What to integrate?  Everything that we do.  Our quality management system, the environmental management system, the health and safety management system, the security system or any other systems.  It is practically very resource intensive and redundant if these systems are managed in isolation or separately.  Somehow, there must be a connection established between these different systems and they should be managed in an integrated way so that they are implemented, maintained, evaluated and audited in a more efficient and coherent way.

Whether it is a management system for quality, environment or health and safety, the basic principles are the same.  The following are the main components of a management system (Strahlendorf, 2007):

1. A Policy Statement - that provides the overarching set of values that the system is designed to promote;
   
2. A set of prescriptive Principles that further develop the meaning and intent of the Policy Statement;
   
3. Organizational Statements that outline the distribution of authority, responsibility and accountability for the management system throughout the organization;
   
4. An interlocking set of Programs, where each program is associated with a set of concerns and sets out the responsibilities, procedures, standards and so forth that address those concerns; and
   
5. Special Programs, the Change Control Program and the System Audit Program, which ensure that the other system elements are implemented, maintained current and are continuously improved.

The underlying concept of the management system components is the continual improvement cycle of planning, doing, checking and acting (PDCA).  Proper planning ensures that the system is robust enough to address the concerns or issues in question.  Doing is about implementing necessary programs to address the concerns under the prescribed organizational arrangements.  Checking is about monitoring and evaluating whether the programs are working as prescribed and intended.  Finally, acting involves making necessary adjustments in the system at any level to address new concerns or to make the existing programs and procedures better so that the system gets better overtime.  This falls back onto the planning part of the cycle again.  Thus, the PDCA cycle continues.

Integration among different management systems can be done at any or all component levels.  For example, instead of writing four different policy statements on health and safety, quality, security and environment, one policy can be written up outlining the commitment of the management and the goals and objectives of these systems.  Another simple example could be the training program.  Instead of planning and conducting training on different topics under various systems, one training plan and corresponding training sessions can serve the purpose. 

A integrated approach makes it easier to implement and maintain different systems.  In a company where there are separate departments dealing with each of these systems, the main requirement for such integration is the cooperation among these departments.  It is much easier if there is one department dealing with all these systems.  And that is why, many companies are now thinking about integration and working towards establishing a common system for all their requirements.

Reference: Adopted from the Principles of Health and Safety Management by Dr Peter Strahlendorf, School of Environmental Health, Ryerson University , Toronto , Canada .  In: System Management I Study Guide, Fall 2007.