Future car

Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet statesman and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, was among the distinguished guests speaking at a high-level forum of automotive industry leaders organized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on 2 December in 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland, at the invitation of the ISO President for 2011-2012, Dr. Boris Aleshin.

With more than a billion estimated road vehicles in use worldwide, if the automotive sector uses state-of-the-art standards for aspects such as safety, performance, impact on the environment, and requirements for supply chain partners, this can have an enormous impact on all three dimensions of sustainable development – social, environmental and economic.

The ISO President’s Forum provided a unique opportunity for the automotive industry to engage with ISO and

other standards developing organizations, and discuss the needs and priorities for International Standards in the sector in the coming years.



Some 35 automobile industry leaders from companies such as Audi, Daimler, Renault, Volkswagen, and Volvo provided direct input on what standards are needed to meet the challenges of the industry and those of its customers and stakeholders. At least eight standards developing organizations were represented at the Forum.

As the event’s sponsor and host, ISO President Dr. Boris Aleshin highlighted the objectives of the Forum: “Past and current successes should not allow us to fall into the trap of complacency. We can always do better and this is why ISO has invited you here for this rather unique event.”

In his opening remarks, Mr. Gorbachev said that “Leaders in the automotive industry are now demonstrating greater understanding than simply developing the sector in a linear manner, i.e. increasing productivity and developing new markets, that may lead to a dead end.”

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Records facilitate transparency standard

In the wake of recent failures in corporate governance, two new ISO standards will help organizations to disclose corporate information quickly and effectively. Increased pressure by industry regulators obliges companies to provide such information because irregularities in financial management, ethical dealings, disclosure, and transparency of decisions have become common.

ISO 30300:2011, Information and documentation – Management systems for records – Fundamentals and vocabulary, and ISO 30301:2011, Information and documentation – Management systems for records – Requirements, distil the expertise of experts drawn from 27 countries on five continents.

These standards have been developed to be compatible with and complementary to other management system standards (MSSs) developed by ISO, such as ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management), and ISO/IEC 27001 (information security management).

ISO 30300 is the umbrella standard which includes the fundamentals and vocabulary common to the whole series, while ISO 30301 specifies requirements for an MSR (management system for records). Further standards in the ISO 30300 series are under development.

Judith Ellis and Carlota Bustelo, leaders of the working groups that developed the standards, underline that, “The ISO 30300 series offers the methodology for a systematic approach to the creation and management of records, aligned with organizational objectives and strategies. Managing records using an MSS supports cost-effective operational processes, such as storage, information retrieval, information re-use, litigation and due diligence.”

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ISO escalators security standard

A new ISO standard will increase the safety and user comfort of the escalators used around the world on a daily basis by millions of people.

Escalators are installed in many locations such as shopping centres, cinemas, airports, railway stations and subways and they are used every day in the world by millions of people.

ISO technical report ISO/TS 25740-1:2011, Safety requirements for escalators and moving walks – Part 1: Global essential safety requirements (GESR), specifies safety requirements for escalators and moving walks, the components and functions, and provides methods for

minimizing safety risks that might arise in the course of the operation and use of, or work on, escalators and moving walks.

The objective of this technical specification is to define a common global level of safety for all people using, or

associated with, escalators and moving walks and provide a uniform process for assessing their safety. The requirements will help:

Developers of safety or safety-related standards for escalators and moving walks
Designers of escalators and moving walks, manufacturers and installers, and maintenance and service organizations
Independent third-party conformity assessment bodies
Inspection and testing bodies and similar organizations.

ISO/TS 25740-1 facilitates innovation of escalators and moving walks not designed according to existing local, national or regional safety standards, while maintaining equal levels of safety (if such innovations become state of the art, they can then be integrated into the detailed local safety standard at a later date).

Developed as a product safety standard, the technical specification will help users and non-users to be protected from the effects of falling, shearing, crushing or abrasion, or other injuries. The objectives of the safety requirements are to:

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International standards – Creating confidence globally

 World Standards Day is celebrated each year on 14 October to pay tribute to the efforts of thousands of experts worldwide who collaborate within IEC, ISO and ITU to develop voluntary International Standards that facilitate trade, spread knowledge and disseminate technological advances.

The theme of World Standards Day 2011 is, “International standards – Creating confidence globally”.

The World Standards Day message is signed by the leaders of the three principal

international standardization organizations: Dr. Klaus Wucherer, President of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC): Dr. Boris Aleshin, President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and



Dr.Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The three organizations are the partners making up the World Standards Cooperation (WSC).

