Ollie Shaw, Director of Standards Plus says "we provide business to business advice on ISO certifications". Those certifications are for:

• ISO 9001 Quality standard
• ISO 14001 Environmental standard
• OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety standard
• ISO 27001 Information Security standard

 

 

The main benefits of ISO certifications are:

• Win more business - quicker and easier qualification for tenders, bids and contracts
• Structured approach - to business processes
• Recognition - an external endorsement of your management ability

Standards Plus is different from other consultancies because for the last ten years we have been ISO certified ourselves - which means that we understand the the benefits it brings and fully understand the experience our customers will have.

So far so good...

Over the last 17 years we have helped 50 companies achieve over 75 standards (and still counting!) which means that most customers have more than one certificate. Standards Plus uses it's own ISO certified system and modify it to suit the customer's business. It is a reliable method which gets "easier and better" with every contract!

So, when customers follow the ISO consultancy program, they too will have the same benefits of improved sales efficiency, better control and consequently more profit.

Most companies seen the benefits of an integrated management system for multiple ISO certifications - better business systems, lower cost and getting ahead of the competition. Industrial companies tend to combine the ISO 9001 Quality, ISO 14001 Environment and OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety standards as one integrated system. Office-based companies need the ISO 9001 Quality and ISO 27001 Information Security standards as one easy to use integrated system.

The trouble with ISO certification is….

A recent survey of audit reports shows where most businesses have problems with their ISO certifications. The graph below shows the areas where non-conformances occur. Two areas stand out from the others – Document Control and Internal Audit (which is part of Measurement and Analysis).

Document Control is easy to fix – you need electronic documents, a good Document Index with quick links to your forms, templates and record sheets. If you still need paper documents, then convert them to pdf files and print them out when they are needed. When the paper form is “filled in”, scan it and save to your computer.

Internal Audits - are always the first thing to fail because auditors often feel scared. Their “fact finds” are often good, but the corrective action may imply criticism of the management – and auditors naturally want to keep their jobs! So for effective internal auditing managers need to be open-minded and receptive to better ways of working.

So if you have robust procedures and processes in these areas, then you are more likely to pass your initial ISO certification and the on-going surveillance audits.

And if you want to avoid the popular mistakes that others have made, and you deserve “top marks and no non-conformances” at ISO certification, then call Ollie Shaw at Standards Plus on 01925 765050.