Welp MagazineWhat is this standard about?
“Continual improvement” is a fundamental concept within the ISO High Level Structure and has been intrinsic to management system standards for many years – but it’s never been well defined. This new British Standard was developed to close that gap by providing authoritative guidance on continual improvement and how to quantify it.
Who is this standard for?
It’s relevant to all industries, especially healthcare, construction and manufacturing and to organizations of every type and size. In particular it will be used by:
- Quality managers
- Project managers
- Programme managers
- Senior management
Why should you use this standard?
BS 8624 describes requirements for continual improvement and gives methods and examples of recognized techniques.
It provides authoritative guidance on the meaning and nature of continual improvement and supplies common methods for its quantification, to be used within organisations’ management systems.
The standard links to PDCA and DMAIC and also discusses the organizational context and performing and managing continual improvement. It provides a common framework for continual improvement that can be applied in future standards’ development.
It’s the first authoritative reference on continual improvement across standards and will support the use of management system standards in all areas, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 31000. It also underpins the use of ISO 18404 for Lean and Six Sigma implementation, as well as the guidance standard ISO 13053.
Why you need the BS 8624:2019 Standard?
Developed by experts in the field and tested within companies of all types and sizes it provides authoritative guidance on the meaning and nature of continual improvement, and supplies common methods for its quantification, to be used within organisations’ management systems.
The standard bridges many management system standards, linking to PDCA the DMAIC Lean Six Sigma cycles and ISO 18404 for Lean and Six-Sigma implementation and provides a common framework for continual improvement that can be applied in future standards’ development.
It is the first authoritative reference on continual improvement across standards and will support the use of management system standards in all areas, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 31000.
Finally, it underpins the use of ISO 13053 guidance standard for Lean and Six-Sigma implementation.
What is the difference between BS 8624 and the PDCA cycle?
PDCA is the Plan Do Check Act cycle that forms part of the PDCA management system and though it is a helpful framework, it does not deal with improvement or change.
The PDCA cycle is used to take the decision to do something about a problem, recognize the cause and plan to fix it.
For many years, organisations have used the PDCA cycle to identify a problem and take action to address it. But it’s very hard to demonstrate to an interested party that this has occurred. When taking steps to address a problem, for example, how easy is it to prove that you’ve linked the problem with the actions you’ve taken?
This standard provides the means to deal with improvement and change management and the development of improvement models that can be reported back to interested parties in a measurable way if required.