Their message points out that international standards for products and services underpin quality, ecology, safety, reliability, interoperability, efficiency and effectiveness. Standards do all of this while giving manufacturers confidence in their ability to reach out to global markets safe in the knowledge that their product will perform globally.

This is because international standards provide interoperability which in turn creates economies of scale and ensures that users can obtain equal service wherever they travel. So international standards benefit consumers, manufacturers and service providers alike. Importantly, in developing countries this accelerates the deployment of new products and services and encourages economic development.

“In today’s world we need to have a high level of expectation that things will work the way we expect them to work,” the three leaders affirm.

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Global market research

The first-ever set of agreed global minimum quality standards for the market, opinion and social research industries have been launched today – promising to put MR agencies across the world on an equal footing.

Experts from MRQSA, the UK research quality standards association, outlined the requirements of the new ISO mark in London today. It was the culmination of more than two years of development work involving 22 participating member countries.

Bill Blyth, chairman of MRQSA, said: “The benefits of transparent, unanimously agreed international standards is that they overcome barriers to trade and  reassure both internal and external clients that agencies can definitely do basic research.

“We have deliberately designed the voluntary standards to work in developing countries where companies may not have computers or telephones. This means it works for everybody in any market and is as simple as it can be.

“However, this is work in progress…the best stab we could make in the process of difficult worldwide negotiations. What we have isn’t perfect and amendments and improvements will no doubt take place over time.”

The differences between ISO 20252 and the departing UK standard, BS 7911, are numerous. Some of the new requirements are:

• Internal quality audits at pre-determined intervals

• Measuring customer/client satisfaction with an agency’s service

• Translation of questionnaires and related material to be carried out by individuals with ‘mother tongue’ competence in the language

• Explicit identification of potential problems in sampling and responses

• All self-completion questionnaires to be pre-tested

• If automatic coding is used, estimation of error rates are required

• Additional information to be included in stand-alone tables and delivered to client

• Methodological details to be passed to client whether they want it or not

• To include reasons why achieved sample fell short of what was intended and comment on reliability of findings.

• Limitations of projecting results to overall population to be stated for qualitative research

Penny Steele, chairman of the Interviewer Quality Control Scheme, said: “In terms of fieldwork, the requirements of the new ISO include all key elements of the BS 7911. However they are less detailed and prescriptive as we wanted to create an international standard that recognized and acknowledged how fieldwork is carried out in all the different countries.”

The key fieldwork differences include:

• The data, duration and identity of the interviewer must be recorded

• For qualitative recruitment all respondents must be validated, their ID confirmed and documented.

• No specific requirements for supervisor recruitment or training

• The use of written invitations for qual respondents or prior checking of new qual venues have gone

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Every product or service has an impact on the environment during all stages of its lifecycle, from extraction of resources to end-of-life treatment. The goal of ecodesign is to integrate environmental aspects into the design and development of products and services so as to reduce their environmental impacts and continually improve their environmental performance throughout their lifecycle. The result: cleaner products and services and a greener planet.

The newly published ISO 14006:2011, Environmental management systems – Guidelines for incorporating



ecodesign, gives “how to” guidance to product and service organizations on incorporating ecodesign into any environmental, quality or similar management system.

It will help organizations establish, document, implement, maintain and continually improve their management of ecodesign as part of an environmental management system (EMS). It applies to those environmental aspects of an organization’s products and/or services over which it has control or influence.

Integrating ecodesign offers several advantages:

• Economic benefits, e.g. through increased competitiveness, cost reduction and attraction of financing and investments
• Promotion of innovation and creativity, and identification of new business models
• Reduction in liability through reduced environmental impacts and improved product knowledge
• Improved public image
• Enhancement of employee motivation.

Martin Charter, Convenor of the working group responsible for ISO 14006, comments: “The new standard has been developed to help organizations implement ecodesign in a flexible and practical manner. The goal is for organizations to use these principles in order to design and develop more advanced, profitable and sustainable goods and services.”

ISO 14006:2011 is applicable to any organization, irrespective of their size, geographical location, culture, or complexity of their management systems, and no matter how simple or complex the product or service.

The new standard is intended to be used primarily by organizations that have implemented an EMS according to ISO 14001, whether or not they have a quality management system according (QMS) to ISO 9001. It can also be useful for other organizations without a formalized EMS or QMS but which are interested in reducing the adverse environmental impacts of their products.

