In starting this series for Quality, a couple of quick common concepts:
Management System Standard (MSS) – a series of management standards published by the ISO, as the 9001, 14001, 45001 and about 50 others that are considered as auditable standards versus guidance documents as the 9000, 9004 and many more. Auditable standards typically end with the number one: 22301, 50001, etc.
Auditing levels as discussed in the ISO 19011:2018 – Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems and itself being a guidance document. First party audits are those conducted by personnel at your site, second party audits are conducted at suppliers’ locations or when you hire consultants to conduct your internal audits (IA), and third party audits are conducted by independent organizations usually called Registrars who are themselves being audited by government agencies to conduct audits.
Integrated Management System (IMS) – with the number of ISO MSS available today, many organizations are utilizing the registration process to multiple MSS for a marketing focus for their organization. The most common combination today are the 9001 Quality, 14001 Environment (sometime for showing that the organization is going…