WHAT IS ISO 9001?
A well-established international standard that defines the management of quality in all types of organisations, it is common sense written down in the form of a standard. The standard is written so that it can be assessed by an accredited certification body, e.g. BSI, ISOQAR etc
You implement the standard and the accredited certification body assess you to the standard. The standard covers your operating processes and asks you to demonstrate that you are in control of these processes. E.g. sales, purchasing, operations, stores, warehousing etc.
The standard also covers the control of your support processes e.g. management review, documents, records, complaints, corrective action , improvement, calibration etc.
Organisations find implementing ISO 9001 acts as a catalyst to improve both their processes and the way things happen.
HISTORY OF THE ISO 9001 STANDARD
- First published in 1979 as BS 5750
- Updated in 1987 as ISO 9001:1987
- Updated in 1994 as ISO 9001:1994
- Updated in 2000 as ISO 9001:2000 (This was a Process based standard)
- Updated in 2008 as ISO 9001:2008 (Minor changes to the 2000 version)
- Totally revised in 2015 as ISO 9001:2015 in line with Annex SL (See below)
- World-wide acceptance
- Over 150 UK and worldwide Certification Bodies.
TITLES OF THE STANDARDS IN THE ISO 9001 FAMILY
- BS EN ISO 9000:2015 Quality management systems – Fundamentals and vocabulary
- BS EN ISO 9001:2015 Quality management systems – Requirements
- BS EN ISO 9004:2018 Quality management – Quality of an organisation – Guidance to achieve sustained success
- ISO 19011:2011 Guidelines for auditing management systems
WHAT IS ANNEX SL?
- The documentation template used by BSI management system committees for writing management system standards
All management system standards now have the following :-
