ISO Survey Of Certifications and The Year Ahead

In December of 2011, ISO released their latest edition of The ISO Survey of Certifications.  The yearlong study conducted during 2010 outlines the global relevance of the ISO management system standards for quality, environment, medical devices, food safety and information security.  The study results reveal an increase in certificates of 6.23% for a worldwide total of 1,457,912 certificates and users of one or more standards in 178 countries.

A key aspect of the study is the trend line involving certain standards.  The biggest increases in certification are to the sector-specific ISO 22000:2005 food safety management system standard which is up by 34% and to the issue-specific ISO/IEC 27001:2005 information security management system standard which has risen by 21%.  However, ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 (environmental) and ISO 13485:2003 (medical devices) all saw strong increases and are reflective of industry trends in the USA.

ISO stated that the attraction and stability of the ISO management system model, pioneered by ISO 9001 for quality management, has helped other sectors face specific challenges in both public and private organizations.

ISO 9001:2008 (which gives the requirements for quality management systems) remains firmly established as the globally implemented standard. The 2010 survey represents an increase of 4% over 2009.

ISO/IEC 27001:2005 gives the requirements for information security management systems.  At the end of 2010, at least 15,625 ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certificates had been issued in 117 countries and economies.  The 2010 total represents an increase of 21% over 2009.

ISO 14001:2004 (which gives the requirements for environmental management systems) retained its global relevance for organizations wishing to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner.  Through the end of 2010, at least 250,972 ISO 14001:2004 certificates had been issued in 155 countries and economies which revealed a year over year increase of 12%.  According to ISO-China, Japan and Spain are the top three countries for the total number of certificates, while China, the UK and Spain are the top three for annual growth.

We see many of our clients looking to expand their existing ISO 9001:2008 and TL 9000 certifications to include ISO 14001 and we have created a unique dual certification program to help new organizations achieve this goal.  Please visit our ISO 14001 page for more information.

If you would like to access The ISO Survey (which includes data from 1993-2010) you can obtain a free “principal findings” version available on our Knowledge Base or here at ISO.  The complete study including industry breakdowns is available for purchase from the ISO store.

Other important ISO news was released at the close of 2011 and some of these stories may be of interest to you as well.  Click on these links to access additional articles at ISO.org:

• ISO 19011 (Updated Edition Of The Auditing Standard)

• New ISO Standard Regarding Emergencies At Nuclear Facilities

• Faster and Better ISO IT Standards and The First ISO IT Forum

• New ISO Standard For Emergency Management

• ISO Focus + On Sustainability

This year we will be addressing many aspects of environmental quality including occupational health (OHSAS 18001).  In addition, we will help you better understand the proposed refinements to TL 9000.  TL 9000 is becoming an even more comprehensive communications standard due to next generation networks and the “hand-in-glove” relationship between network systems and information technology systems and products (ICT).

In 2012 we will also help frame ISO/IEC 27001 and CMMI’s relationship and integration with TL 9000, the telecommunications quality management standard.  Next week we will provide and update on TL 9000 from the 2012 QuEST Forum Annual Leadership Summit and Executive Board Meeting.  For more information on implementation, training or internal audit of the standards mentioned above please contact us at info@bizphyx.com.