Since 2003, the oil and gas sector applies their own quality management system technical specification for suppliers: ISO/TS 29001. This specification supplements ISO 9001 that provides general requirements. The publication of ISO 9001:2015 was reason for the oil and gas sector to revise ISO/TS 29001:2010 and transform this document into an ISO standard. ISO 29001:2020 was published on 15 May 2020 and is available for implementation.
ISO 9001:2015 has introduced a step change to the way that quality management systems are to be implemented across all industries. The update takes into account the major advances in information and data management, and sets clear top management accountabilities to ensure organisations establish a consistent process based approach. It also requires that processes are tailored, implemented and verified in accordance with organisational, product and service risk.
ISO 9001:2015 provides an excellent risk-based management system framework which the oil and gas sector should employ as a key enabling strategy for meeting the competitive challenges in a manner that realises opportunities and manages associated risks. With the publication of ISO 29001:2020, the oil and gas sector is completely aligned with ISO 9001:2015. This new edition incorporates latest working practices and introduces a risk-based approach to the way organisations specify and implement quality management system requirements in their supply chain.
Added value
ISO 29001:2020 fully adopts ISO 9001:2015 and provides additional requirement and guidance that creates added value for the oil and gas sector, like:
- Implementing the sector best practices with verifiable requirements and guidance, to ensure the implementation of a consistent process approach (PDCA).
- Ensuring processes systematically identify organisational and specific product and service risks in order to assure safety, reliability and performance:
- where the levels of risk are acceptable or tolerable avoid introducing unnecessary complexity;
- where a level of risk is not acceptable or tolerable, incorporate risk management process to:
- remove/modify/mitigate risk;
- ensure relevant parties understand their accountabilities for managing risk; - allow options for risk-based assurance and verification programmes.
- Incorporating a new annex dealing with conformity assessment to enable customers to select their verification involvement, and organisations to identify their verification requirements for externally provided processes, products and services. This annex to include a number of example matrices for individual product/service categories, detailing verification requirements against identified risk categories, based on the principles established in ISO/TR 13881:2000, Petroleum and natural gas industries Classification and conformity assessment of products, processes and services.
- Providing options (data sheet) to minimise the need for organisations to issue specific quality requirement documents every time they contract for products and services.
- Aligning output with IOGP JIP 33 on standardising procurement specifications.
- Recognising where an organisation is implementing a customer approved QMS for products and services, which are covered by a complementary QMS standard that assures compliance to a technical standard “such as API Spec Q1 or Q2 for oilfield products and services”, the complementary QMS processes are accepted to meet the relevant requirements of ISO 29001.
Implementation
The oil and gas sector is developing additional documents to support the implementation of ISO 29001:2020 within the sector. These documents will describe the competence requirements for audits and certification of sector-specific management systems and will contain harmonised rules for assessing conformity to ISO 29001:2020. These additions should ensure that ISO 29001 certificates are trusted and with that create added value for all organisations part of the supply chain as well as other stakeholders.
In addition to these new documents, the sector has already published three supporting documents to support the sector with implementing ISO 29001 or referring to this standard in their procurement activities:
- Correlation matrices ISO 29001 with ISO/TS 29001, API Spec Q1 and Spec API Q2.
- Guidance for use of ISO 29001
- Rationale ISO 29001 supplements to ISO 9001
More information
ISO 29001:2020 has been developed by ISO/TC 67/WG 2 ‘Operating integrity management’. More information including the aforementioned supporting documents is available at their website. Interested to take part in the new standardisation activities or questions / suggestions? Contact the leadership of ISO/TC 67/WG 2 (see contact details website).