INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (IMS)

An Integrated Management System (IMS) is a complete system that combines all aspects of an organisation’s processes, work instructions, and any standards that the business follows such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 & ISO 27001. The integrated management system allows a business to meet all of its obligations, addressing all elements of the management system as a whole rather than looking at the individual standards and their requirements separately.

A good IMS will reduce the duplication of effort when running multiple management systems. If a business is running separate ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 systems this could result in the duplication of the processes needed for performing internal audits or recording non-conformities as all three standards require businesses to put measures in place for these actions. An IMS allows these processes to be combined so that they simultaneously cover all standard-specific requirements.

Integration has become easier in the last few years, as the majority of new and revised ISO Standards are moving towards using the Annex SL high-level structure. Annex SL based standards share a similar structure, making it much more straightforward to see where the similarities and shared processes within each standard lie.

Annex SL High-Level Structure Clauses:

Scope
Normative References
Terms and Definitions
Context of the Organisation
Leadership
Planning
Support
Operation
Performance Evaluation
Improvement

WHAT BENEFITS WILL AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM HAVE?

An Integrated Management System has the potential to reduce the time taken to perform external audits. With potentially fewer documents to review and the processes covering multiple standards, an auditor can be a lot more efficient with their time and reduce audit duration. Because of these time savings, costs are also reduced. In addition to the time saved by auditors and staff, the senior management team will notice they can also make more effective use of their time. Management Review meetings for an Integrated Management System will cover all standards leading to fewer, more productive meetings.

HOW CAN ERYRI CONSULTING LIMITED HELP?

Eryri Consulting Limited are a professional ISO consultancy company based in North Wales. Our team are dedicated to supporting you and your business, no matter your size or current management system. We create, implement and manage the perfect integrated management system to suit your business as a unique workplace and organisation. We set objectives, ensuring compliance to the requirements of the international standards and work with you to continually improve efficiency and service provision.

Our documentation reflects the standards and integration through smart design of headers and footers:

Identifying | Implementing | Influencing | Improving