-imately 700 000 companies. Given the sheer number of companies involved in this tran-sition, this represents a huge socio-economic upheaval.

Approximately 37 % of these SMEs want to sell their busi-nesses on the open market and another 26 % want to sell or transfer their businesses within the family. A further 26 % have not figured out any kind of exit vision. Four per cent intend to wind down their business and the remain-der is a mystery they will do other . This may mean that they are buying another busi-ness or they just dont know whats next.

Dont ignore the last 7 %. Over the next 10 years, that

means 48 000 small businesses are uncertain about what to do. Uncertainty often results in inaction or lower produc-tivity. This has an impact on jobs by itself, to say nothing of the other economic issues that Canada is facing. Com-pared to the total number of businesses in Canada and the GDP they represent, this could devastate a communi-ty and rock the national eco-nomic boat.

Is this just a transitional issue or is there more to it ? Obvi-ously numbers dont explain the whole story and the devil is in the details. The intent of this article is to spur readers into looking into their own countries.

Long-term

Succession planning, just like environmental management is a long-term process ; it is not a one-time event.

Formal planning as articulat-ed in large organizations be they for profit or not is not a common activity in small busi-ness. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business and

other small business experts have noted in companies with fewer than 50 employees the reality is informal planning. The challenge this presents is that the majority of Canadian business, as in most countries, are in companies with fewer than 50 people (look at Fig-ure 1 again).

When succession is seen as a future event (Figure 2), not as a process, it is not hard to see why small business own-ers defer action on it and con-centrate on the short term matters at hand.

The next 10 to 18 years rep-resents a buyers market. In a buyers market, when all tra-ditional valuation criteria are considered and offer multiple options, the perspective pur-chaser can ask for more.

With the awakening of the investment community and consumers to the concerns of global warming, spurred by the reaction to Al Gores film and book An Inconven-ient Truth, only a fool would ignore the environmental issue in such a decision. Inte-gration of the environment

VIEWPOINT

Figure 1 Profile of employer business by numbers of employees

So what ? Leaders, whether from the corporate or polit-ical world, have complete-ly missed the importance of demographics and how it will shape the future of their own organizations, customers and constituencies. Society by and large in most countries is ill-prepared for this transition, policy makers and shapers have not planned for the real-ity that is to be part of the future. Equally of concern is that fact that most small busi-ness owners have not planned for this either. In Canada, only 10 % have a formal succession plan, 38 % have an informal one while the majority, 52 %, have no plans at all.

Small business succession involves transition of business ownership, through means such as the sale of the busi-

Succession planning, j u s t l i ke env i ron -

ment a l management , i s a l ong - te rm p ro ce s s

70000

30000

50000

10000

60000

20000

40000

0

1-4 employees

5-9

10-1920-49

50-99 100-199 200-499 500+



in core business decisions is making considerable inroads as more and more large com-panies face the reality that ignoring the environment is not just a bad idea.

The costs may include the loss of a business, lost reve-nue, being shut out of mar-kets, loss of reputation and brand trust , and in some countries burgeoning law-suits; all impacting the ongo-ing revenue stream.

As investors include addition-al criteria into their finan-cial analysis, the environ-ment is transitioning inward from its position as an exter-nality. The reason for this is clear. Regardless of how the environment card is played, how these issues tally into the business valuation are reflective of management quality.

ISO has a product in the form of ISO 14001, the most widely implemented environmental management system (EMS) standard. There is opportunity for ISO 14001 to be marketed in a coordinated manner with succession planning. Howev-er, the reader is duly warned that it is highly unlikely that traditional approaches that have established ISO 14001 as the EMS of choice with big-ger companies will work with small companies.

Unaware

Why? While hard for those immersed in standards to accept, by and large, small business is still unaware of ISO 14001. This is still true in many countries, not just Can-ada. In a Canadian survey of small business undertaken in 2005, 70 % of respondents had not heard of ISO 14001.

While more had heard of ISO 9001, the standard for qual-ity management, there were mixed views on its value. It comes as no surprise that one of the consistent challenges

centres on certification. While certification can be a value-added option for companies, it has not proven to have reso-nance with small business. This is not Canada-centric.

The point is to not continue the debate about certification; it is to challenge the reader to think about the opportunity and value of addressing the needs of small business. There are 143 million reasons the number of small businesses globally.

ISO has shown some initial effort to address this custom-er base. They are early stage and not without some critical hurdles to overcome. Some radical thinking within ISO is still needed.

Three things the ISO com-munity can do to improve their odds.

1. Seek small business rep-resentatives and experts. There is a dearth in ISO activities at this time. It is unlikely that small busi-ness owners will partici-pate, they are too busy.

VIEWPOINT

Ev idence of we l l managed company

will include environ-mental management

2. Change how meetings for standards are held. In Can-ada, the majority of meet-ings for ISO 14001 are focused teleconferences. Also, Canada has joined others in small task groups in the promotion of free or cheap Internet telephony, such as SKYPE. This has occasional connection chal-lenges, and for those mem-bers where this service is not yet common, there are higher callin charges. Its two key advantages are substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of these international task groups ; it also forces bet-ter preparation amongst the membership.

3. Ensure that any future product that is supposed to provide specific help for small business is designed for success. If a document says it is for small busi-ness and it isnt it leaves ISO open to criticism and potential loss of brand. I t a l so widens the gap between ISO and small business, which may open the door to competition. If the competition is coop-erative in nature, fine. If i t draws small business entirely in another direc-tion, the author sees this as a travesty and a tragedy in the making, but it is some-thing that ISO had best fac-tor into its thoughts.

Figure 2 Why SMEs do not have succession plansThis is a key determinant of performance in the stock mar-ket and this will filter down into small business trans-actions within the next few years, if not sooner. Big or small, evidence of a well man-aged company will include environmental management and quite possibly perform-ance measures on a buyers checklist.

500+

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

60

28

17

12

11

8

3

Too early to plan for succession

No time to deal with the issue

Cant find adequate advice/tools to start

Too complex

Other

Dont want to think about leaving

Conflict with family/employees



Quality for oil and gas sector

SPECIAL REPORT

A second edition has just been published of ISO/TS 29001, the quality

management requirements documents developed to meet the specific needs

of the oil and gas sector. As well as describing whats new about the docu-

ment, this feature looks at the roll-out of ISO/TS 29001 in the industry and

the state of certification to the document, as well as related accreditation.

Ken Peurifoy served as Project Leader of the ISO/TC 67 Project

Task Group that developed ISO/TS 29001:2003 and was Chairman of the American Petroleum Institutes C4/SC18 Task Group that developed the API version of ISO/TS 29001, API Specification Q1 7th Edition.

A former Chair of APIs Committee on Quality for eight years, he is

also a member of the US Technical Advisory Group to ISO/TC 176.

A registered Lead Quality Management System Auditor,

Mr. Peurifoy has been a quality professional for over 30 years. He is Vice President and Senior Consul-

tant of Quality Support International, Inc. in Spring, Texas, that provides

quality consulting and support primarily to the oil and natural

gas industry.


by Ken Peurifoy and Lanny Gookin

New, improved edition of ISO/TS 29001

Lanny Gookin is the ranking consultant member of API Subcommittee 18, the Subcommittee on Quality that controls API Spec Q1. A registered Lead Quality Management System Auditor and ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, he has authored numerous articles and given presentations on quality in the oil and gas industry over the past 25 years.

Mr. Gookin is President and Senior Consultant of QMR Consulting, Inc. in Houston, Texas, a quality consulting, training, and auditing organization that has established QMS for oilfield users, engineering companies, manufacturers, and suppliers throughout the world.


Web www.qmrc.com

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SPECIAL REPORT

The second edition of the ISO technical specification ISO/TS 29001:2007, the sector-specif-ic quality management sys-tem (QMS) specification for the petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries, was published on 1 December 2007, incorporating improvements developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 67, Mate-rials, equipment and offshore structures for petroleum and natural gas industries.

This article provides an over-view of the need for sector-specific requirements for the industry, a history of ISO/TS 29001, its sector-specific requirements including the

new, second edition require-ments, and its utilization with-in the international petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries.

Sector specific

Certain industries or sectors must have a more specific and rigorous QMS than the requirements established in the generic ISO 9001:2000 QMS s tandard and have therefore developed indus-try-specific QMS specifica-tions and standards. Their rea-sons include reduction of risk, inclusion of industry specific needs, compliance with statu-

tory and regulatory require-ments, and increased confi-dence in supplier products and processes.

To assist in the development of the sector-specific docu-ments, ISO technical com-mittee ISO/TC 176, which is responsible for the ISO 9000 family of quality management standards, developed guidance for industry sectors in ISO/TC 176 N858, Guidance And Cri-teria For The Development Of Documents To Meet the Needs Of Specific Product And Indus-try/Economic Sectors.

Each sector-specific QMS document adds requirements

Q U A LI T Y F

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S E C TO R

&to the ISO 9001:2000 base requirements by one of two methods (no requirements of ISO 9001 may be dimin-ished). The additional require-ments may be integrated with-in ISO 9001:2000 with the sector-specific text in italics, (e.g., ISO 13485:2003 for the medical device sector), or the ISO 9001:2000 text is placed in boxes and the sector-spe-cific requirements are added below the applicable section in regular font, (e.g., ISO/TS 29001 and ISO/TS 16949 for the automotive sector).

Certain industries or sectors must have a more specific and rigorous QMS than

the generic ISO 9001:2000

ISO/TS 29001 is one of some 14 sector-specific QMS tech-nical specifications and stand-ards based on ISO 9001:2000 with added requirements.

A technical specification, ISO/TS 29001:2007 utilizes the method that incorporates the verbatim text of ISO 9001:2000 in boxes and adds detailed, sector-specific requirements below the applicable 9001 sec-tion box.

Although some of the supple-mentary requirements may be viewed as not specific to the oil and gas industry, they are needed in ISO/TS 29001 in order to ensure that the requirement(s) are explicit and can be more readily veri-fied/audited.



SPECIAL REPORT

Cooperation between ISO/TC 67 and API

The first edition of ISO/TS 29001 was the result of col-laboration between the Amer-ican Petroleum Institute (API) and ISO technical committee ISO/TC 67.

In addition to providing the Secretariat of ISO/TC 67, API has a long history of coopera-tion and support for ISO/TC 67. The relationship goes back to the reactivation of ISO/TC 67 in 1989. Shortly thereaf-ter, ISO/TC 67 fast tracked a number of API standards that were then adopted as ISO International Standards.

When it came time for the API (Quality) Subcommittee 18 to revise API Specification Q1, Specification for Quality Programs for the Petroleum,

Petrochemical and Natural Gas Industry, developing a joint API-ISO version of the longstanding QMS standard was a major priority.

The API Quality Subcommittee concluded that the best way to increase international accept-ance would be to draft the next version of API Spec Q1 (7th Edition) with a joint API/ISO committee with the final result being a joint publication of API Spec Q1 and ISO/TS 29001. The ultimate goal was to obtain worldwide acceptance and use of the document.

Initial development of ISO/TS 29001

After publicat ion of ISO 9001:2000, the API Quality Committee determined that many of the requirements that were deleted from the ISO 9001:1994 version were still desirable for the oil and gas industry. Particularly desir-able were the requirements for some documented pro-cedures for quality elements that were relinquished by ISO 9001:2000.

The initiative to develop ISO/TS 29001 began within API dur-ing the API Subcommittee 18 and Committee 4 on Qualitys January 2002 Winter Meetings in Tampa, Florida. The final intent of was to publish the joint or adopted-back API/ISO standard. API submitted a New

Work Item (NWI) to ISO TC 67 in April, which was accept-ed on 16 June 2002.

Liaison with ISO TC 176

Early on, ISO/TC 67 requested and received liaison with ISO/TC 176. Mr. Jim Pyle (of the London Quality Centre) was appointed as the ISO/TC 176 liaison member to the ISO/TC 67 Work Group 2 ISO/TS 29001 Project Team. He attended several meetings both in the US and Europe.

Having been a key participant within ISO/TC 176 and the development of ISO 9001:2000, Mr. Pyle was extremely helpful in providing valuable insight and suggestions on how the Work Group should approach various issues and supplemen-tary requirements that are the trademark of the document.

Identical documents

The first edition of ISO/TS 29001 was published on 15 September 2003 and the API version, API Specification Q1, Seventh Edition was published on 15 June 2003. The docu-ments are identical except for an annex in Q1 relating to API administration.

ISO/TS 29001:2007, second edition, was published on 1 December 2007 and re-adopted by the API as the eighth edition of API Spec Q1 in December 2007. Again, both documents are identical with the excep-tion of the annex in API Spec Q1 relating to administration of the API Monogram pro-gramme for the qualification of products and services used in the petroleum industry.

ISO/TS 29001 is the result of collaboration between the American Petroleum Institute and ISO/TC 67

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SPECIAL REPORT

These documents add to the continuing list of ISO/API standards that are developed by joint working groups and committees and are published by both ISO and API to serve the oil and gas industry.

Supplementary Requirements

Control features

After ISO 9001:2000 reduced the number of documented procedures required to six (compared to the requirements in ISO 9001:1994), the require-ments to document the lost documented procedures were included in ISO/TS 29001 as control features .

ISO/TS 29001 defines a con-trol feature as an organiza-tions documented method to perform an activity under con-trolled conditions to achieve conformity to specified require-ments. This definition is cen-tral to a number of supplemen-tary requirements of ISO/TS 29001.

For many industries, the reduc-tion in the number of pro-cedures required to specify process requirements was a welcome relief. However, in the oil and gas industry, the need for procedures or docu-mented methods to perform processes under controlled conditions is considered nec-essary.

A documented method to per-form processes assists per-sonnel in performing process tasks consistently to ensure the activities are performed in conformity with specified requirements.

Supplementary requirements within ISO/TS 29001:2007 that require control features include

competence, awareness and training ;

planning of product reali-zation product require-ments provided from exter-nal sources ;

review of requirements related to product ;

design and development planning ;

purchasing process and sup-plier selection ;

verification of purchased product ;

control of production and service provision ;

identification and traceability ;

customer property ;

preservation of the product ;

control of monitoring and measuring devices ;

monitoring and measure-ment of the product ;

analysis of data.

Independent reviews/ acceptance

Design reviews

The ISO/TS 29001:2007 clause Design and development review Supplemental requires A final design review shall be conducted and documented. Individual(s) other than the person or persons who devel-oped the design shall approve the final design.

Acceptance inspection

Initially published as Final acceptance of product in the 2003 version, ISO/TS 29001:2007, Acceptance inspection supple-mental (ISO 9001:2000 clause 8.2.4.2 under 8.2.4 Monitoring and measurement of product), requires Personnel other than those who performed or directly supervised the produc-tion of the product shall perform final acceptance inspection at planned stages of the product realization process.

Internal audits

ISO/TS 29001: 2007 Internal Audit Supplemental, to fur-ther enhance the objectivity and impartiality of the inter-nal audit process, requires Internal audits shall be scheduled and conducted at least annually by personnel independent of those who per-formed or directly supervised the activity being audited.

Q U A LI T Y F

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&Project leader sums up importance

of TS 29001

Ed Durante, project leader of the ISO/TC 67 working group WG 2 that deve-loped ISO/TS 29001:2007, sum-med up its impor-tance as follows :

ISO/TS 29001:2007 is the next step in the evolution of this important sector-specific document. Over the past two years, numerous suggestions were received from various sec-tors of the petroleum, petroche-mical and natural gas sectors.

These suggestions were eva-luated by a dedicated group of experts representing all stake-holders, including end users, manufacturers and service providers. The result of this

effort has resul-ted in a docu-ment that addres-ses the unique needs of the industry and is poised to gain international acceptance as the quality manage-ment system for

the industry.

Mr. Durantes experience includes includes 25 years on the API Sub-Committee on Quality (SC-18), and Chairman of API work Group on Q1 8th edition. He is President of TIEC, INc. a technical and quality consulting firm.


Web www.tiec.com

In the oil and gas industry, the need for procedures or documented methods is considered necessary



Field nonconformity analysis

Field nonconformity analysis

ISO/TS 29001:2007 addresses nonconforming product detect-ed after delivery or use has started as field nonconform-ities and requires the organi-zations procedure for manag-ing nonconforming product to include and ensure the analysis of field nonconformities.

A vital aspect of quality man-agement systems for the oil and gas industry is the require-ment for organizations to track and analyze field failures/field nonconformities. Although in some cases field failures can-not be retrieved for analysis, field failures can often pro-vide invaluable information which an organization can use to develop and implement effective corrective and pre-ventive actions.

Defined frequencies

Management reviews

ISO 9001:2000 requires man-agement review of the QMS at planned intervals . However, it does not specify a required frequency. To ensure that management reviews are per-formed at planned intervals that are not too infrequent, ISO/TS 29001 requires, The management review shall be conducted at least annually.

Internal audits

ISO 9001:2000 requires organ-izations to conduct inter-nal audits at planned inter-vals. To ensure organizations do not per form in terna l

audits too infrequently, ISO/TS 29001:2007 requires that internal audits shall be sched-uled and conducted at least annually. In addition, ISO/TS 29001:2007 requires, The organization shall identify response times for addressing detected nonconformities.

ISO/TS 29001:2007 whats new ?

As required by ISO Direc-tives, ISO technical specifica-tions must be reviewed and reaffirmed every three years. ISO/TC 67 Work Group 2 and API Subcommittee 18 (Quali-ty) began the review and reaf-firmation process in Janu-ary 2006. The determination was made by ISO/TC 67 that ISO/TS 29001 would be reaf-firmed and remain a techni-cal specification with minor revisions.

Some of the minor changes to ISO/TS 29001:2007 include :

adding the word supple-mental to supplemental section headings that did not initially include this descrip-tion ;

adding two new definitions acceptance inspection to clarify the 8.2.4.2 change of Final acceptance of product to Acceptance inspection Supplemental, and a defini-tion of field nonconform-ity to support clause 8.3.2, Field nonconformity analy-sis Supplemental ;

a new clause 4.1.1 Out-sourced processes and/or services Supplemental was added which requires The organization shall maintain responsibility for product

conformance to specified requirements when pro-cesses are outsourced ;

a new clause 7.3.3.1 Design and development outputs Supplemental was added which requires Design and development outputs shall be documented ;

a revision to clause 7.5.2.1 Validation of processes for production and service pro-vision Supplemental, which specifies which processes must be validated when not addressed by an ISO/TC 67/API Product Specifica-tion ;

a new clause 8.3.4 Customer Notification Supplemen-tal, has been added which requires organizations to notify customers in the event that product which does not conform to design acceptance criteria has been delivered. The clause also requires the organization to maintain records of such notifications. ;

Industry acceptance

Little by little, the oil and gas industry is utilizing the docu-ment by requiring suppliers/contractors to meet its require-ments and in some cases, to maintain a QMS certified to ISO/TS 29001/API Specifica-tion Q1. ExxonMobil and Brit-ish Petroleum have included requirements in many of their procurement specifications for suppliers/contractors and serv-ice contractors to demonstrate compliance to ISO 9001:2000 and also meet the additional requirements of ISO/TS 29001. Other oil companies have also

required many of their suppli-ers to meet the requirements of ISO/TS 29001/API Specifi-cation Q1.

In addition, the demand for training on ISO/TS 29001 and the revised version of the spec-ification appears to be growing as both suppliers and registrars are requesting that training classes be conducted.

Certification

The primary registrar provid-ing ISO/TS 29001 QMS certi-fication appears to be APIQR. According to Gerardo Uria, API - Manager of Certification Programs, APIQR has certi-fied 269 organizations to ISO/TS 29001 as of December 2007 and another 146 organizations have currently applied for ISO/TS 29001 certification and are in the application process.

There are a number of oth-er registrars whose Web sites indicate that they offer ISO/TS 29001 assessments and cer-tification.

Although accreditation of com-petence to perform ISO/TS 29001 certification has not been offered by accredita-tion bodies to date, that may change. Many accreditation bodies have not offered ISO/TS 29001 accreditation to date primarily because of the rela-tively small number of organ-izations requesting ISO/TS 29001 certification.

However, as more purchas-ers specify the ISO/TS 29001 QMS requirements and certi-fication, more suppliers can be expected to ask for an accred-ited certification.

SPECIAL REPORT



Q U A LI T Y F

O R

S E C TO R

&

Conclusions

The petroleum, petrochemi-cal and natural gas industries are by their very natures risky and dangerous with a poten-tial for damage to the environ-ment and risk to human health and safety.

With todays technical chal-lenges of deeper wells, higher pressures, deeper subsea com-pletions, greater transportation challenges, and larger refin-ing capacities worldwide, the industry will face increasing challenges in its efforts to pro-

cure safe and reliable products and services.

The need for a more rigorous sector-specific QMS that will provide additional assurance in the processes of product and service suppliers is self-evident.

Purchasers must continue to require suppliers/contrac-tors to develop and imple-ment effective quality man-agement systems that ensure that processes are in place to reduce the risks to the oper-ators and the general pub-

lic of inadequate products or services.

The industry must also contin-ue to seek third party assist-ance in assessing supplier qual-ity management systems to international QMS require-ment documents, especially ISO/TS 29001.

The enhancements to the basic ISO 9001:2000 as indicated above to the supplementary requirements are necessary and beneficial to all members of the industry. The require-ments to perform independ-ent design reviews and to have final acceptance inspection, in particular, should be reason alone to specify ISO/TS 20001 rather than ISO 9001:2000 for petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries.

The enhancements to the basic ISO 9001:2000 are

necessary and beneficial to all members of the industry

B

P

SPECIAL REPORT



ISO to publish book on integrated use of management system standards

by Annemarie de Jong and Dick Hortensius

In the first quarter of 2008, ISO is to publish a book giv-ing organizations advice on how to make integrated use of management system stand-ards. This article explains the background to the project and previews the book, Integrat-ed use of management system standards.

ISO management sys tem standards (MSS), such as ISO 9001:2000 for quality manage-ment and ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management, are among the most wide-ly used international stand-ards.

Contrary to many other types of standard, management sys-tem standards cover multiple aspects, levels and functions of an organization and there-fore their implementation usu-ally has quite an impact on how an organization operates and manages its business pro-cesses.

In addition, a rapidly increas-ing number of organizations is applying not only one, but a range of management sys-tem standards to satisfy their own needs as well as those of external stakeholders. Given these three trends, the com-patibility of these standards has been a major concern both for the user community and for

ISO book to help these organ-izations. This initiative was approved and supported by the ISO Technical Manage-ment Board.

A task force was established under the leadership of Petra Eckl of MLPC International, France, and comprised 16 mem-bers representing a wide range of countries and business sec-tors, as well as standards bod-ies and academia. Work on the project was launched in Sep-tember 2004 and the book is to be published by ISO in the first quarter of 2008 with the title of Integrated use of man-agement system standards.

Basic assumptions

It is important to understand some basic assumptions under-lying the development of the book.

Firstly, it is acknowledged that there is a market need for separate management system standards addressing differ-ent aspects, issues or risks that organizations need to manage. Therefore, the book does not attempt to describe what a generic management system or standard could look like. It pro-vides guidance on how organi-zations can apply the different standards in a combined way, integrated with their business processes.

Secondly, it is noted that all organizations already have a management system. Although this is not necessarily formal-ized or documented, all organi-zations somehow manage their way of doing business, provid-ing products or services to their customers and achieving objec-

the ISO technical committees developing MSS. Compatibil-ity is usually defined as suit-ability of standards for use together under specific condi-tions to fulfil relevant require-ments without causing unac-ceptable interactions (ISO/IEC Guide 2).

The development of compati-ble ISO management systems standards has been supported by active liaison and coordi-nation between the technical committees involved, as well as by the development and application of ISO Guide 72, Guidelines for the justification and development of manage-ment system standards.

Background

Despite all these efforts by ISO and its working groups to provide user-friendly and compatible standards, organizations frequently struggle with the combined or integrated use of, for example, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. This has led in the past to calls for a single, integrated or generic stand-ard for a management system that can be applied to man-age all significant aspects or risks of an organization.

However, there are a number of serious disadvantages to such an approach and up to now there has not been a suf-ficient level of support within ISO for the development of a generic management system standard.

An increasing number of organizations is applying

a range of management system standards

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The cover of ISOs forthcoming book Integrated use of management system standards.

But as a response to those organizations that encoun-ter difficulties when applying multiple management system standards, the ISO members for the Netherlands (NEN) and France (AFNOR) pro-posed the development of an



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tives. If not, the organization would not survive very long.

This leads to the third assump-tion: an ISO management sys-tem standard is not intended to result in the establishment of a new or separate management system in an organization. This assumption is based on the fol-lowing observations :

It is not efficient because the organization has already some form of a manage-ment system.

More importantly, it is also not effective because the management of a critical issue such as safety will then be dealt with separate-ly from the normal way of operating.

Finally, it is hardly possible nowadays given the increas-ing number of management system standards that are applied within the same organization.

thing to its management system to be able to claim conformity with the standards. It is essen-tial that the organizations cur-rent management processes are the point of departure when applying a standard. Any sep-arate issue-specific manage-ment system will in the long run be neither effective, nor maintainable, and therefore a waste of effort.

The final assumption is that applying a management sys-tem standard actually is inte-gration in a systematic way of management attention for a certain aspect in the cur-rent management system of an organization.

The definition of environmen-tal management system in ISO 14001: 2004 part of an organ-izations management system used to develop and imple-ment its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects is clear about the intention of that standard.

tain aspect relevant for the organizations stakeholders is included in the overall manage-ment system. Only then is the management of such an aspect sustained and effective.

The frequently used term integration of management systems is based on a false assumption. The issue is not the combination of, for exam-ple, a quality and an environ-mental management system. The issue is that all the activ-ities which are relevant for managing quality and environ-ment (as specified in ISO 9001 and ISO 14001) are integrated with the organizations overall management system.

We call that the integrated use of management system standards and that is pre-cisely what the new ISO book covers.

system standard, why these are important and how an organi-zation should apply them.

The third and longest chapter of the book provides guidance on how requirements from multiple management system standards can be integrated in a combined way within the existing management system of an organization.

The book is intended to be of interest and helpful to a varie-ty of readers. A quality, safety, health and environment man-ager should be well served by the book, whether working in a small or large organiza-tion, in public or private sec-tor, especially those who just start working towards integrat-ed management.

But a lso an organizat ion already experienced in imple-menting management systems should find the guidance giv-en in the book helpful, espe-cially if it needs to meet new requirements and wants to improve the efficiency of its management.

ISO 14001 does not require the establishment of a sepa-rate environmental manage-ment system, nor do other ISO management system standards. These standards simply require that the management of a cer-

What and for whom?

From these assumptions, it is logical that the book begins with a description of the main characteristics, parts and func-tions of the management sys-tem of an organization.

The second chapter explains what sort of requirements are contained in a management

For all these different users, the ISO book provides guid-ance for utilizing an integrated approach in the application of requirements of multiple man-agement system standards.

Based on the practical expe-rience of organizations that have successfully done so,

In our view, ISO management system standards are intend-ed to provide a benchmark against which an organization can examine its current man-agement practices related to, quality, the environment or other aspects.

An analysis is needed wheth-er and where an organization needs to adapt or add some-

Buy stocks

Maintain equipment

Bake Sell Deliver Billing Book-keeping



the book identifies a variety of methodologies, tools and practices.

These case studies are based on a range of real-life exam-ples to identify how organi-zations of different size and maturity, from a variety of industries in very different economic environments, have achieved integrated applica-tion of management system standard requirements.

In doing so, the book does not give any preference to an indi-vidual organizations approach or practice. In addition, there is no suggestion in the book that there is one best way to accomplish integration.

Integration of the require-ments of a management sys-tem standard in an organiza-tions own management system always requires a situation-spe-cific approach.

What is a management system ?

All organizations, profit or not-for-profit, large or small, complex or simple, have a management system. The man-agement system, through which an organization conducts its activities, may be formal or informal.

The management system is often divided into a number of parts or sub-systems that may be managed separately and with relative independ-ence. Such parts or sub-systems of the organizations manage-ment system reflect the differ-ent needs and expectations of stakeholders, such as custom-ers, suppliers, shareholders, employees, and society.

What are MSS requirements ?

The main features of man-agement system standards are illustrated in the book by demonstrating the usefulness of their requirements for run-ning a business. The message is to make an inventory of what the existing management sys-tem of the organization already covers and to evaluate what is missing to fulfil the require-ments of the management sys-tem standards.

On the basis of this infor-mation, the organization can make a decision on how and to what extent to conform to

the requirements in the stand-ards.

Integrated use of multiple MSS

The book provides methods and examples for the integra-tion of multiple management system requirements into an organizations management system.

The case studies demonstrate that often a project approach is used for integrated imple-mentation. The steps of such an approach are outlined in Figure 1.

Multiple options

The reader of the book can decide for himself or her-self how to learn best from the guidance provided guide-lines. Each chapter of the book includes the following distinct sections:

Guiding questions that help to focus the reader

Overview summarizing the theory of the topic con-cerned

Approach featuring the methodologies and tools applied

Jim the Baker an imagi-nary character whose com-pany is used to illustrate the implementation of the methodologies and tools

Cases in point with actu-al practices and examples from the case studies car-ried out

Practice assists readers in applying the principles and methods provided to their own situation.

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Many organizations utilize standards to manage specif-ic aspects of their perform-ance, such as those related to quality or the environment. In addition, organizations may use these management system standards in response to stake-holder demands.

The first chapter of the book discusses the basics of organi-zational management systems. It is meant to improve knowl-edge of management systems and to improve recognition of the elements of a management system in less structured or less formalized organizations.

The authors

Annemarie de Jong is Secretary of ISO technical committee

ISO/TC 176, Quality manage-ment and quality assurance,

Subcommittee SC 3, Supporting technologies.

She is a standardization consul-tant with the Netherlands Standardization Institute,

NEN.


Web www.nen.nl

Dick Hortensius is Secretary of ISO technical committe ISO/TC 207, Environmental management, Subcommittee SC 2, Environmental auditing and related environmen-tal investigations.

He is a head of the department on management systems with the Netherlands Standardization Institute, NEN.


Web www.nen.nl



Surveys showed a strong correlation between people involvement and business

performance

These six different perspectives can also be used by the reader as a specific roadmap through the whole book. For example, someone who is mainly inter-ested in the theory focuses on the overview sections and someone who is interested in practical examples reads through the cases in point.

Case studies

Real-life examples are extract-ed from 15 case studies made in a wide variety of situations. Examples are included from case studies of companies in Asia, South America and the Middle East, as well as Euro-pean and North American com-panies. Multinational compa-

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Benefits

The benefits of integrated implementation of manage-ment system standards :

eliminating redundancy

establishing consistency

optimizing processes and resources

consolidating assessments

reducing maintenance

improving decision making.

Figure 1 Project steps for integrated implementation of MSS.

nies are included as well as smaller ones, in different sec-tors of activity, for profit and not-for-profit, applying differ-ent sets of management system standards.

These case studies, which con-tribute substantially to the practical applicability of the book, are includ-ed on a CD inside the books cover.

Jim the Baker

The book introduc-es the hypothetical business organi-zation of Jim the Baker. The oper-ations of Jim the Baker start with a very small one-man village bakery and expand first to serv-icing a large region, then a national business with many bakeries, and finally to a multi-national corporation.

During its expansion, Jims company is faced with new requirements to comply with. Jim meets all the challenges by implementing the steps that are introduced in the book. This hypothetical business supple-ments the real-life examples in order to assist the readers understanding of the integrat-ed approaches presented.

A bridge

With the publication of Inte-grated use of management sys-tem standards, ISO will provide guidance for the many organ-izations all over the world which apply more than one management system stand-ard. The book provides a good

mixture of theory and practice and will be useful for beginners as well

as for the experienced. It will form a bridge between the increasing number of ISO management system standards that meet spe-cific concerns of organiza-tions and their stakehold-ers, and the organizations own and unique manage-ment approach.

Determine the scope of the integration

Plan the integration

Connect MSS requirements and the organizations MS

Incorporate MSS requirements into the organizations MS

Maintain and improve the integration

Apply lessons learned in the organization

Structure MS

Analyze gaps

Structure MSS requirements

Close gaps

Map MSS requirements against the MS

Verify gap closure



ISO INSIDER

by Sandrine Tranchard

All ISO standards for food safety management systems included on one CD

The ISO 22000 series was developed in

collaboration with Codex Alimentarius

ISO has launched a new CD that contains the ISO 22000 series of standards devel-oped to help operators in the food chain to implement food safety management systems. The CD also includes relat-ed standards for conformi-ty assessment professionals involved in the certification of food safety management systems and in the accredi-tation of bodies carrying out such certification.

ISO 22000:2005, which gives the requirements for a food safety management system, is implemented by more than 700 organizations in some 50 countries. It and the supporting standards in the series can be used by any type of organization in the food chain, ranging from feed producers, primary pro-ducers through food manu-facturers, transport and stor-age operators, including also subcontractors to retail and food service outlets.

The CD is designated the ISO Pack on Food Safety Management Systems and it includes the following stand-ards and related documents :

ISO 22000:2005, Food safe-ty management systems Requirements for any organ-ization in the food chain,

and its corrigendum ISO 22000:2005/Cor1:2006 give the basic requirements for a food safety management system to ensure food safe-ty along the food chain, up to the point of final con-sumption.

ISO/TS 22004:2005, Food safety management systems Guidance on the appli-cation of ISO 22000:2005, gives guidance on the use of ISO 22000, which is based on the principles of the Haz-ard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system developed by the Codex Alimentarius Com-mission and is designed to be applied together with rel-evant standards published by that organization.

ISO 22005:2007, Traceabili-ty in the feed and food chain General principles and basic requirements for system design and implementation, gives the principles and spec-ifies the basic requirements for the design and imple-mentation of a feed and food traceability system.

ISO/TS 22003:2007, Food safety management systems - Requirements for bodies providing audit and certifi-cation of food safety man-agement systems, and ISO/IEC 17021:2006, Conformi-ty assessment - Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of man-agement systems, have been developed for certification bodies and the accreditation bodies that approve them as competent. Certification of a food safety management system to ISO 22000 is not a requirement of the standard, but is one means of provid-ing assurance that an organ-ization has implemented a system for the management of food safety in line with its policy.

Any stage

Franois Falconnet, Chair of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 34, Food products, which is responsible for the ISO 22000 series, comments : As the introduction of food safety hazards can occur at any stage of the food chain, adequate control through-

out the food chain is essen-tial.

That is why, this ISO CD is very useful for harmoniz-ing good food safety prac-tice worldwide, giving advice on how to implement a food safety management systems, facilitating traceability and building confidence in cer-tification throughout supply chain.

Franois Falconnet, Chair of ISO/ TC 34, Food products : Adequate control throughout the food chain is essential.

The ISO 22000 series was developed in collaboration with other interested organ-izations, for example, Codex Alimentarius and the ISO Committee on conformity assessment (ISO/CASCO), which is also responsible for ISO/IEC 17021, and for ISO 22003.

The ISO Pack on Food Safe-ty Management Systems on CD (bilingual, English and French) formats and costs 379 Swiss francs and is avail-able from from ISO nation-al member institutes (listed with contact details on the ISO Web site www.iso.org) and from ISO Central Sec-retariat ([email protected]).

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IMS March-April 2008 19

ISO INSIDER

by Bengt Steen

Eco-efficiency is becoming an increasingly important el-ement of sustainable devel-opment. Economic growth, a major driving force for many organizations, has an obvious effect on the environment in the sense that all economic ac-tivity causes an environmental impact.

Working with the key princi-ples of eco-efficiency, reducing the consumption of renewable resources and the impact on na-ture while increasing service or product value is undoubtedly a good approach to becoming a more sustainable organization.

However, the question is : how and when to measure eco-ef-ficiency ? This is still an issue requiring further thought in organizations around the world. The application of eco-efficiency is not restricted to business, but also includes re-

Developing a framework and a common language is a proc-ess of consensus among ex-perts. An ISO working group would be well suited to such a project.

Numerous eco-efficiency initi-atives are already being under-taken around the world by or-ganisations like Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Industry Canada, and the BASF Group, and in countries such as China, Ger-many, Japan, The Netherlands,

Sweden and the US.

The need for harmonization

The need for harmonization of eco-efficiency has been a subject of many international forums. The 2 nd International Conference on Quantified Eco-Efficiency Analysis for Sustain-ability, held in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, on 28-30 June, 2006, included a special working group session on standardization.

It indicated that the market for an ISO eco-efficiency stand-ard could be relatively large since eco-efficiency indicators

Towards a new framework for eco-efficiency

Developing a framework and a common language is

a process of consensus among experts

search and development, pub-lic policy, consumer informa-tion, and so on.

An example is eco-efficiency based on the cost of envi-ronmental improvements, or the environmental impact of value created. There may be more than one type of cost/value to consider.

The need for a framework

One issue in particular hinders the use of eco-efficiency, and that is the lack of a consist-ent, well accepted, framework and definitions. Measures and achievements in eco-efficiency can be difficult to communi-cate. For example, when two product concepts are com-pared, the selection criteria can have a great impact on the calculations, and can be difficult to describe without a harmonized language.

The author

Author Bengt Steen is Chairman of ISO/TC 207/ SC 5/TG, Eco-efficiency, and Adjunct Professor, Environ-mental Systems Analysis, at the Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.


Bengt Steen, centre, with representatives from Finland, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and SETAC, at the special SC 5 task group meeting on eco-efficiency in Gothenburg, December 2007.

Project Manager, Lars Jonsson SIS, Swedish Standards Institute E-mail [email protected]



ISO/PAS 22399 represents a major

breakthrough in addressing emergency and disaster

preparedness

ISO INSIDER

by Roger Frost

ISO publishes international benchmark for incident preparedness and operational continuity management

ISO has published the first internationally ratified bench-mark document addressing incident preparedness and continuity management for or-ganizations in both public and private sectors.

The Publicly Available Speci-fication ISO/PAS 22399:2007, Societal security Guideline for incident preparedness and operational continuity manage-ment, is based on best practice from five national standards from Australia, Israel, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Natural disasters, acts of terror, technology-related accidents and environmental incidents have clearly demonstrated that neither public nor private sec-tors are immune from crises, either intentionally or uninten-tionally provoked.

This has lead to a global aware-ness that organizations in the public and private sectors must know how to prepare for and respond to unexpected and po-tentially devastating incidents.

ISO/PAS 22399 is the first de-liverable from ISO technical committee ISO/TC 223, Soci-etal security, which is charged with developing standards in the area of crisis and continu-ity management.

Unanimous

Stefan Tangen, Secretary of ISO/TC 223, states : ISO/PAS 22399 represents a major breakthrough in addressing emergency and disaster pre-paredness, response and con-tinuity. It was unanimously passed by the 50 countries that participate in the committee and provides an international agreed upon benchmark for emergency and disaster man-agement for individual organi-zations.

ISO/PAS 22399 establishes the process, principles and termi-nology of incident prepared-ness and operational (busi-ness) continuity management (IPOCM) within the context of societal security. Ivar Jach-witz, the Convener of the Task Group that was responsible for drafting ISO/PAS 22399 explains : The purpose of the guideline is to provide a basis for understanding, develop-ing and implementing incident preparedness and operational continuity management within an organization and to provide confidence in organization-to-community, business-to-busi-ness and organization-to-customer/client dealings.

