ISO Management Systems
November-December 2005

From product to practice

Special Report

From product to practice

• Online version

 

From products to practices
How ISO 9000 blazed the trail for service standards

In this personal view of the economic revolution wrought by service standards and standards for service, Australian standards marketeer Howard Paul weaves humour with serious insight to tell the story of how ISO 9000 opened the way that has led from standards for things, to standards for things that happen.

Viewpoint

ISO CEO underlines need for international benchmarks to reduce audit proliferation

IMS readers benefit from the full rendering of an interview of ISO’s CEO Alan Bryden by journalist Thibaut De Jaegher that appeared in condensed form in the French business weekly L’Usine nouvelle.

ISO Insider

• ISO lays the foundations of ISO 26000 guidance standard on social responsibility
• ISO 22000 is first in family of food safety management system standards
• ‘Super Workshop’ addresses challenges to sustainability
• ISO standards pave the road towards sustainable development

International

• Kelly Services: 2 600 branches, 29 countries, 1 standard, 1 quality system

Kelly Services’ ISO 9001:2000-certified quality management system is now duplicated in many of its 2 600 branches worldwide. This year, certification of over 1 200 of its US sites represented the largest number ever certified for one company by DNV.

• Cambodian school children put EMS basics into practice to preserve Angkor site

Cambodian primary school children are playing an innovative role in the implementation of an ISO 14001-based environmental management system (EMS) as one of the measures to protect the world-famous architectural, historical and cultural site of Angkor from deterioration caused by increasing tourism-related development.

• Japanese perspective on ISO 9001 advocates implemention knowledge-sharing

A Japanese researcher argues in favour of a greater sharing of ISO 9001 implementation know-how to exploit the rich vein of experience built up in heterogeneous business contexts worldwide in order to elevate QMS to the next level for the future benefit of organizations.

Standards for services

ISO committee to develop standards for tourism

ISO technical committee ISO/TC 228, Tourism and related services, is aimed at standardizing terminology and specifications across the industry, so that choosing between tourism products becomes more transparent, and to help ensure, for example, that holidays match their sales description.

Human services – between management by paper and social metrology

Not all professions are familiar with the term “ metrology” – the science of measuring both certainty and uncertainty. When it comes to services provided by human beings, metrology is the great unknown.