Please be aware that amendments to various ISO management system standards (including ISO9001, 14001 and 45001) have been published. These relate to clause 4 – context of the organisation – and requires that ‘the organisation shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue’ and to consider whether interested parties have climate change related expectations.
Please see below for the IAF/ISO Joint Communiqué on the addition of climate change considerations to management systems standards:
| 4.1 | Understanding the organisation and its context The organisation shall determine external and internal issues that are relevant to its purpose and that affect its ability to achieve the intended result(s) of its XXX management system. Added: The organisation shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue. |
| 4.2 | Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties The organisation shall determine: the interested parties that are relevant to the XXX management system the relevant requirements of these interested parties which of these requirements will be addressed through the XXX management system Added: NOTE: Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change. |
| 2.2 | Intent of the changes The intent is to ensure that Climate Change issues are considered by the organisation in the context of the effectiveness of the management system, in addition to all other issues. These additional statements in each management system standard are ensuring that this important topic is not overlooked but considered by all organisations in the design and implementation of the management system. The overall intent of the requirements for clauses 4.1 and 4.2 remain unchanged; these clauses already include the need for the organisation to consider all internal and external issues that can impact the effectiveness of their management system; these new inclusions are assuring that Climate Change is considered within the management system and that it is an external factor that is important enough for our community to require organisations to consider it now. It should be noted that Climate Change can have a different effect on each management system component; for example, the effect on a Quality Management System could be very different to that on a Health and Safety Management System. It is not the intention of the changes to (for example) turn a health and safety management system audit or a road traffic safety management system audit into one that disproportionality considers Climate Change, though this does not of course understate the importance of Climate Change. IAF and ISO would like to emphasise that Climate Change is a vital topic and, while the addition of climate considerations is highly important, the standards have always included the need for all issues affecting the management systems to be considered by the organisation. Therefore, many organisations implementing MSS will already be taking Climate Change into account. |
Click here for further information from the IAF website
Click here for further information from the ISO website
If you would like some support in making these changes, please get in touch.
Angie