Volume 7 · Issue 5 · May 2002

Contents 

Page 17…

Stepping Up to ISO 9004: Focus on Risk Management

Russell T. Westcott writes that a risk factor that turns into an actual negative event has the potential to disrupt your organization’s processes and leave you unable to meet customer requirements. The point of your QMS is to pursue customer satisfaction under any conditions, which will benefit the organization when it provides the impression that you were prepared to perform in a marketplace filled with risks. While ISO 9001/4:2000 do not directly address risk assessment and management, Westcott notes that ISO 9004:2000 addresses this topic in recommendations spread out in its sections. In the eighth entry in a series on stepping up to ISO 9004:2000 to go beyond a baseline ISO 9001:2000 QMS and pursue TQM, Westcott explores some risks that may impact an organization’s processes and suggests ways in which you can assess and manage such risks.