Burden or Benefit? ISO9000/Vision 2000/TQM

Abstract

Management of Safety and environmental performance is increasingly integrated with management of business and technical matters. As this process progresses, busy managers with dwindling staff seek simplifying and especially time and cost efficient means to accommodate these demands. VISION 2000, the planned integration of ISO 9000/Q90 standards with the principles of Total Quality Management, portends to offer the simplication through consistency. Yet, many skeptics prognose costly and ineffective bureaucracy in the rush toward this goal. This paper describes some practical approaches to achieve effective management of safety and environmental performance while maintaining consistency with VISION 2000 principles. A top-down approach is recommended, since the common elements in each system focus on management commitment and responsibility. Management's demonstrated commitment must generate employee involvement, especially in training. To be practical, quality management of safety and environment must focus on bringing order to the existing elements of a program, rather than inventing a "new system from scratch. The use of common sense is encouraged without sacrificing the structure that is so urgently needed in many existing systems. Finally, a discussion of the costs and benefits of implementing improved safety/envirornmental/quality management is presented.