Two recently published ISO standards on risk management have just been joined by a third on risk assessment techniques. Together, they provide organizations of all types with a well-stocked toolbox for tackling situations that could affect the achievement of their objectives. ISO/IEC 31010:2009, Risk management – Risk assessment techniques, has been developed jointly by ISO and its partner IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).

For reasons of safety and reliability, the importance of being able to trace products throughout the supply chain has strongly increased in recent years. The new ISO 17367:2009 standard will help manufacturers and distributors to track products and to manage their traceability thanks to standardized RF tags. ISO 17367:2009, Supply chain applications of RFID – Product tagging, defines the basic features of RFID for use in the supply chain when applied to product tagging.test test test

Under an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ANAB will be the sole source accreditation body for the Private Sector Preparedness Voluntary Accreditation and Certification Program. ANAB continues outreach efforts to various associations and conferences. DHS published a Federal Register Notice on October 16, 2009, announcing its intent to designate three standards for this program: ASIS SPC.1, BS 25999-2, and NFPA 1600. Soon after the comment period for this notice is completed, ANAB will move its accredited certification program forward under the assumption that these three standards will be designated but with flexibility to add or subtract from that list. ANAB will work on a 12-point plan from the end of October through mid-December 2009.

A new International Standard, ISO 31000:2009, Risk management – Principles and guidelines, will help organizations of all types and sizes to manage risk effectively. ISO 31000 provides principles, framework and a process for managing any form of risk in a transparent, systematic and credible manner within any scope or context. At the same time, ISO is publishing ISO Guide 73:2009, Risk management vocabulary, which complements ISO 31000 by providing a collection of terms and definitions relating to the management of risk.

The full report, now available in PDF and printed formats on the Corporate Register web site, features Proprietary data for all 500 companies in the Newsweek Green Ranking; Sector-by-analysis, including an overview of 15 industry sectors, detailed performance data about the top 10 companies in each sector, and each company's ranking relative to its peers; Expanded information about the Newsweek Green Ranking environmental reputation survey results, including how a company's image in the United States differs from how it is seen abroad.

ISO has published a new standard to help testers and reviewers of software user documentation in their work. Effective use of software can be greatly boosted by a well designed and user friendly documentation. ISO/IEC 26513:2009, Systems and software engineering – Requirements for testers and reviewers of user documentation, will help to ensure that software users are provided with consistent, complete, accurate, and usable documentation. This International Standard defines the process through which user documentation products are tested. test

The Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs is working on a new code that will require all profit-making companies to set aside an amount proportionate to their turnover or profits for CSR initiatives, a government official has said. Once finalised, the code may be woven into the Companies Bill, 2009, that is currently being considered by a parliamentary standing committee. The proposal, if implemented, will see private companies stepping up their CSR activity. Moreover, the proposed code may see the government coming up with additional incentives for companies that spend beyond a certain level on CSR activities.

BS 7985 gives practical advice and recommendations for good practice to those who use specialist rope access methods for work at height and those who commission rope access work. The standard applies to anyone using safety harnesses, fall protection equipment and rope access methods. The standard applies to industrial rope access work only, where the prime activity is the work itself.

A report by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) indicated that up to ten per cent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) 2020 emissions reduction target could be met simply by ensuring that natural resources are not wasted, without having any negative impact on gross domestic product. Using resources more efficiently could lead to savings of as much as 245 million tonnes of CO2 in Britain during the next decade, it has been claimed.

The pioneer forest certification scheme FSC is celebrating two major milestones at the World Forestry Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina – issuance of the 1,000th Forest Management (FM) certificate and the 15,000th Chain of Custody (CoC) certificate.

ISO 30003:2009, Ships and marine technology – Ship recycling management systems – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of ship recycling management, aims to instill confidence that the certification process has been carried out in a competent, consistent and reliable manner. The document will facilitate the recognition of accredited certification bodies and the acceptance of their certifications on an international basis.

In a time of historic and unprecedented economic challenges, Pfizer is reaffirming its commitment to respond to the needs of society and contribute to health around the world through responsible and sustainable actions.

A new ISO standard, ISO 28500:2009, Information and documentation – WARC file format, will ensure that the vast and often valuable information posted on the Web is not lost when a page changes or disappears.

The BMW Group has just published its Sustainable Value Report 2008. The new report clearly states the company’s position on sustainability and for the first time presents the key pillars of the sustainability strategy revised in spring 2009 to the public. Sustainability has been established Group-wide as a corporate target. All proposals must now be measured against this corporate goal. The BMW Group has also enhanced its sustainability organisation and established a Sustainability Board, comprising the entire Board of Management, at the highest management level.

Intel Corporation and the government of Macedonia have signed two new documents to help advance the 1:1 e-Learning model in the country's schools, raising the bar for educational technology in the Balkan region.

ISO/TR 16738:2009, Fire-safety engineering – Technical information on methods for evaluating behaviour and movement of people, provides information on engineering methods used for the evaluation of life-safety aspects of fire-safety engineering design for built environments, including structures such as tunnels, underground complexes, ships and vehicles.

NSF International today announced that it is the first organization in North America to obtain both British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Safe Quality Food (SQF) accreditation from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). This accreditation from ANSI, the authority on U.S. standards and conformity assessment systems, expands the scope of NSF’s Global Food Safety Initiative* (GFSI)-recognized accreditation to include BRC, enabling NSF to help more companies throughout the food supply chain strengthen their quality assurance programs.