Integrated management systems: A single management system solution for project control?

Over the last 25 years, the construction industry has embraced quality management systems (QMS). More recently, environmental issues and health and safety legislation have introduced additional dedicated control procedures: environmental management systems (EMS) and health and safety management systems (H&SMS). Systems, in particular those used for quality management, have been widely accused of being bureaucratic, arduous, paper driven and of questionable value to construction management. The genuine need is for improved systems that enable a contracting organization to control the key management functions of quality, environment and safety with maximum effectiveness and minimum bureaucracy. The findings presented in this paper show that a forward-looking approach can bring together these individual functions within an integrated management system (IMS). This allows an organization to move away from traditional vertical and separate management systems towards a single cross-functional horizontal system that can benefit both the corporate and the project organizations. The idea of an IMS for quality, environment and safety has only recently emerged within the UK construction industry. A small number of UK contracting organizations are, therefore, at the forefront of both national and international developments. Based on a questionnaire survey of 12 UK contracting organizations, this paper examines the purpose, characteristics, properties and intent of a single system approach, or IMS for quality, environment and safety, and considers its role within and it significance to contracting organizations.