After the publication of a recent Community article on Risk Management within the healthcare sector, ISO announced on 18th Nov 09 the new international standard for risk management - ISO 31000:2009 had been published.
Entitled ‘ISO 31000:2009, Risk management - Principles and guidelines’, the standard provides principles and generic guidelines on risk management to help organisations of all types and sizes manage risk effectively. Not specific to any industry or sector, ISO 31000 recommends organisations develop, implement and continuously improve a risk management framework as an integral component of their management system.
The standard sets out principles for effective risk management, a framework to embed it throughout an organisation at all levels, and a process for the management of risk. It can be applied to a wide range of activities, including strategies and decisions, operations, processes, functions, projects, products, services and assets. ISO 31000 is not intended as a standard against which an organisation can be certified, instead it should be utilised to complement risk management processes in existing and future standards.
ISO 31000:2009 and ISO Guide 73:2009 are now available to purchase.
We’d like to hear from you if you have any interest in this standard and how it might be integrated into your Management Systems. How will this affect your current Risk Management processes and procedures? Will it be a help or a hindrance? Let us know.