Not in an ISO management system’s policy anyway. Here’s why.

Whether you’re design a management system policy for quality, health and safety or environmental management – you name it – waffle won’t work.

What we mean by this is that whatever you say in your policy has to be done, no ifs no buts. If your actual management system, when in operation, does not reflect what is outlined in your policy it’s a nailed-on nonconformity.

Let’s imagine an organization who mass manufactures cakes. Mmm yum. This organization wants certify their environmental management system with ISO 14001. When designing the environmental management system, an enthusiastic employee with an eye for marketing decides to include the following phrase in their environmental management policy:

“Under our environmental management system, we will be the world’s most environmentally friendly cake manufacturer.”

It’s easy to make statements like this when you’re not expected to justify your claims with data, but in an ISO certified management system, you have no choice. You must be able to prove your claims.

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All that will happen in this case is that the auditor will look at their policy and ask how to substantiate their claim that they are the world’s most environmentally friendly cake manufacturer. Let’s face it, this claim is questionable given its sheer gravity.

How on earth do you know such a thing without measuring the environmental performance of every single cake manufacturer in the world? Come on, I think you’ve got better things to do than that.

In simple terms, how do you measure this? How do you prove this? You almost certainly can’t.

Boom. Nonconformity.

When we provide training or consultancy, we often coin this ‘marketing bumf.” This is where, in typical marketing style, what sounds good to consumers takes priority over pure reality. That kind of waffle won’t fly when designing an ISO management system.

It may seem obvious now, but we’ve seen so many clients fall for this. In an attempt to impress consumers, they fill their policy with claims that just aren’t accurate, and when it comes to their external audit this causes big problems.

So, what should you do? Quite simply, make your policy sensible. Make sure all your claims are grounded in reality and can be easily substantiated. Make sure your objectives are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based).

For our cake manufacturer, an alternative claim could relate to the amount of waste they discharge from their operations. This can be easily measured and achieved. Problem solved.