The ISO 9000 standards define a management system as a set of elements that interrelate or interact to establish policy and objectives and to achieve these objectives. This kind of system can provide a structure for continuous improvement and increase the likelihood of satisfying customers and other stakeholders. According to the standards, this system gives the organisation and its customers confidence, and is capable of providing products/services that systematically meet the requirements agreed or defined by the company.

All the different parts of an organisation’s management system can be integrated into a single system, together with the quality, safety and environment management system, using common elements. This may facilitate planning, resource allocation, the identification of additional objectives and the assessment of the overall efficiency of the organisation. Hera therefore believes it is essential to integrate the quality, safety and environment system within the context of governance and, in particular, to create strategic synergies with the internal auditing and risk management systems.

The integrated quality, safety and environment management system is considered a benchmark structure for system integration and the implementation of principles and values within the context of the organisation. In this context, corporate risk assessment and correct risk management presupposes the correct identification of processes and the interpretation thereof on a systematic level.

Within the context of its activities, the Hera Group has identified a number of interrelated and interacting processes and has adopted an integrated quality, safety and environment management system. Stakeholders play an important role in defining the elements involved in these processes.

Defining the quality, safety and environment objectives is an integral part of the process of creating the balanced scorecard.

This aims to carry out regular systematic assessments of the appropriateness, adequacy, effectiveness and efficiency of the overall management system with regard to policies and objectives.

The review that follows involves assessing the need to adapt policy and objectives to the changing demands and expectations of the stakeholders.

Page updated 22 August 2011