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Integrated management systems explained
An IMS in one box
- What it is one system for several standards
- Usual trio ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001
- Built on the harmonized structure, clauses 4 to 10
- Built once policy, audits, review, corrective action
- Kept separate each standard’s own risk method
- Certificate each standard certified separately
- Combined audits Global ACI-TECH-3-008
- PAS 99 withdrawn 16 November 2022
- Food sites sits beside FSSC 22000, not inside it
- ASC course FS82, about 32 hours, R7 950
A site that adds standards one at a time tends to end up with three systems in one office. A quality policy signed by one managing director, an environmental policy signed by the next, and a safety policy nobody can find. A risk register in quality, an aspects register in SHE, a HIRA in the safety officer’s laptop. Three audit programmes, three management reviews, three corrective action logs, and the same five managers answering for all of it. An integrated management system is the cure for that, and it is simpler than the consultants’ diagrams make it look.
What does integrated actually mean on a site?
It means each piece of the management system exists once and carries all three disciplines. Process owners answer for quality, environment and OH&S in their own process, instead of handing two of the three to a coordinator.
| One of each | What it carries |
|---|---|
| One context register | Issues and interested parties, marked against the standards they affect |
| One scope and process map | Process cards that carry quality controls, environmental aspects and OH&S hazards side by side |
| One policy, or a set chosen on purpose | Every commitment each standard requires, by name |
| One document control | Procedures that serve several standards, and fewer of them |
| One competence and awareness system | One training matrix covering quality, environmental and OH&S competence |
| One audit programme | Combined internal audits, planned for a year |
| One management review | Every input each standard requires, on one agenda |
| One corrective action process | Nonconformities, complaints, environmental incidents and OH&S incidents, taken to root cause in one record |
What an integrated management system is not
Four misunderstandings cost sites the most time.
- It is not one risk method. Quality risks and opportunities, environmental aspects and OH&S hazards can sit in one register with shared owners and IDs, but each keeps its own method and criteria. Scoring a solvent spill and a late delivery on the same five by five matrix produces nonsense.
- It is not a certificate. No accredited body certifies an IMS as such. Each standard is still certified on its own.
- It is not a manual or a template pack. None of the three standards requires a manual or a set number of procedures. Buying one usually adds documents nobody follows.
- It is not a fourth standard. There is no ISO standard for an IMS. ISO publishes a handbook, The integrated use of management system standards, as guidance only.
Why does integration work? The harmonized structure
Because ISO writes its management system standards on a common skeleton. The harmonized structure, formerly the high level structure and often called Annex SL, gives them the same clause numbers 1 to 10, common text and common core terms. ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026 are written on the current text. ISO 45001:2018 was written on an earlier version of it, so it has no 6.3 and orders clause 10 differently. Like any standard on the structure, it also adds requirements of its own, such as 5.4 on consultation and participation of workers.
| Clause | ISO 9001:2026 | ISO 14001:2026 | ISO 45001:2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Context | Includes whether climate change is relevant | Includes climate change within environmental conditions | Includes whether climate change is relevant (Amendment 1:2024) |
| 5.4 | Not in the standard | Not in the standard | Consultation and participation of workers |
| 6.3 Planning of changes | Yes | Yes, new in 2026 | No 6.3. Management of change sits in 8.1.3 |
| 8.2 | Requirements for products and services | Emergency preparedness and response | Emergency preparedness and response |
| 9.1.2 | Customer satisfaction | Evaluation of compliance | Evaluation of compliance |
| 10 Improvement | Restructured in 2026, 10.1 continual improvement and 10.2 nonconformity and corrective action | Restructured in 2026, 10.1 continual improvement and 10.2 nonconformity and corrective action | 10.1 general, 10.2 incident, nonconformity and corrective action, 10.3 continual improvement |
Two lessons sit in that table. The same number can mean different things, as 8.2 and 9.1.2 show, so a combined audit checklist must not merge clauses by number alone. And the ISO 45001 requirements that have no partner, worker participation above all, are the ones that disappear first when a quality system is stretched to cover the other two.
What is common and what is specific to one standard?
| Built once for all three | ISO 9001 only | ISO 14001 only | ISO 45001 only |
|---|---|---|---|
| Context, interested parties, scope, policy, roles, risks and opportunities, objectives, resources, competence, awareness, communication, documented information, operational planning, planning of changes, monitoring, internal audit, management review, nonconformity, corrective action, continual improvement | Customer focus, requirements for products and services, design and development, release of products, nonconforming outputs, customer satisfaction | Environmental aspects and their significance, life cycle perspective, prevention of pollution | Worker consultation and participation, hazard identification, assessment of OH&S risks, hierarchy of controls, contractors, incident investigation |
ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 also share three requirements ISO 9001 does not have in the same form. Both plan around legal requirements and compliance obligations, both require emergency preparedness, and both require the evaluation of compliance. On a South African site one legal register can carry NEMA and the specific environmental management Acts, the National Water Act, municipal by-laws and permits, the OHS Act and its regulations, the COID Act, and the product law the quality side answers to. Our guide to building the ISO 14001 legal register shows the environmental half.
