Preliminary study on the integration of ISO 9001:2015 and 14001:2015 management systems

The thesis is a preliminary study on what is required to transform an ISO 9001:2015 standard-based quality management system manual into an integrated management system manual based on the ISO 14001:2015 environmental management system standard as well. This preliminary study was carried out to help the transformation of the ISO 9001:2015 standard-based quality manual of A5 group Oy, an industrial wooden packaging manufacturer, into to an integrated operations manual, ultimately resulting in the implementation of an integrated quality and environmental management system. Thus, the two standards and the contents of A5 Group Oy quality manual were studied and compared, to see what would be required to add to the quality manual to achieve the integration of both management systems’ requirements and processes. Some external material, such as scientific articles and consultant companies’ material on integration of the two ISO standard-based management systems were studied as well. It was discovered that due to the introduction of Annex SL in the of the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1, describing normative Harmonized Structure for ISO standards, the structure of ISO management system standards is very aligned. This results in most of the chapter names, numbering and a lot of the core content being either the same or very similar. This makes the integration of ISO management systems easier. As a result, as the A5 Group Oy quality manual is based on the structure of ISO 9001:2015, most of the content of the manual just needs to be considered from an environmental perspective in addition to the current quality perspective already present. Some new additions that are required only by ISO 14001 are also necessary, such as creation of an environmental policy for the organization. A great deal was learned about ISO 14001:2015, ISO 9001:2015, integration of management systems, and A5 Group Oy during the thesis. Next, work on transforming A5 Group Oy’s quality manual into an integrated operations manual can begin. It might also be a good idea to consider the addition of occupational health and safety topics to the manual later, as the company already has a lot of documentation on the subject. There is some discussion on whether a certified environmental management system provides any real environmental change or improvement, and even in ISO management system standards it is often mentioned that the certification itself does not ensure optimal results. It can still be a good start for more effective environmental management, and it can help in achieving significant environmental benefits – especially if more companies implement one