In this short video, we're going to talk about the benefits of an integrated management system. You can find more in-depth training videos related to integrated management systems here.
What is an integrated management system?
An integrated management system is a way of combining efforts within an organization to meet legal requirements and requirements of various standards. It can be a combination of two or more systems to meet requirements of your business and also external certification requirements.
For example: quality management systems + health and safety management systems + environmental management systems + information security management systems.
Why Consider An Integrated Management System?
1. Reduce Duplication and Effort
Many requirements of certification bodies are very similar. Why would you want to undertake these requirements in silo when you're doing the same thing for different systems?
Using the example of management reviews, internal audits, and risk profiles. All of these are requirements that you have to take throughout your business practices and to comply with international standards.
If you do them in silo, you have to put in additional effort and duplication as well as documenting and recording the information separately. But, if you do it as a joined up approach, you can intertwine the information and communication method.
2. Share Information Easily
An IMS allows you to drive down errors so that you can share information clearly and make systems more efficient. If you take this practice, you can get more people involved and simplify the message that you're sending to your organization. This will clear up any expectations, roles and responsibilities.
You are therefore ensuring that even when there has been some type of incident, you know that it may be possible that contributing factors can be coming from another area within an integrated system. For example, a significant contributing factor to an incident could be your quality control processes.
3. Simplicity with Annex SL
Another key benefit about using an IMS and in particular, referring to the Annex SL templates of all of the new ISO standards, is that it's much simpler to add another standard into your integrated management system if needed.
For example, you may have a health and safety system and a quality management system integrated following the requirements of the ISO standards. There may be a need for you to add an environmental aspect to that.
Adding in an additional standard can be much simpler when you have an integrated approach because many of the requirements that are needed for that system will already be in place, such as;
How to define the context
How to ensure that leadership commit to the system
What resources are needed
Risk process and protocol
Internal audits
Management review
Document control
Non-conformance improvement methodology
Takeaways:
Think about using an IMS to get a return on investment of time, energy and money spent managing them and putting them in place.
An IMS is a great way of communicating the way you do business in your workplace, and ultimately becomes a culture of the way you operate.
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