TAG-Consult Organize a Workshop on ISO 9001: 2015 Standards in Kuwait

TAG-Consult Organize a Workshop on ISO 9001: 2015 Standards in Kuwait

KUWAIT – Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. Consulting (TAG-Consult) organized a workshop on the 2015 version of the ISO 9001 Standards. This workshop provided information to practitioners and professionals interested in the fields of operations and quality, whom are observing the latest updates pertaining to the internationally most renowned ISO standards.

The workshop was led by the International Executive Director for TAG-Consult, Eng. Khaled Abu-Osbeh, who is a member of, and representing, the ISO technical committee number 176.

The workshop comes as a continuation of a series of workshops delivered by TAG-Org to transfer the knowledge related to these standards in the Arab region directly from the source (the ISO TC 176). The same workshop was held in the United Arab Emirates and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The meeting was attended by high-level decision makers, executives, and quality experts from more than 50 Kuwaiti institutions and companies, both of public and private sectors.

During the workshop, the latest developments were presented concerning the new version of the ISO 9001, compared to that of the 2008 version. The most highlighted adjustments pertained to focusing on risk management and organizational context, in addition to the change on the general structure of the standards to be aligned with High Level Structure (HLS) for management system standards.  This enables organizations of applying more than one ISO management standards (for example environmental management, occupational health and safety standards, and quality management), without the need of developing multiple systems with different structures.                                                                                             

The organizations already certified, will need to work on identifying, managing and controlling risks as part of new requirements to maintain their certification. On the other hand, senior management need to take a more active role by ensuring that the quality policy is aligned with the organization’s strategic directions.

The new version includes replacement of some terms including: “products and services” instead of just “products”; “documented information” rather than “records and documents”; and “external providers” instead of “suppliers”.

The organizations previously certified based on the 2008 version, will be given until September of 2018, for transitioning their certification in accordance with the new version of ISO standards.