With the pressure to keep costs down and profits up, many organisations have to pay particular attention to their reject rates not just because quality issues can lead to customer complaints and the costs of resolving them but because they affect the company’s profitability even if they do not. Even though many organisations have their own team of quality assurance or quality control personnel that ensure rejects are either avoided or kept at the very minimum, the results that these personnel get are only as reliable or useful as the samples, equipment and techniques that they use. When the q ..read more

There seems to be 2 streams of thoughts when it comes to the reasons for attaining an ISO accreditation for a business. The first is, we need it to tender for bigger contracts. The second is, because we want to be more efficient and ensure that our products or services are the best for our customers. The first tends to look at the quick ISO certificate route and willing to cut corners and meet the requirements of the standards if necessary. In my experience, these are the businesses that tend to buy ‘off the shelf’ certificates, or in other words fake certificates. The second look towards a s ..read more

Many businesses, no matter what the size, forget their most important asset. Their staff! It’s very easy when you, as a business owner, CEO or General Manager, are constantly trying to balance profit and loss, fight suppliers or chase debtors to remember that there is a team below you waiting for leadership, decisions and support. Communication, as we all know, is key in any business. However, it all to often overlooked when it comes to internal communications. Business leaders need information to make good, solid business decisions. So, they need accurate, timely information from their Heads ..read more

Feedback is crucial to continuously improving performance. Everyone needs to be told how they are doing; even people who claim they do not need validation from others feel something when complimented or criticized. Although responding to feedback is natural, giving it or asking for it is a skill that needs to be learned.Without any form of feedback, an organization may as well be operating without objectives or goals. Eventually, accidentally or by sheer luck, the goal may be achieved or the objective realized but it will never be in an efficient way and, worse, cannot be guaranteed.Accurate ..read more

One of the most common teaching styles in use today is what is commonly called “Train the Trainer” (ToT). For any ISO-certified organisation (or any that are planning to get certified), an important thing to consider is how the organisation determines the knowledge necessary for the operation of its processes and the achievement of conformity to requirements. Related to this is how this knowledge is communicated to everyone in the organisation that should be aware of it.Internal training has the following immediate benefits:1. It ensures that the verified and documented knowledge will be retai ..read more

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are necessary in making an activity—and all businesses carry out activities—as efficient as it could be. It is the written record of activities, steps, scope, responsibilities, formats, and other details involved in carrying out an activity. From answering the telephone to preparing the annual financial reports, SOPs can be made for every activity and the decision should be when or how to do it rather than if to do it.SOPs have two primary benefits: they make on-boarding new employees more efficient and they ensure consistency in the result or output of the ..read more

All businesses that have an externally certified management system will be audited annually to ensure continued compliance or for re-certification.Weeks before the audit, senior staff will begin to get twitchy and ask questions that really, do not need to be asked. Those with quality or compliance departments will be rushing around, going back through the last twelve months documented information to check that signatures, dates, and actions are all in place.If all this sounds familiar, then I am afraid you are not managing your Management System efficiently. However, you are not alone. Many bu ..read more

It is quite astounding the number of businesses I have met, that have invested a lot of money and time into implementing a management system, then when it is up and running, just leave it be.I hear businessmen and women state that a management system is the engine of a business. I disagree. The engine of any business or organisation is its people, without whom they wouldn’t be in business. The management system is the oil that keeps the engine going.So when a business puts oil into its engine, the management system, it has to be checked regularly, as with a real engine, to ensure it is still f ..read more

Organisations around the world, and their stakeholders, are becoming increasingly aware of the need for and benefits of socially responsible behaviour. The objective of social responsibility is to contribute to sustainable development.An organisation's performance in relation to the society in which it operates and to its impact on the environment has become a critical part of measuring its overall performance and its ability to continue operating effectively. This is, in part, a reflection of the growing recognition of the need to ensure healthy ecosystems, social equity and good organisation ..read more

Documented Information is a requirement of the ISO 45001:2018 OHAS Management System. It serves 2 purposes, firstly, it drives the business to do what it states in its OHAS Policies and Procedures, and in doing so, allows management to check that the system is being used and delivering its benefits. Secondly, it allows the certifying auditor to check that you are compliant with the requirement of the ISO standard.For businesses that have the 18001 certification, there are a few changes in the required documentation and the table below shows the requirement of both systems and relevant clauses ..read more