ISO 22163:2023 (IRIS rev. 04)

A group called UNIFE (Union of the European Railway Industries) was established in 1991 in order to meet the market's ever-increasing expectations and help railway warehouse producers cut expenses related to the requirement that they audit sub-suppliers. Implementing activities relating to the railway industry's promotion was the primary goal of the newly established business. As a result, UNIFE has established a special working group to create and publish a standard tailored to the needs of the railroad sector. The argument for the need for such a standard arose from the standards of ISO 9001, the foundational standard for quality management systems, being far too general. Following in the footsteps of the food industry (ISO 22001), the aviation industry (AS 9001) and the automotive industry (IATF 16949), UNIFE published the first revision of the IRIS standard (IRIS rev. 00) in March 2006. This standard was created specifically for businesses who design, build, and maintain railroad infrastructure and vehicles. By increasing the demands made on companies, the standard has been enhanced continuously since 2006. The chairman and the UNIFE Bureau approved the IRIS standard's conversion to ISO/TS 22163, which was released in May 2017. The standard was issued eleven years ago, and it is now recognized as an official industry standard.

A detailed history of the evolution of IRIS to ISO/TS is presented below:

IRIS rev.04 consists of four components:

Official ISO standard published at www.iso.org

IRIS Audit Tool Software was developed especially for auditing ISO 9001 and ISO 22163:2023 by www.iris-rail.org .

The software is available to businesses who have or use ISO 22163 (IRIS), although approved certifying organizations are the main users of it.

Evaluation of IRIS certification's efficacy, 2023 issue: UNIFE produced a document (accessible at www.iris-rail.org) that includes information about:

  • Scope of certification
  • Conditions for certifying agencies
  • Requirements for auditors
  • Requirements for organizing and conducting certification audits (audit cycles, audit duration, audit team design, certificate awarding and issuing)
  • Complaints process
  • Audit documentation
  • Audit scoring and assessment of the five main processes
  • Managing discrepancies and advancements

According to the structure adopted by the International Organization for Standardization, HLS standard ISO/TS 22163:2017 is made up of 10 chapters. It is based entirely on the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 with the addition of specific requirements dedicated to the railway industry. The graphic illustrates the structure of ISO 9001:2015 requirements for ISO/TS 22163:2017 requirements. Green indicates the requirements of ISO 9001:2015, red indicates the mandatory requirements for ISO/TS 22163:2017, and blue indicates the optional requirements.

The website www.iris-rail.org, which offers a list of accredited businesses, certifying agencies, and other relevant data. ISO/TS 22163:2017

has been displaced and replaced by ISO 22163:2023.

  • scope has been simplified;
  • the terms and definitions in point 3 have been changed;
  • the previous sub-section 6.4 ‘Business planning’ has been moved to point 4;
  • a new point 4.1.2 ‘Social responsibility’ has been added;
  • sub-point 7.2.1 ‘Competences — complement’ has been amended;
  • the previous sub-section 8.11 ‘Innovation management’ has been moved to sub-section 8.1;
  • “Project review management” has been divided from 8.1.3.9 “Project risk and opportunity management” as a new 8.1.3.11;
  • sub-sections 8.4 “Configuration management” and 8.5 “Change control” have been merged into 8.1.4 “Configuration management and change control”;
  • product safety requirements have been integrated with quality requirements;
  • reliability, availability, maintainability, safety (RAMS) and life cycle cost (LCC) requirements have been explained in 8.8;
  • the idea of performance indicators in comparison to key performance indicators was included;
  • performance indicators have been changed;
  • Annex A ‘Process list’ has been added;
  • Annex B on the concept of dependency of requirements for products and services has been added;
  • Annex C on “Effectiveness indicators” has been added.