For the first time, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has issued its annual survey of ISO certifications with the opportunity to download the full dataset.
Readers will recall an earlier article “Latest ISO Certification Survey 2010” published in January 2012.
The global total number of certificates is 6% higher than 2010 figures and is described by ISO as a “significant increase”, the growth rate was half that of the previous year, which saw numbers rise by 13%, and is the slowest since the standard was launched in 1999.
Again, 14001 has proved both popular and effective at providing a global framework through which organisations across the world manage their impacts on the environment. It is testament to the vision of business that even during this time of economic uncertainty, continued growth in the number of companies that are now certified demonstrates that investing in environmental measures plays a fundamental role in helping companies and economies build a sustainable future.The United Kingdom has maintained its position as one of the top five countries globally. This is great news for UK plc as companies are using 14001 to maintain competitive advantage, cutting costs, enhancing their reputation and winning new business.
The headline figures for the main management systems standards are given in the table, below, and more detailed anlaysis follows:
ISO 14001:2004
ISO 14001:2004, which gives the requirements for environmental management systems, retains its global relevance for organizations wishing to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner. Up to the end of December 2011, at least 267 457 ISO 14001:2004 certificates had been issued, a growth of 6 % (+15 909), in 158 countries, two more than in the previous year. The top three countries for the total number of certificates were China, Japan and Italy, while the top three for growth in the number of certificates in 2011 were China, Italy and France.
ISO 9001:2008
ISO 9001:2008 gives the requirements for quality management systems. Certification to the standard is used in global supply chains to provide assurance about suppliers’ ability to satisfy quality requirements and to enhance customer satisfaction in supplier-customer relationships. Up to the end of December 2011, at least 1 111 698 certificates had been issued in 180 countries and economies, two more than in the previous year. The 2011 total represents a decrease of 1 % (-6812) over 2010. The top three countries for the total number of certificates issued were China, Italy and Japan, while the top three for growth in the number of certificates in 2011 were Italy, China and Romania.
ISO/IEC 27001:2005
ISO/IEC 27001:2005 gives the requirements for information security management systems. At the end of December 2011, at least 17 509 ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certificates, a growth of 12 % (1 883) had been issued in 100 countries and economies, eight less than in the previous year. The top three countries for the total number of certificates were Japan, India and the United Kingdom, while the top three for growth in the number of certificates in 2011 were Japan, Romania and China.
It is interesting to note that ISO 50001:2011 gives the requirements for energy management systems has recorded 461 certificates were issued in 32 countries in its first year with just 11 certificates issued in the UK. The take up of the standard is well below that of 14001, which saw close to 14,000 certificates issued in its first year, and also falls short of the other sector-specific management systems including food safety (4,122 certificates) and medical devices (2,403).
A copy of the Executive Summary of the ISO Survey report can be downloaded from http://bit.ly/10yE3tO and the individual datasets from http://bit.ly/UBSaIv