ISO 9001 – about the standard
BS EN ISO 9001:2015 what does it mean? Well to give it its full title take a look below:
BS = British Standard,
EN = Norme Européenne /Europäische Norm, (European Standard)
ISO = International Organisation for Standardisation,
9001 = The standard’s number e.g 9001
2015 = date of publication and revision year e.g. 2015 (note ISO 9001:2008 the previous remains valid until September 2018)
So what is ISO 9001:2015?
ISO 9001:2015 is a set of rules, recognised worldwide, which companies implement with the aim of enhancing product or service quality within their organisation.
ISO 9001:2015 forms part of a family of ISO 9000 standards, documents and guidelines; there are currently over 20 documents in total, with new or revised documents being added all the time to inform and increase companies’ understanding of requirements and continually improve their business models.
In September 2015, the International Organisation for Standardisation introduced a revised set of Quality Management standards based on a risk based process model. The new emphasis within the documents focused on the identification and management of risks and the identification of interested parties and continuous Improvement within the business.
ISO 9001:2015 is predominately based on 3 key documents:
1. ISO 9000:2015 Quality Management Systems – Fundamentals and Vocabulary
2. ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems – Requirements
3. ISO 19011:2011 Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems
Further Information:
To find out more information about ISO 9001:2015, and to purchase copies of the standard, please follow the links to:
- International Organisation for Standardisation: www.iso.org
- United Kingdom Accreditation Service: www.ukas.com