Both standards moved. This is built to ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026, and includes the transition edition for systems still certified to the 2015 editions.
ISO 14001:2026 published in April, ISO 9001:2026 in September. Most organizations hold certificates issued against the 2015 editions and move across on their certification bodies’ timetables — two certificates, two clocks, unlikely to fall on the same date. The purchase includes a second file marking every point either edition changed what is required, so one purchase serves you now and after both transitions.
What is actually in the Q/EMS document
31 pages covering the governance layer of both systems — context, interested parties, scope, processes, leadership, policy, roles and authorities, compliance obligations, objectives, planning of changes, resources, communication, monitoring and management review. Written as a filled-in worked example, with every requirement marked [Q] for quality scope, [E] for environmental, or unmarked where it serves both.
Thirty-one pages is a lot. That is why MSI's QuickStart comes with it.
The QuickStart is eight pages listing thirty-six decisions across five stages, in the order where each one builds on the last, with the section of the procedure where each is explained. Name the people, set the boundaries, set direction, set the operating rhythm, set the records. It is included in this purchase.
Why a combined procedure rather than two
Two separate leadership procedures drift. The context determination is made twice and the two versions stop agreeing. The policy is written by the quality side and the environmental commitments get bolted on. The review is chaired from one side and the other side’s inputs arrive by assumption.
This procedure makes one determination, one policy and one review serve both systems — and records, in Appendix D, every point where the two standards genuinely diverge, what this procedure does about it, and what the alternative was. Nine divergences, each with a decision you confirm or change before adoption.
The two inputs a merged review loses
01 · The compliance-obligation fulfillment trend
ISO 14001 6.1.3 requires compliance obligations to be determined and their fulfillment evaluated, with the trend reaching management review. ISO 9001 has no counterpart — it handles statutory and regulatory requirements through customer requirements instead. A review chaired from the quality side has no prompt for it, so it arrives only when something has already gone wrong. This procedure names a compliance owner and makes the trend a required input.
02 · Customer satisfaction
The mirror image. ISO 9001 5.1.2 and 9.3.2 require it; ISO 14001 has no equivalent. A review chaired from the environmental side treats it as a commercial matter rather than a clause requirement. Both inputs get a named producer here, so neither depends on who is running the meeting.
What the 2026 editions changed
01 · Retained became available, in both
Neither 2026 edition uses “shall retain” any more. Records are available as documented information. Retention asks whether a record still exists and was kept long enough; availability asks whether someone here produces it today. A record in a departed administrator’s account, on a platform nobody else opens, satisfies the first and fails the second.
02 · The environmental policy now names its commitments
ISO 14001:2026 clause 5.2 names conserving natural resources, sustainable resource use, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and protecting biodiversity and ecosystems. The 2015 edition referred to further commitments without listing what they might be. Most environmental policies written before this year name none of the four. Worth checking yours against that list.
03 · Leadership grew from ten obligations to twelve
ISO 9001 clause 5.1.1 adds promoting quality culture and ethical behavior, which has no equivalent in either 2015 edition or in ISO 14001, and separates opportunity-based thinking from risk-based thinking. The whole list is relettered, so every 5.1.1 reference in a procedure written to the 2015 edition has moved.
04 · ISO 14001 clause 6.1 gained a subclause
Risks and opportunities is now 6.1.4 in its own right, and planning action moves to 6.1.5. Compliance obligations stays at 6.1.3.
What's included
- The complete Q/EMS governance procedure — 16 numbered sections covering the leadership, planning, communication and management review clauses of both standards, reconciled, editable Microsoft Word
- The transition edition — every 2026 change marked, with a front sheet separating what both editions did, what ISO 9001 did alone, and what ISO 14001 did alone
- MSI's QuickStart — eight pages turning this procedure into an ordered worklist of thirty-six decisions across five stages
- A process interaction map showing both scopes on one picture, as a landscape page and as an editable SVG
- A merged management review input table — every input either standard requires, marked by scope, each with a producing role, a frequency and a source record
- A compliance obligations section — determination, application, evaluation of fulfillment, and the review input, applied across both scopes as the house standard
- A combined policy section carrying both standards’ commitments, including the four ISO 14001:2026 names
- Quality culture and ethical behavior under ISO 9001 5.1.1 i), written as named behaviors with a way of observing each
- Planning of changes built as a gate, with the seven ISO 9001 6.3 considerations plus the ISO 14001 outcome test
- A records table with no blanks — owner, location, availability and retention for each, marked by scope
- A maturity ladder — nine elements, four levels each, described as observable behavior
- Appendix A — Management Review Record with the merged input set
- Appendix B — Change Record and Log
- Appendix C — Work instruction and worked example
- Appendix D — Integration decision record: nine divergences, what this procedure does, and the alternative for each
Every appendix, form and worked example is part of the document. Nothing is sold separately.
Who it's for
Quality and environmental managers, operations leaders and consultants at organizations certified to both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 under one management system — or running them separately and tired of the drift. Particularly useful where the two systems were certified at different times by different people and no longer agree on context, scope or who owns what.
Not sure where your system sits? The
free Leadership and Commitment Maturity Check has a Q/EMS path that scores the integration itself, not just one standard.
Questions
Thirty-one pages. Where do I start?
With the QuickStart, which is included. It lists thirty-six decisions across five stages, in the order that lets each build on the last, with the section where each is explained. Stage 1 is naming the people, because nothing else is decided until someone owns it.
We are certified to the 2015 editions. Is this the wrong version?
No. The purchase includes both: the procedure built to the 2026 editions, and a transition edition marking every change. Your certificates remain valid against the 2015 editions until they expire or your bodies move you across — and with two certificates there are two dates, which are unlikely to match. Confirm both rather than assuming one transition audit covers them, because the earlier of the two governs when this procedure has to be in place.
What is Appendix D and why does it matter?
Where the two standards genuinely differ, a combined procedure has to choose. Appendix D records all nine divergences, what this procedure does about each, and what the alternative was. Without that record, a merged procedure reads to an auditor like two standards stapled together by accident. With it, every difference is a decision you can defend.
Does it cover the whole of both standards?
No. It covers the governance layer of both — context, leadership, policy, objectives, planning, resources, communication, monitoring and management review. It references neighboring processes such as aspects and impacts, risk, competence, internal audit and corrective action rather than replacing them.
What format is it?
Editable Microsoft Word (.docx), with the process interaction map supplied separately as an editable SVG. The license permits the buying organization to use it across its own sites and issue it to employees, contractors and auditors, and permits consultants to adapt it for engagements they deliver.
Can you help us implement it?
Yes. Call MSI at
760-434-9141 to schedule a planning session.