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Car park ticket machines, computer keyboards, equipment for use in a cold store – these are just three varied examples of the millions of products that should be safe for people to use, accessible and should not pose unreasonable difficulties to operate. To achieve this, they must incorporate ergonomics principles into their design. A new ISO standard on ergonomics will therefore help optimize human well-being and overall system performance. “A substantial number of ergonomics standards have been developed to cover specific issues and different application domains, but ISO 26800:2011, Ergonomics – General approach, principles and concepts, will serve as an umbrella reference for all such standards and provide an integrated framework bringing together the basic

principles and concepts of ergonomics in one document, and thus providing a high-level view of the way in which ergonomics is applied“, commented Georg Krämer, Chair of ISO Technical Committee that developed the standard. “It is the first time where the “general ergonomics approach” and “principles and helpful “concepts” for the understanding and application of ergonomics principles, are presented in a comprehensive way in one standard”, he added.

Whatever the context (work, leisure or home), the underlying principles of ergonomics remain the same. These principles are fundamental to the design process wherever human involvement is expected, in order to ensure the optimal integration of human requirements and characteristics into a design.

ISO 26800 describes these fundamental principles in order to improve safety, performance and usability (effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction), while safeguarding and enhancing human health and well-being, and improving accessibility, e.g. for elderly persons and persons with disabilities.

Ergonomics addresses the interactions between the humans and other components of a system, such as other humans, machines, products, services, environments and tools, as appropriate, in order to optimise human well-being as well as the overall system performance. In ergonomics, a human-centred approach to design is fundamental, taking into account the specific nature of the task and its implications for the human.

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presented the award to Mr. François Falconnet, Chair of ISO/TC 34, and Secretary, Mme Sandrine Espeillac, and Twinned Secretary (see below) Ms. Carolina Figueiredo. Dr. Aleshin commented on the importance of one aspect of TC 34’s work – food safety, which is addressed by its ISO 22000 series of standards for food safety management.

“Every year,”he said, “unsafe food is responsible for deaths and illness around the world and so ensuring safe food supply chains is a priority. I am glad to say that since publication of ISO 22000 in 2005, use of the standard has increased rapidly both in numbers and across countries.



“However, the ISO 22000 series is one out of some 775 standards developed by this prolific committee whose work covers standardization in the field of human and animal foodstuffs, covering the food chain from primary production to consumption. These standards cover terminology, sampling, methods of test and analysis, product specifications, food and feed safety and quality management and requirements for packaging, storage and transportation.”

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This is the second time that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has hosted an ISO General Assembly.

The last time was in 1964, when ISO had 50 national members. Today, the organization is a network of the national standards institutes of 163 countries.

The ISO President, Dr. Boris Aleshin, in his opening address emphasized the importance of team work in relation to ISO’s contributions to the objectives of a crucial upcoming event next year, Rio+20.

Among other activities, Rio+20 will review the progress of sustainable development which was launched at the Earth Summit in 1992. He said: “Taking stock 20 years after the Earth Summit, ISO can point to having developed many practical tools to help the international community tackle the challenges of sustainability. At the same time, there is still a lot that can and is being done.” Dr. Aleshin pointed to examples of ISO standards published in recent years or under development that address sustainability challenges as varied as social responsibility, information and societal security, response to climate change, energy efficiency and renewable resources, sustainable building design and operation, fair and transparent contract procurement, water services, nanotechnologies, intelligent transport systems, food safety management and health informatics.

In the next few years, ISO will be able to offer standards on such key subjects as the carbon footprint of products, asset management, energy savings, human resource management, natural gas fuelling stations for vehicles, outsourcing, the safety of amusement park attractions, and biogas.

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The brochure explains that what makes ISO so effective is that it provides a non-political, non-partisan platform where standards are developed through open, transparent processes by representatives of the people that need them, implement them, are affected by them – and who can review and continually improve the results of their implementation.

Agreements reached at events like the Earth Summit and the forthcoming Rio+20 at the intergovernmental level, between public and private sectors, and with civil society still need to be translated into practical actions that can be implemented worldwide.

The brochure states: “ISO is where expert representatives from these stakeholder categories work together to develop globally relevant standards that provide concrete responses for tackling the challenges facing the international community.

“ISO is where people from around the world who want to make a positive difference put on the same team colours and strive to forge tools for transforming global agreement and willpower into global action.”

The brochure provides a concise description of ISO and how it works, and concrete examples of achievements by the international community, who will be represented at Rio+20, working within the ISO system. The examples illustrate how ISO standards serve as tools in the three dimensions of sustainable development. Examples include the following:

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