The current version of ISO 9001 still requires a “Quality Manual” as one of its documentation requirements but states that it needs (only) to include:

• The scope of the QMS
• The documented procedures established for the QMS or reference to them
• A description of the interaction between the processes of the QMS

At its simplest this could be a sentence or two covering the scope, a list of procedures, and a system diagram or flowchart of the QMS processes.

ISO 14001 does not specify a manual but also requires documentation covering:

• The scope of the EMS
• The documented procedures established for the EMS or reference to them
• A description of the interaction between the processes of the EMS

BS OHSAS 18001 again does not specify a manual but requires the same three elements to be documented:

• The scope of the OH&S management system
• The documented procedures established for the OH&S management system or reference to them
• A description of the interaction between the processes of the OH&S management system

In summary then, none of these three standards require “manuals” in the physical sense but all three require key elements of each management system to be documented. None of these documents need be large and it should be possible to cover all three requirements in each case in a few pages.

Note that certification bodies sometimes expand the requirements of the standards to suit their own purposes and make their auditing and assessment easier but there is no foundation for this in the basic standards.

ISO is aiming to “standardise” the management standards over the next few years and I expect that the requirement in ISO 9001 for a “Quality Manual” will disappear and the standard will simply ask for the three elements as do the other standards. 

However, there are 6 common elements in these management system standards that can be managed as a integrated management system across all these standards (including ISO 22000 and OHSAS 18001 as well) to the benefit of the whole organisation.

These common elements are:

1. Policy
2. Planning
3. Implementation and operation
4. Performance assessment
5. Improvement, and
6. Management review

Although each standard has its own specific requirements that need to be addressed, these six elements are present in all the above management system standards. ISO is working, through its ISO Guide 72, to ensure not only that these elements exist in all management system standards, but that they have the same clause numbers in each standard.

PAS 99:2006 Specification of common management system requirements as a framework for integration has been produced to help organisations benefit from consolidating the common requirements. If your organisation has adopted, or is adopting, more than one of these standards, the use of this integrated approach can reduce duplication and complexity and make internal and external audits more effective and efficient.