Integrated Management Systems Training and Certification Guide
Your complete guide to Integrated Management Systems: what an IMS is, how combining ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 works, the training levels, and the Exemplar Global Certified courses that take you from Foundation to Lead Auditor.
ISO 9001:2026, ISO 45001:2018, ISO 14001:2026
ISO 9001:2026, ISO 45001:2018, ISO 14001:2026
ISO 9001:2026, ISO 45001:2018, ISO 14001:2026
What is an Integrated Management System?
An Integrated Management System (IMS) combines two or more ISO management system standards, most often ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, into a single coordinated system rather than running each one separately.
Because these standards share the same harmonised high level structure, context, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation and improvement are managed once, across quality, environment and safety together. Each standard is still certified by an accredited certification body, but one integrated system, one set of processes, and often one combined audit cover them all.
Who Integrated Management Systems training is for
- Management system coordinators responsible for more than one standard
- Quality, environmental and safety managers
- Internal auditors auditing an integrated system
- Consultants helping clients integrate their systems
- Professionals moving into a Lead Auditor role across multiple standards
The standard in brief
What Integrated Management Systems covers
Integrated Management Systems follows the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle across clauses 4 to 10. Here is what each part covers.
Context of the organisation
One view of your organisation, its interested parties, and a combined scope that covers every standard in the system.
Leadership
A single top management commitment, an integrated policy, and shared roles across quality, environment and safety.
Planning
Risks and opportunities, objectives and change planning handled once, alongside each standard's specific requirements such as aspects and hazards.
Support
Shared resources, competence, awareness, communication and documented information for the whole system.
Operation
Operational controls that satisfy every standard in the system, planned and run together.
Performance evaluation
Combined monitoring, measurement, internal audit and management review across all standards.
Improvement
One approach to nonconformity, corrective action and continual improvement for the integrated system.
Why it matters
Benefits of Integrated Management Systems
What organisations and professionals gain from working to Integrated Management Systems.
- Less duplication: one policy, one set of procedures, one audit programme
- Lower cost and effort than running separate systems
- Combined certification audits instead of several separate ones
- A single, consistent view of risk across quality, environment and safety
- Clearer accountability and less conflicting documentation
- One culture of continual improvement across the whole organisation
Clearing up a common mix up
Personnel certification vs business certification
People often confuse the two. They are different things, earned by different parties, and only one is a person.
Personnel certification
Certifies the individual.
- Earned by a person, not a company
- Recognised by Exemplar Global
- Proves you can audit to the standard
- The path our courses prepare you for
Business certification
Certifies the organisation.
- Earned by a company, not a person
- Issued by a certification body such as Intertek or SAI Global
- Proves the management system conforms to Integrated Management Systems
- Maintained through surveillance audits
Audit Workshop trains and certifies people. We do not certify organisations, we prepare the people who build and audit them.
Each standard in an integrated system is certified by an accredited certification body such as Intertek, SAI Global, BSI, SGS, and DNV, often in one combined audit. Audit Workshop trains the people who build and audit the integrated system; the certification body certifies the organisation.
Training levels
From Foundation to Lead Auditor
Three levels that build on each other. Start where your experience sits and climb from there.
Foundation
New to the standard
Understand Integrated Management Systems and how a compliant management system works. The starting point, no prior experience needed.
Internal Auditor
Audit your own organisation
Plan and conduct internal audits following the ISO 19011 auditing guidelines.
Lead Auditor
Lead certification style audits
Audit programme management, Stage 1 and Stage 2, findings, and the certification recommendation.
The auditor's role
What an auditor is responsible for
Auditing is a profession with its own principles. Our courses teach you to work to all of them, guided by ISO 19011.
Integrity
Audit with professionalism, honesty, and responsibility.
Fair presentation
Report findings truthfully, accurately, and clearly.
Due professional care
Apply diligence and sound judgement in every audit.
Confidentiality
Protect the information you access during an audit.
Independence
Stay impartial and objective, free of conflicts of interest.
Evidence based
Reach conclusions from verifiable audit evidence.
Good to know
Common confusions, cleared up
The questions people most often get wrong before they enrol, answered straight.
Is there an ISO standard called the Integrated Management System?
No. There is no single IMS standard. An IMS is how you combine existing standards like ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001; each one is still certified in its own right.
Do I get one certificate for the whole integrated system?
You usually hold a certificate for each standard, but a certification body can audit them together in one combined audit, which is where the saving comes from.
Can I integrate any standards?
Standards that share the harmonised high level structure, such as ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 and 27001, integrate most cleanly because their clauses line up. Others can still be integrated with more effort.
Does integrating mean lower standards?
No. Every requirement of every standard still applies. Integration removes duplication, not requirements.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Integrated Management Systems training and certification.
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Quality Management Systems (QMS)
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