Third party assessment: the role of the maintenance function in an integrated management system

This paper discusses the significant role of the maintenance function in an integrated management system and discusses how the efforts of maintenance management can contribute a value added perspective to the third party assessment process. Due to global competitiveness, businesses are now trading internationally and are expected to have management systems certified through a third party to international standards enhancing customer‐supplier relationships and stakeholder perceptions. This paper discusses several international standards such as ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems standard, ISO 14001:1996 Environmental Management Systems standard and the internationally developed British Standards Institute OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety Management specification and how they might affect maintenance organisations in the future.