The guideline is a tool to allow public or private organi-zations to consider the factors and steps necessary to prepare for an unintentionally, inten-tionally, or naturally caused incident (disruption, emergen-cy, crisis or disaster) so that it can manage and survive the incident and take the appro-priate actions to help ensure the organizations continued viability .

Organizational resilience re-quires proactive preparation for potential incidents and dis-ruptions, in order to avoid sus-pension of critical operations and services, or if operations and services are disrupted, that they resume operations

Photo : BSI

can be used directly by many stakeholders in companies and other organizations. Such an initiative could also stimu-late the use of standards in the

ISO 14000 family.

Co-efficiency task group

In 2007, interested parties in Sweden asked ISO experts if there was interest in harmo-nization of eco-efficiency on the basis of a tentative NWIP (New Work Item Proposal).

Subsequently, at the June 2007 meeting of ISO technical com-mittee ISO/TC 207, Environ-mental management in Beijing, subcommittee SC 5, Environ-mental life cycle assessment, or-ganized a workshop to discuss eco-efficiency and a possible future work item. SC 5 decided to form a task group under the leadership of SIS, Swedish Standards Institute, to discuss the NWIP further.

The task group met in Gothen-burg, Sweden, in December 2007, with representatives from Finland, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and the liaison organization SETAC (The Society of En-vironmental Toxicology and Chemistry).

The tentative NWIP was re-vised with the addition of a list of basic principles, such as applying a life cycle perspec-tive, transparency and prior-ity of scientific approach. The revised NWIP was sent out for comments and the plan is to submit a final proposal to ISO/TC 207 in early 2008, so that it can be on the agenda at the committees plenary meeting in Colombia in June 2008.

Ivar Jachwitz, the Convener of the Task Group that drafted ISO/PAS 22399 says the guideline is a tool suitable for both public and private sector organizations.



A central theme was the renewed importance for industry and governments to work towards common

solutions

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Jerez, Spain, fish market (Photo : P. Krieger).

ISO standards highlighted at Bali conference as essential to voluntary and regulatory efforts to fight climate change

Laying a pathway for 2012 beyond Kyoto was central to this years meeting of the Unit-ed Nations Framework Con-vention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Over a two-week period from 3-14 December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia, more than 12 000 participants from government, intergovernmental organizations, and internation-al NGOs associated with busi-ness, academic, environmental and civil society interests con-verged in Bali to address a most pressing issue of our time cli-mate change.

increased from pre-industrial values of about 280 ppm, to 379 ppm in 2005. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide in 2005 exceeds by far the nat-ural range over the last 650 000 years (180 to 300 ppm).

The report predicts that con-tinued greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at or above cur-rent rates would cause fur-ther warming and induce many

changes in the global climate system during the 21st century that would very likely be larg-er than those observed during the 20th century.

Mandate

With a mandate to address these challenges, the Bali meetings convened the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, its subsidiary bodies as well as the Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. In

The need to act for the sake of future generations has never been clearer, or more urgent. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, has highlighted the une-quivocal impact that mankinds activities are having on the worlds climate in its Summa-ry for Policymakers, a summa-ry from its Fourth Assessment Report (see www.ipcc.ch).

The findings indicate that the global atmospheric concen-tration of carbon dioxide has

and services as rapidly as re-quired by those who depend on them.

ISO/PAS 22399 describes a ho-listic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organization and provides a framework for minimizing their effect.

SIS (Swedish Standard Insti-tute), is responsible for the secretariat of ISO/TC 223 and the committee is comprised of representatives from business, industry, the first responder community, emergency and disaster managers, security professionals, government and non-governmental organiza-tions from over 50 countries.

International cooperation within ISO/TC 223 will be-come increasingly important in the coming years to help or-ganizations and communities jointly deal with and recover from emergencies.

It will allow them to develop standards, procedures and sys-tems, thus making them feel more prepared and confident to handle crisis situations when they arise. Processes for preparedness and continuity that ensures interoperability with the surrounding world are keys to saving lives and helping affected communities rebound when disaster strikes, thus giving them more resil-ience than those who are not prepared.

ISO/PAS 22399:2007 costs 120 Swiss francs and is available from ISO national member in-stitutes (listed with contact de-tails on the ISO Web site www.iso.org) and from ISO Central Secretariat ([email protected]).

addition, the meetings included an extensive array of side events and exhibits that probed topical issues of importance to global climate change.

A central theme was the renewed importance for industry and gov-ernments to work towards com-mon solutions and to ensure that voluntary initiatives align with the imperatives of government and society at large.

ISO Deputy Secretary-General, Kevin McKinley highlighed ISOs foundational contribution to voluntary approaches.



ISO INSIDER

ISOs foundational contribu-tion to such voluntary approach-es was highlighted late in the first week by the ISO Depu-ty Secretary-General, Kevin McKinley, in a special side event session hosted by the World Business Council on Sustain-able Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Insti-tute (WRI).

The ISO process was promoted as an effective mechanism for developing international con-sensus amongst countries and stakeholders from civil socie-ty, business and other interests ISOs reach being achieved through its network of nation-al standards institutes from 157 countries, as well as links with more than 600 internation-al and regional organizations collaborating in its programme of more than 3 000 committees and working groups.

ISO standards offer practical tools for addressing climate change at four levels :

1. Monitoring climate change through technical, basic equip-ment and measurement stand-ards (e.g., ISO/TC 211 on geo-matics, ISO/TC 146/SC5 on meteorology).

2. Quantifying GHG emissions and communicating on envi-ronmental impacts, including the leading ISO standards ISO 14064 (Parts 1, 2 and 3) and ISO 14065 on GHG account-ing, verification, validation and accreditation of bodies carry-ing out these activities.

3. Promoting good practice in environmental manage-ment and design, for example achieving broad deployment of organizational commitment

to the environment through widespread implementation of ISO 14001, which provides the requirements for environmen-tal management systems.

4. Opening markets for ener-gy efficient technologies and renewable sources, including established programmes for hydrogen, nuclear and wind technologies, as well as new standardization work on solid and liquid biofuels, and propos-als for standards on improving energy management in organ-izations.

In particular, ISO, WBCSD and WRI highlighted the recently signed Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) under which the organizations have agreed to jointly cooperate on and pro-mote the ISO 14064 standards and the WRI/WBCSD-devel-oped GHG Protocol

Joint cooperation

In the second week, ISO con-tributed to discussions concern-ing a proposed new initiative to fund and encourage small business action on the sustain-ability agenda. Currently enti-tled the Sustainability of the Planet foundation, its found-ers will be seeking to estab-lish the initiative at a global level and to strengthen more formal cooperation with key actors such as ISO, the Unit-ed Nations Environment Pro-gramme (UNEP), the United Nations Global Compact, the International Institute for Sus-tainable Development (IISD) and WBCSD.

