#433 – THE MARKETING OF SUSTAINABILITY AND ITS COLLAPSE – DAVID ROSS PH.D.

Featured

I almost feel like something akin to an old man in a wooden rocking chair, armed with a whittling knife, as I share this with you. But, here goes….

The early days of working in sustainability programs were something special. Indeed, back in the ‘90s, it felt exciting. Exciting because it felt like corporations were genuinely trying to make a difference when it came to reducing their “footprint”. Instead of just meeting legal obligations with respect to minimising operational impacts on the environment, these were proactive efforts to reduce the use of energy and water, as well as reduce waste generation. Continue reading

#394 – UNSUSTAINABILITY RISKS: BLISSFULLY UNAWARE OF THE DARK CLOUDs – DAVID ROSS PH.D.

Featured

 Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. – Chief Seattle 

In 1983, the UN General Assembly called for a “global agenda for change” to consider how the international community could better deal with social and environmental issues. The resulting “Our Common Future” Report made the following key point:  Continue reading

#225 – INTEGRATING ISO 31000:2018 RISK MANAGEMENT THROUGHOUT THE ORGANIZATION – BOB POJASEK

Featured

In the Beginning

In 2012, ISO’s ‘Joint Technical Coordinating Group’ (JTCG) completed work to provide a high-level structure, text, and common terms and definitions for all future and revised management system standards. All Technical Committees developing management system standards were required to follow Annex SL found in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, Annex SL[i].    Continue reading

#223 – DEMONSTRATING CONFORMITY TO YOUR ISO MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BY MAKING A ‘SELF DETERMINATION’ AND ‘SELF DECLARATION’ – BOB POJASEK

Featured

AAIAAQDGAAwAAQAAAAAAAAuRAAAAJGJmZGQ0Njg0LWFlNDUtNDcyZC04MTVhLWJkNmM1Zjg1MGZmOQ-150x150In my previous blog (Issue 222), it was noted that ISO clearly states – “There is no requirement to certify an ISO management system standard.[i]”  This statement by ISO is unqualified.  It means any ISO management system standard.  ISO also states in the management system standards with the high-level structure – “This International Standard[ii] contains the requirements used to assess conformity. Continue reading

#222 – ARE YOU READY TO ‘SELF DECLARE’ YOUR ISO 9001:2015 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM – BOB POJASEK

Featured

AAIAAQDGAAwAAQAAAAAAAAuRAAAAJGJmZGQ0Njg0LWFlNDUtNDcyZC04MTVhLWJkNmM1Zjg1MGZmOQ-150x150Why did your company decide not to certify to ISO 9001:2015?

Many companies decided not to seek certification for a transition to ISO 9001:2015.  On September 15, 2018, their certification to ISO 9001:2008 was no longer valid unless they entered into an agreement with a certification company. No one has yet conducted a thorough post-mortem on this situation.  However, there are some clear deficiencies in how ISO 9001:2015 was written and how it was presented to the companies that were already certified to ISO 9001:2008. Continue reading