Chapter 6 – Sustainability management systems and processes

This chapter provides an overview of the most important sustainability management systems and their processes. In recent years, there has been a great growth in international standards regarding quality, environment, occupational health, safety and sustainability. These international standards are issued by an international standardization body, which is represented by national standardization institutions working on industrial and commercial standardization. This increase in standardization is largely due to the globalization of trade and economic integration in the European Union. The chapter begins with the emergence and work of the International Standardization Organization (ISO) regarding certification processes and standards. The ISO 9000 quality management system is presented. An overview of environmental management systems illustrates ISO 14000 and its scope. Next follows a presentation of ISO 45001, which is a series of standards that form the basis of a management system for work environment issues. A presentation of ISO 26000 shows how this sustainability guideline covers the broad spectrum of organizations’ activities that exist. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the challenges that organizations face when introducing and using sustainability management systems and their processes.