FERMA has received liaison status to the international group which is in the process of producing a practical guide to the implementation of the ISO 31000 risk management standard. Vice President Julia Graham is FERMA’s representative and can make proposals and comment on preliminary reports and drafts of the new document, which will be ISO 31004.

She will be pressing the case to have issues that particularly interest FERMA included in ISO 31004, such as risk management education and suitable standards for small and medium sized businesses.

Although in her FERMA role Julia is not able to vote, she does have a vote as one of two official representatives named by the UK national standards body BSI, to the group drafting ISO 31004.

Julia was closely involved in the preparation of ISO31000, published in November 2009 and now a widely accepted standard. Two further publications followed: supporting standard ISO 31010, which is a technical document wholly focussed on risk assessment, and Guide 73 which deals with the vocabulary of risk management.

Two international meetings have already taken place on ISO 31004, which involved the creation of working groups to draft individual sections and discussion of their proposals. A third is planned in Sydney in September when the group will consider a first draft of the whole document. Publication of a final version is likely to be in 2013 or 2014, according to Julia.
She explains, “Taking part is a real labour of love. We want ISO 31004 to show how the risk manager can take the high level document ISO 31000 and apply it in every day working life.”