In the final days of the Bali meetings, ISO presented at a special side event organized by the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)

concerning voluntary carbon markets and the impact of the new Voluntary Carbon Stand-ard (VCS). The VCS is a recent-ly launched, global carbon off-set standard that effectively incorporates exacting princi-ples from the ISO 14064 series and ISO 14065.

Co-developed by the IETA, the Climate Group and WBCSD, the VCS will provide a new and much-needed level of assurance for the certification of volun-tary offsets, especially targeted to organizations keen to tackle climate change by going car-bon-neutral .

Developers of the VCS esti-mate that annual transactions in the voluntary carbon mar-ket could reach USD 4 billion in the next five years and that the VCS will be instrumental to this future growth.

Kevin McKinley stated : The success of all emissions trading programmes will be assisted by extensive use and reference to the globally accepted ISO 14064 series and ISO 14065. In fact, truly additional and mate-rial reductions in global GHG emissions can only be achieved through the continued conver-gence of ISO standards and both the voluntary and regu-latory GHG emission verifica-tion, validation, accreditation and trading regimes.

This Bali meeting has been especially useful to promote, particularly with key industry and non-governmental partners, the foundational role that ISO standards are playing in con-tributing to mitigating climate change and to achieving a tru-ly sustainable world.



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New ISO standards to improve quality of water services to consumers

by Sandrine Tranchard

A suite of new ISO standards offers the international commu-nity practical tools to address the global challenge of effec-tively managing limited water resources in order to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation for the worlds population.

to increase access to drinking water and wastewater servic-es, particularly in developing countries .

ISO 24510, Activities relating to drinking water and waste-water services Guidelines for the assessment and for the improvement of the service to users, is a service oriented standard that addresses the following topics :

a brief description of the components of the service relating to the users ;

core objectives for the serv-ice, with respect to users needs and expectations ;

guidelines for satisfying users needs and expecta-tions ;

assessment criteria for serv-ice to users in accordance with the provided guide-lines ;

examples of performance indicators linked to the assessment criteria that can be used for assessing the per-formance of the service.

ISO 24511, Activities relating to drinking water and wastewa-ter services Guidelines for the management of wastewater utilities and for the assessment of wastewater services, and ISO 24512, Activities relating to drinking water and waste-water services Guidelines for the management of drink-

ing water utilities and for the assessment of drinking water services, both management-oriented, address the follow-ing topics :

a brief description of the physical/infrastructural and managerial/institutional com-ponents of water utilities ;

core objectives for water util-ities, considered to be glo-bally relevant at the broad-est level ;

guidelines for the manage-ment of the water utilities ;

guidelines for the assess-ment of the water services with service assessment cri-teria related to the objectives, and performance indicators linked to these criteria.

Facilitate dialogue

The objective of these interna-tional standards is to provide the relevant stakeholders with guidelines for assessing and improving the service to users,

and with guidance for manag-ing water utilities, consistent with the overarching goals set by the relevant authorities. These standards are intended to facilitate dialogue between the stakeholders, enabling them to develop a mutual understand-ing of the functions and tasks that fall within the scope of water utilities.

They can also provide meth-ods and tools to define, at local level, objectives and specifi-cations, and assess and moni-tor performance for possible benchmarking among water utilities.

Jean-Luc Redaud, Chair of the ISO technical committee ISO/TC 224 that developed the standards, comments : Many stakeholders are involved in water services and these standards will be useful in set-ting up collective systems of assessment allowing continu-al improvement of the serv-ice to users.

These standards will play a primary role in promoting access to safe drinking

water and basic sanitation

Jean-Luc Redaud, Chair of ISO/ TC 224 : T hese standards will be useful in setting up collective systems of assessment allowing continual improvement of the service to users.

ISO has just published three standards providing guidelines for service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater sewerage sys-tems. These international stand-ards are designed to help water authorities and their operators to achieve a level of quality that best meets the expectations of users and the principles of sus-tainable development.

ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden comments : These ISO standards will play a primary role in promoting access to safe drinking water and basic sani-tation through improved gov-ernance at all levels. Their pub-lication is a first step towards responding to the United Nations concern in recog-nizing that access to water is an essential human right. The UN has set ambitious goals

Pierre Granier



ISO INSIDER

This implies clarifying the responsibilities of all involved. One of the main objectives of the committee was to set up guidelines in order to develop a better mutual understanding of responsibilities and tasks of all stakeholders.

These standards will have now to be adapted to national or regional contexts. A strong orientation towards develop-ing countries was taken by the TC with the creation of an ad hoc group, lead by Moroc-co, in order to support devel-oping countries in the appli-cation of these standards. A first trial of the standards has been launched in some African countries.

The implementation of the standards will be monitored to provide feedback for fur-ther improvement.

The new standards were devel-oped by ISO/TC 224, Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and waste-water systems Quality criteria of the service and performance indicators.

ISO 24510:2007 costs 164 Swiss francs and ISO 24511:2007 and ISO 24512:2007, 154 Swiss francs each, and are available from from ISO national mem-ber institutes (listed with con-tact details on the ISO Web site www.iso.org) and from ISO Central Secretariat ([email protected]).

ISO and IEC have just pub-lished a free brochure which gives an overview of joint guides that provide a rich source of helpful advice not only for standards writers and consumer representa-tives active in standardization, but also for designers, product manufacturers, service pro-viders, retail chains, testing laboratories, regulators and associations representing the interests of consumers, the disabled, children and senior citizens, in addition to envi-ronmentalists, academics and their students.

The new brochure, which is bilingual (English and French), lists with concise descriptions the ISO/IEC Guides on the fol-lowing topics :

the vocabulary of standardi-zation ;

drafting standards for con-formity assessment ;

purchase information on goods and services intend-ed for consumers ;

instructions for use of prod-ucts by consumers ;

packaging that meets con-sumer needs ;

comparative testing of con-sumer products and related services ;

child safety ;

safety aspects in standards ;

environmental aspects in standards ;

meeting the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities in standards ;

justifying the need for man-agement system standards ;

risk management vocabu-lary ;

graphical symbols that meet consumer needs ;

taking consumer issues into account in service stand-ards ;

the expression of uncertain-ty in measurement (upcom-ing publication) ;

the vocabulary of metrology (upcoming publication.

How ISO/IEC Guide

Full Issue

Documents

oil iso

documented system

quality management system

knowledge management

generic requirements

s o s t

system of documentation

documented methods