The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has reported an increase of 3.8% in the number of certificates issued worldwide in 2019.
The data for this survey has been obtained from accredited certification bodies who have provided information on the number of valid certificates they have as of 31 December 2019.
In total, accredited certification bodies reported a total of 1,357,241 certificates against 12 Type A (requirements) management systems standards. This represents an increase of 3.8% (49,638 certificates) on 2018.
Unsurprisingly, the largest increase in certificates was against ISO 45001 - Occupational health and safety, published in 2018. 26,702 new certificates were reported in 2019, an increase of some 223%. This places ISO 45001 firmly in the “top five” most-used management systems requirements standards with a total of 38,654 certificates.
It is not easy to draw reliable conclusions from the data provided by this, and previous surveys. Certification bodies are not obliged to submit information on the number of certificates they issue, so the data set will always be incomplete. ISO notes a number of “important certification bodies” in seven countries did not participate in the 2019 survey. These included Korea, Japan, Turkey, the UK and the US, countries that typically report high numbers of certificates.