A Hat-Trick of Health & Safety Approvals
We’re not sure if that’s the official collective noun, but it's certainly an accurate description of our activity this summer.
In the wake of the publication of ISO 45001, we faced the challenge of three of our long-standing SME clients deciding simultaneously to formalise and improve their existing health and safety (H&S) systems in order to get certified to the new standard. All three had the foundation of a flexible and bespoke QFactorial business management system (BMS), but being in three different sectors required us to take three different perspectives on their needs and solutions.
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Clients in 3 sectors
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ISO 45001 certifications
QFactorial Service Offering
Implementation
Construction, Catering and Gym Equipment may not seem to have much in common, but the fundamentals of managing health and safety are the same. It is the business context and the nature of the H&S risks that differs. None of these clients had the benefit of a an accredited OHSAS 18001 certification to start from, but in all cases we had already prepared the BMS for an extension with ‘plug n play’ placeholders for key H&S requirements.
A gap assessment exercise made sure we didn’t miss any critical items, then we created a simple action plan and used the QFactorial toolkit to implement the plan, i.e: Action Tracker, Compliance Tracker, Business Scorecard, Audit and Review Programme. It’s amazing how much of any ISO standard you can cover with these few tools.
Obviously our clients were delighted with their positive results - who wouldn’t be? All shared the same pragmatic business driver - qualification for tenders or complying with contract terms - but all acknowledged the added value of the QFactorial approach. Feedback from all three clients confirmed that we succeeded in bringing structure and consistency to their governance and assurance processes without overdoing the paperwork. This quote from one of the auditors says it all: “This has been a very enjoyable audit and it’s really good to work with a very good, robust management system. It is therefore my recommendation that certification be granted.”
We are pleased to say that all three clients passed with flying colours. Congratulations to Guildmore Construction, Connect Catering and Purple Leisure Services.
Q! Feedback
In the wake of the publication of ISO 45001, we faced the challenge of three of our long-standing SME clients deciding simultaneously to formalise and improve their existing health and safety (H&S) systems in order to get certified to the new standard. One of these clients, Purple Leisure Services, left us this feedback:
"We initially set up our Quality Manual with the help of Kevin. His balanced and logical approach helped us to produce a Management System which was so robust that the Health and Safety elements then fitted seamlessly into it. We simply worked through our processes, guided by Kevin who helped us to ensure that we had everything covered within the Standard. This therefore meant that the whole process was much quicker than we anticipated and, honestly, pain free."
