ASQ E4:2014 (R2019) ✓ Most Recent

This American National Standard specifies requirements for a Quality Management System (QMS) to enable an organization to formulate policies and procedures to plan and implement sufficient and adequate quality management practices for environmental programs.

This Standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to:
- implement, maintain, and improve a QMS for environmental programs;
- specify quality requirements when contracting for work;
- assure itself of its conformity with its stated quality policy; and
- demonstrate such conformity to others.

All the requirements in this Standard are intended to be incorporated into QMS supporting environmental programs involving the collection and use of related information and the design, construction, and use of environmental technology. The extent of the application of this Standard will depend on the environmental policy of the organization, the nature of its environmental programs, and the conditions under which it operates.

A QMS is the means by which an organization implements quality management in a systematic, organized manner. It is a management system in much the same manner as an organization manages its financial operations or health and safety programs. A quality system encompasses a variety of technical and administrative elements, including policies and objectives, organizational authority, responsibilities, accountability, and procedures and practices. A QMS is the “blueprint” or framework by which an organization applies sufficient quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) practices to produce results from its environmental programs that meet or exceed the organization’s objectives and expectations. The QMS encompasses both management and technical activities pertaining to the planning, implementation, and assessment of environmental programs within the organization’s mission and scope.

The business plan model used for implementing a QMS based on this Standard encompasses three stages: planning, implementation, and assessment. This model is based on the concept of first planning the work, doing what was planned, and assessing the results against performance criteria, and acting on what was found by such a comparison (e.g., Plan-Do-Check-Act, or PDCA). QMS for programs and activities subject to this Standard shall include requirements for:
- general or common planning, implementation, and assessment policies, procedures, and management practices applied by the organization,
- collection, generation, compilation, analysis, and use of environmental information, and
- design, construction/fabrication, testing, and use of environmental technology.

The application of the requirements of this Standard to any environmental programs shall incorporate the principle of graded approach. 

NOTE: Guidelines on implementing these and other quality management practices that may exceed the minimum set of requirements given in this Standard are given in Annex B (informative).