ISO Standards

As per International Organization for Standardization (ISO), “Standards are distilled wisdom of people with expertise in their subject matter and who knows the needs of the organizations they represent….”

Thus, Standards are the benchmarks, against which a business, an individual or any firm is supposed to act. In many industries around the world, taking ISO certification and then acting according to them has become mandatory. Let us deliberate upon various such standards and what they represent:

1. ISO 14001 – It includes various standards related to Environment Management. It is mostly applicable on industries which pollute the environment or are highly dependent on natural resourced. It helps in lowering the depletion of natural environment. In fact, the main aim of this standard is to maintain a balance between profit maximization goal of an enterprise and sustainability.
2. ISO 9001 – It is Quality Management Standard. This means that the organizations which are willing to prove to their customers that there products are of best quality apply for them. Mostly, in case of exports of steel, iron or alloy products, it is a mandatory requirement.
3. ISO 45001 – This is one such important standard which every organization should take. It related to workplace safety of employees combined with providing them social welfare.
4. ISO 50001 – It applies on factories, companies, plants where there is heavy usage of energy. Few organizations are even obligated to cut off their unnecessary energy usage by switching off lights, fans when not in use. Also, switching off escalators, lifts in Metro Stations is also an example. It leads to reduction in direct cost and efficient management.
5. ISO 22000 – It is again a very important standard because it orients to food safety for public consumption. Mostly restaurants and cafes have to apply for this ISO in addition to food license.
6. ISO 20000 – Information Technology (IT) based companies have to take this standard certification to ensure quality of IT services. It also ensures data protection and installation of virus protected software.
7. ISO 27001 – It is for Information Security Management System in organizations. Hence, to make sure that there is enough security and there are no chances of data leak or no harm to company’s assets.

There are many other ISO standards as well but major ones are mentioned above. With the growing trend of globalization, it has become need of the hour for every organization to match to the international standards of working if it wants to grow with the world.