Build one system for all three standards
FS82 teaches every clause of ISO 9001:2026, ISO 14001:2026 and ISO 45001:2018 side by side, and has you build the integrated system on one case site in a ten-tab IMS Workbench.
Enrol now, R7 950Read the course outlineR7 950, about 32 hours, lifetime access. R5 600 less than the three single courses.
Is there an IMS certificate?
Not from an accredited certification body. There is no ISO standard for an IMS to certify to. A certification body can audit all three standards in one combined audit, following Global ACI-TECH-3-008, formerly IAF MD 11, and still certifies each standard separately, each for its own scope. Some certification bodies issue a certificate per standard. Others issue one certificate that lists each standard with its own approval number. A site can say it holds ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certificates. It cannot accurately say it is IMS certified.
A combined audit can take less time than three separate ones, because shared processes are audited once. How much less is the certification body’s decision, based on how far the system is really integrated, so be wary of anyone who quotes a fixed saving before seeing the system. Our guide to combined audits explains how they are planned.
What happened to PAS 99?
PAS 99:2012, BSI’s specification for integrated management systems, was withdrawn on 16 November 2022. In December 2025 BSI in Japan announced it would end its PAS 99 audits, because the harmonized structure now does the job PAS 99 was written for. Integration today is built on the harmonized structure of the standards themselves. PAS 99 survives in a few legacy registrations, but it is no longer the way to build an IMS.
Can an IMS sit beside FSSC 22000?
Yes, and on food sites it usually should. FSSC 22000 keeps its own certificate, its own audits and its own food safety hazard analysis. The IMS and the food safety system can share document control, internal audit, corrective action and management review. What they should not share is the hazard analysis, because a HACCP study and an OH&S risk assessment answer different questions. If the food safety system itself still has to be built, see Implementation of FSSC 22000 Version 7.
Who should build an integrated system?
Sites that hold one of the three certificates and have been asked for the other two. Sites that run two or three certified systems side by side and are tired of paying for it in management time. Consultants who build systems for clients. If that is you, the next step is the method, and our guide to integrating ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 step by step sets out the plan, from the gap assessment to the combined Stage 2.
FS82 or the three single ISO courses?
| FS82 Integrated Management Systems | Three single Understanding and Implementation courses | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | R7 950 | R13 550 in all (R4 800, R4 800 and R3 950) |
| Study time | About 32 hours | About 68 hours (24, 24 and 20) |
| What it teaches | Every clause of the three standards side by side, weighted to what is common, what differs and how one process carries both | Each standard on its own at full depth |
| Tools | One IMS Workbench in ten tabs | A set of tools in each course |
| Certificate | One Certificate of Achievement, FS82 | One certificate per course |
Take FS82 if your job is one system for all three standards. Take the single courses, ISO 9001:2026, ISO 14001:2026 and ISO 45001:2018, if you answer for one standard or want each at full depth before joining them. All the courses and free guides for each standard are on the ISO 9001:2026 training, ISO 14001:2026 training and ISO 45001 training pages.
Questions people ask
What is an integrated management system?
An integrated management system is one set of processes, records and owners that meets the requirements of more than one management system standard, usually ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. Shared requirements are built once, and requirements only one standard has are built inside the same processes.
Is there an IMS certificate?
Not from an accredited certification body. There is no ISO standard for an IMS. After a combined audit the certification body still certifies each standard separately, each for its own scope, whether on separate certificates or as separately numbered entries on one certificate.
Can one policy cover ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001?
Yes, if it keeps every commitment each standard requires, including protection of the environment and prevention of pollution for ISO 14001, and eliminating hazards, reducing OH&S risks and consulting workers for ISO 45001.
Is PAS 99 still used?
Rarely. PAS 99:2012 was withdrawn on 16 November 2022, and in December 2025 BSI in Japan announced it would end its PAS 99 audits. Integration is now built on the harmonized structure of the standards themselves.
Does ISO 45001 follow the harmonized structure?
Yes, on the version of the text that applied in 2018. That is why it has no 6.3 and why its clause 10 runs 10.1 general, 10.2 incident, nonconformity and corrective action, and 10.3 continual improvement. Like any standard on the structure it also adds requirements of its own, such as 5.4 on consultation and participation of workers and management of change in 8.1.3.
Can an integrated management system include FSSC 22000?
It can sit beside it. FSSC 22000 keeps its own certificate and audits, and the two systems can share document control, internal audit, corrective action and management review, while the food safety hazard analysis stays separate.
Is a combined audit cheaper than three separate audits?
Often it takes less audit time, because shared processes are audited once. How much less is the certification body’s decision under Global ACI-TECH-3-008, based on how far the system is really integrated.
Learn to build an integrated system
Seven modules, 51 lessons, 53 case packs, the ten-tab IMS Workbench, three video proctored practical stages set at the case site, and a video proctored final.
Enrol now, R7 950Read the course outlineR7 950. About 32 hours. Lifetime access. Prices in rand, no VAT added.
Sources
- ASC Food Safety Training, Integrated Management Systems FS82, course page
- BSI Japan, press release, December 2025, end of PAS 99:2012 audits
- ISO, The integrated use of management system standards (IUMSS) handbook
- UKAS, publications update August 2026, Global ACI-TECH-3-008 replaces IAF MD 11
- Global ACI, documents library
