If you wish to demonstrate that your management system conforms with the standards that you have adopted there are several ways that you can go about it:

1. Self-determination and declaration or
2. Confirmation by a party having an interest in the business such as customers or
3. Confirmation of your self-declaration by an external party to the business or
4. Certification/registration by an external organisation.

Sometimes a customer or membership organisation require you to or if it’s a requirement to get on tender list that your system is certified against a particular standard(s) you will need to go for option 4. Otherwise you can select which standards you have the system certified against, its not always necessary to have the whole system certified. We are happy to  advise you on the best option for your business and help you to achieve your selected route. Certification bodies must be accredited so that they are authorised, to certify the compliance of businesses against the appropriate standard. The UK national accreditation body is UKAS, appointed by government to assess and accredit organisations that provide certification services. If you are going down the certification route we would recommend selecting a certification body that is accredited by UKAS.  

A management system (MS) provides the framework that ensures everyone understands what is required of them in contributing to business success.
The MS sets out the way that you conduct your business. It includes the company policies, processes and procedures and improvement targets. The MS will help you to achieve your business objectives.
An important objective of all management systems is to promote continuous improvement.  Important to this is the use of the plan-do-check-act/adjust (PDCA) approach which helps the business to identify opportunities fort improvement.

ISO standards 9001, 14001, 45001 & 27001, covering requirements for Quality, Environment, Occupational Health & Safety and Information Security, are essential for you to implement when building your management system.

As well as subject specific requirements, the standards have common requirements included in them. They are designed to facilitate  integration and reduce duplication.

The common requirements are the foundations that the management system is built on. They include subjects such as context of the organisation, document control, internal auditing, non-conformance and corrective action and management review.

It makes sense to ensure that your system integrates these common requirements and avoids repetition.

There are four management systems that you should consider, they provide essential frameworks which will help you to manage risks. All are based on maximising opportunities for continuous improvement.
They cover quality of product or service, environmental impact, occupational health and safety and the increasingly important information security.

• ISO9001 is the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standard for the management of quality  and will help you to improve customer satisfaction. Quality management systems are frequently referred to by the acronym QMS.
• ISO14001 the ISO standard for the management of your environmental aspects and helping minimise your impact on the environment; referred to as an EMS.
• ISO 45001 the ISO standard for the management of occupational health and safety (OH&S) aimed at protecting physical and mental health.
• ISO27001 the ISO standard for the management of information security. Using the statement of applicability will guide you in adopting the appropriate controls to safeguard your critical business information.

In addition to these standards there many others that you can adopt based on your specific requirements.
We will guide you through selection of the most appropriate standards for your business.