What you'll learn:
- What is an integrated management system
- How to implement an integrated management system
- The main requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001
- The audit of an integrated management system
An integrated management system (IMS) brings quality, environmental, and occupational health and safety management together in a single, efficient framework — one system meeting the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, instead of three parallel systems duplicating effort.
This course teaches you to understand, implement and audit an IMS. Rather than studying each standard separately, we focus on their common structure, shared principles and practical integration — showing how organizations align their processes to manage quality, environment, and health and safety (QHSE) in a unified way.
Built on the Harmonized Structure
All ISO management system standards share the Harmonized Structure (HS, formerly known as the High Level Structure, HLS) — the common clause framework that makes integration possible. The course follows it step by step:
Context of the organization — how internal and external issues and stakeholder expectations shape the IMS, and how to establish its scope
Leadership — top management commitment, the integrated policy, and clearly defined roles and responsibilities
Planning — identifying and addressing risks and opportunities, setting measurable integrated objectives, and planning the actions to achieve them
Support — resources, competence, awareness, communication and documented information, working cohesively across the three disciplines
Operation — process control, management of change, outsourcing and emergency preparedness, with the specific operational requirements of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001
Performance evaluation — monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation, internal audits, and management review
Improvement — nonconformities, corrective actions and continual improvement in an integrated system
A course with an auditing focus
Each section includes practical guidance on auditing the integrated system — from evaluating leadership involvement and organizational context to assessing audit programmes and continual improvement. You will gain the confidence to conduct real-world IMS audits that go beyond checking compliance and add genuine value. Throughout, theory is paired with practical examples from diverse industries.
Why integrate?
Organizations with an IMS run one set of policies, one internal audit programme, one management review and one improvement process instead of three — reducing documentation, audit fatigue and cost, while giving management a single picture of performance. Integrated certification audits also typically reduce total audit time compared to three separate audits.
Who this course is for
QHSE, HSE and quality managers implementing or maintaining integrated systems
Professionals who hold one of the three standards (e.g. ISO 9001) and are extending to the others
Internal auditors preparing to audit two or three disciplines in combined audits
Consultants building or streamlining management systems for clients
Management system coordinators in organizations certified to multiple ISO standards
Quality. Environment. Occupational health and safety. Three perspectives — one system, and a clear path to managing it.
