
The purpose and the structure of this online course
The definition of a management system. What is an integrated management system. About the different disciplines and the families of standards. About Type A and Type B management system standards. Are there any limits to the integration?
What are the benefits for choosing an integrated management system.
About the High Level Structure of all management system standards published by ISO. About the PAS 99 document as a help for the integration.
About the internal and external issues that are relevant to the organization. About the interested parties (stakeholders) and their needs and expectations.
What is the scope of the management system. How the scope can be defined. What is specific to ISO 9001 in terms of applicability of the requirements.
How to audit the requirements in Clause 4 of management system standards - Context of the organization. What should the auditor look for and how?
A video detailing the requirements on climate change introduced by the 2024 amendment to ISO standards. The focus is on both implementation and auditing perspective
How important it is to have the support of the top management for the integrated management system. What are the requirements of the standards for the top management?
What is the management system policy. What are the requirements for the integrated management system policy.
Methods to establish and communicate the responsibilities and authorities for the different roles in the organization. About those responsible for the integrated management system.
What are the requirements about risks and opportunities. The specific elements in ISO 14001 (environmental aspects) and ISO 45001 (occupational health & safety). Example of risks and opportunities.
About management system objectives. How the organization should establish its objectives and how to plan for their achievement.
Ideas and methods to audit the top management of an organization during the management system audit. Is it important to audit the top management?
About the resources needed to establish, implement and improve an integrated management system.
The requirements for competence and the process to ensure competency in an organization. How an organization should act to raise the level of competence for its personnel.
The importance of awareness for the success of an integrated management system. How to ensure that the persons working under the company's control have an adequate level of awareness with regards to the integrated management system.
The processes for internal and external communication. What are the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 with regards to communication.
About the documentation of the integrated management system. What are the documents that should be part of the management system documentation. The requirements for creating and updating management system documents. The controls of documented information.
The common requirements of the standards (e.g. control of changes, the control of outsourced processes) as well as the specific requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or ISO 45001. Auditing Clause 8 (Operation) of management system standards.
How to prepare and respond to emergency situations that may refer to the environment and/ or to occupational health and safety.
How to monitor, measure, analyze and evaluate the performance of the organization and of the integrated management system.
About the internal audit of the integrated management system. The audit programme, the requirements for the auditors, the relevant documents (audit plans, reports, checklists).
The requirements of the standards that refer to the management review. How to organize the management review.
What are the input elements and the required outputs of the review.
What are nonconformities, including examples. How to manage nonconformities. What are the corrections and the corrective actions.
How to improve the integrated management system. How to audit the improvement of the system.
About the certification of an integrated management system. What is the process for certification. The certification of persons as management system professionals.
Conclusions about the integrated management systems and recommendations for auditing integrated systems.
An integrated management system (IMS) brings quality, environmental, and occupational health and safety management together in a single, efficient framework — one system meeting the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, instead of three parallel systems duplicating effort.
This course teaches you to understand, implement and audit an IMS. Rather than studying each standard separately, we focus on their common structure, shared principles and practical integration — showing how organizations align their processes to manage quality, environment, and health and safety (QHSE) in a unified way.
Built on the Harmonized Structure
All ISO management system standards share the Harmonized Structure (HS, formerly known as the High Level Structure, HLS) — the common clause framework that makes integration possible. The course follows it step by step:
Context of the organization — how internal and external issues and stakeholder expectations shape the IMS, and how to establish its scope
Leadership — top management commitment, the integrated policy, and clearly defined roles and responsibilities
Planning — identifying and addressing risks and opportunities, setting measurable integrated objectives, and planning the actions to achieve them
Support — resources, competence, awareness, communication and documented information, working cohesively across the three disciplines
Operation — process control, management of change, outsourcing and emergency preparedness, with the specific operational requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001
Performance evaluation — monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation, internal audits, and management review
Improvement — nonconformities, corrective actions and continual improvement in an integrated system
A course with an auditing focus
Each section includes practical guidance on auditing the integrated system — from evaluating leadership involvement and organizational context to assessing audit programmes and continual improvement. You will gain the confidence to conduct real-world IMS audits that go beyond checking compliance and add genuine value. Throughout, theory is paired with practical examples from diverse industries.
Why integrate?
Organizations with an IMS run one set of policies, one internal audit programme, one management review and one improvement process instead of three — reducing documentation, audit fatigue and cost, while giving management a single picture of performance. Integrated certification audits also typically reduce total audit time compared to three separate audits.
Who this course is for
QHSE, HSE and quality managers implementing or maintaining integrated systems
Professionals who hold one of the three standards (e.g. ISO 9001) and are extending to the others
Internal auditors preparing to audit two or three disciplines in combined audits
Consultants building or streamlining management systems for clients
Management system coordinators in organizations certified to multiple ISO standards
Quality. Environment. Occupational health and safety. Three perspectives — one system, and a clear path to managing it.