New ISO task force established to consider the future direction of ISO management system standards
ISO has established a new task force to get prepared for further developing its management system standards (MSS). Those standards are among the most popular ISO Standards (https://www.iso.org/popular-standards.html), including several standards from ISO/TC 292.
ISO management system standards (MSS) such as ISO 22301 and ISO 28000 under the responsibility of ISO/TC 292 are widely used across the globe and research proves that they can genuinely drive improvement.
A common structure and core requirements were introduced in 2012 and this has helped organizations use various MSS to integrate requirements from multiple MSS into their management systems. Nevertheless, the wide range of MSS available, deviations from core terms and requirements, and the language used in the standards, can cause issues for users.
The new task force (ISO/TMBG/JTCG/TF15) has been set up to develop recommendations on how to address these issues. It is looking at all aspects of MSS, from the range of topics covered, to how MSS are structured, the language they use and the best way to provide supporting, technical, discipline or sector-specific companion documents. The task force will work with input from users, national standards bodies, professional bodies, regulators, certification bodies and other interested parties.
Experts representing the different MSS are involved in the task force. ISO/TC 292 has sent two delegates to represent it in the task force and set up an ad hoc group led by Frank Herdmann (Germany) to ensure that the outcome is inline with the opinions from the committee.
The task force is meeting remotely to discuss topics, gather evidence and explore potential solutions. It plans to deliver its recommendations to ISO by the end of 2022.