The new standards for ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management) and ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management) were published in September 2015. The new versions follow a new, higher level structure to make it easier to use in conjunction with other management system standards, with increased importance given to risk.
Organisations are granted a three-year transition period after the revision has been published to update their management systems to the new editions of the standards.
The key changes in ISO 14001:2015 relate to:
- Increased prominence of environmental management within the organization\’s strategic planning processes
- Greater focus on leadership
- Addition of proactive initiatives to protect the environment from harm and degradation, such as sustainable resource use and climate change mitigation
- Improving environmental performance
- Lifecycle thinking when considering environmental aspects
- Addition of a communications strategy
The new standard ISO 45001 will eventually replace OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Management) and it is being designed to integrate more easily with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. The intention is to publish the final version in October 2016.