On this page one can find brief information on some topics that are sometimes viewed as supplemental to Quality Management.

The rules governing the development and deployment of Functional Safety systems illustrate the Process Approach to product development, and embody many principles of Total Quality Management.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) shares much in common with Quality Management, as implementation of a robust CSR system that adds value to your organization follows many of the principles and guidelines of a Quality Management System.

Functional Safety

What is Functional Safety?

A safety system is functionally safe if Random, Systematic and Common Cause failures do not lead to a malfunctioning of the safety system and do not result in Injury or death of humans, Pollution of the environment, or Loss of equipment or production.

The safety function of a device has to be guaranteed both under normal conditions and in the existence of faults. The goal is to prevent a failure that will result in a not-safe state.

Functional Safety is different from Electrical Safety and Thermal Safety
Functional Safety is not concerned with the overall quality or reliability of a product, but only with the product’s Safety Function(s).

Tolerable Risk

The aim of Functional Safety is to bring risk down to a tolerable level and to reduce its negative impact. Functional Safety measures risk by how likely it is that a given event will occur and how severe it would be.

The target level is achieved by a combination of Risk Assessment, and Risk Reduction.

International Standard IEC 61508

The primary reference standard for Functional Safety is IEC 61508 - “Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems”. The standard provides measures for avoidance of systematic faults and control of random faults. In essence, it describes good engineering practice concerning fault avoidance.

The standard contains seven parts.

Normative (Required)

1. General Requirements

2. Hardware Requirements

3. Software Requirements

4. Definitions and Abbreviations

Informative (Information and Recommended Guidelines)

5. Examples of methods for the determination of safety integrity levels

6. Guidelines on the application of IEC 61508-2 and IEC 61508-3

7. Overview of techniques and measures

Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR

What is Corporate Social Responsibility?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment, through transparent and ethical behavior that:

contributes to sustainable development, including health and the welfare of society;
takes into account the expectations of stakeholders;
is in compliance with applicable law and consistent with international norms of behavior; and
is integrated throughout the organization and practiced in its relationships

The quality of a CSR management system is assessed by examining evidence in

Policies
Actions, and
Reports

Primary Themes

The following are the primary themes that are addressed in CSR:

Environmental impact
Labor Practices and Human Rights
Business ethics
Sustainable procurement

Reference Guidelines

Among the international guidelines on CSR, ISO 26000 provides guidance on how businesses and organizations can operate in a socially responsible way. This means acting in an ethical and transparent way that contributes to the health and welfare of society.

The UN Global Compact is a voluntary initiative based on CEO commitments to implement universal sustainability principles and to take steps to support UN goals. The UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles are derived from: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption .