Mapping out ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and other management system standards

In the last two decades, we have witnessed an acceleration of the process of standardisation with regard to business management. Standards which correspond to the standardisation of a very wide range of aspects of business activity, such as quality management (e.g. ISO 9001), environmental management (e.g. ISO 14001), the prevention of occupational hazards and the provision of health and safety regulations in the workplace (e.g. OHSAS 18001) and corporate social responsibility (e.g. SA 8000) have been launched. All of these standards tend to have a very similar methodology in relation to their creation, structure, process of implementation and monitoring by a third party. The current work represents an attempt to synthesise and map this class of standards, known as management system standards, also referred to as meta‐standards, which have been so successful in recent years.