QCS International

With the launch of ISO 9004:2009 last month, the word sustainability is now being talked about widely.   Don’t forget, sustainability in ISO 9004 has more than the usual ‘green’ meaning.   It goes beyond that and talks in terms of business sustainability with areas such as business risk, human resources, innovation, economic growth and financial management.

The Quality Professionals Resource Centre is currently offering a self assessment service absolutely free to all IRCA trained auditors.   This assessment usually costs $50 US and will give you an opportunity to evaluate your own organisation and also get an understanding of what ISO 9004 is actually trying to achieve.

Divided into three parts, the evaluation reviews performance against sustainability concepts and understanding, milestones and some of the concepts of implementing the standard and finally sustainability trends and actual deliverables to your organisation.   Just click on the link above to get your free sustainability test.

I was recently asked to work with a charity involved in organising a fireworks display. The event attracts over 8000 people and the 2008 X-Factor finalist Eoghan Quigg was billed to perform at the event.

The problem was the licence for the event was in jeopardy – the HSE had apparently ‘banned’ The X-Factor finalist. I was asked to help out and in reality all that was required was a revised risk assessment to be submitted and a licence for the event was soon issued.

This reminded me of the HSE ‘Myth of the Month’. This lighted hearted monthly campaign pokes fun at common Health and Safety myths which include:

• Children must wear goggles to play conkers
• Workers banned from putting up Christmas decorations
• Ice cream toppings banned for safety reasons

Many of the myths have come from actual letters received by the HSE or actual articles from the press that have resulted from some one putting in place control measures that were simply not required.

Take a look at the HSE Myth of the Month page. You can down load printable posters or applications for your PC here.

So does ‘Myth of the Month’ have serious message or is it just a bit of fun? Well it is fun but in reality Health & Safety often becomes trivialised by some ‘over the top’ control measures that take the importance away from some of actual risks.

In the end, the HSE did not ban the X-Factor this time around although, to all the fans of the show out there and indeed the wider music loving public at large, some may argue that the HSE should consider banning current finalists John and Edward (Jedward) under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations.

Did you know that across the world we use a staggering 6005000000 post it notes every year?   So in an attempt to reduce your environmental impact, Post It Note manufacturer 3M now make post it notes from wood certified by the Sustainable Forestry Commission.

So is this enough?

Well it helps ensure sustainability, but why not a step go further and use this free Post It Note application called ‘Stickies’ for your PC.

The application can be used on any PC and allows you to keep and manage post it notes, archive them and even create colour coded notes for those of you who really like to be organised.

So why not set yourself a 2010 environmental objective to reduce your use of post it notes by for example 30% and give the free tool post it tool a go in your organisation?

This is a common topic for certification body auditors to check when performing an OHSAS 18001 audit but even though the law changed in October last year, some certification bodies are still in the dark about the exact requirements.

What do you need to do?

As most people will know, if you employ anyone then you must hold a minimum of £5 million employees liability insurance and display your certificate to all employees.

Up to October 2008, you were required to physically display the certificate (you can now display the certificate electronically) and retain a copy of the certificate for 40 years (there is now no requirement to retain the insurance certificate once expired).

So if auditors are requesting extended retention periods for the liability certificate this is now no longer required.

Beware…

However, you are strongly advised by the HSE to keep details of your liability insurance.   This is because diseases and other forms of ill health can appear decades after and former or current employees may decide to make a claim against their you several years after they were working with you.

Planning your next OHSAS 18001 Internal Audit?

The Health & Safety Executive is a good source of information to help you identify specific requirements.   Requirements for liability insurance can be found here.

A new edition of ISO 19011 is currently being reviewed by ISO to help enhance the standard and to allow easier integration of standards to including quality, environment, food safety, supply chains, IT security and other management systems but will this revision actually make a difference to how we run management systems?

What is ISO 19011?

ISO 19011:2002 is the first standard harmonizing the auditing of ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004.   It can be used for internal audits, supplier audits and is one of the standards that certification bodies must adhere to.

As well as defining the competency and training requirements for auditors, so you know that your certification body uses competent auditors, the standard also discusses how an auditor should plan a programme (schedule) of audits and then how to conduct an audit including;

• Initiation of audit
• Document review
• Preparing for auditing
• On-site auditing
• Reporting the audit
• Follow-up & close out

The issue of auditor competency is a concern when integrating two or more management systems and the use of an auditor that have no experience in the field of quality or environment.

The standard also provides a framework for professional standards in auditing based on 5 principles;

• Ethical conduct
• Fair presentation
• Due professional care
• Independence
• Evidence based approach

So what does the revision mean to me?

Well quite a lot.   It will help to define what qualifications your certification body need in the future to ensure that the standard you hold does not lose credibility due to poor auditing.

ISO 19011 also provides the framework for many audit courses such as the IRCA internal audit courses for ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 which you have probably used to train your audit team.

More and more, system managers complain that auditing is a waste of time yet it appears in every management system standard.   So although ISO 19011 may not be your favorite read, it does define very clearly what you need to do if you feel your audit system is not giving you real value for money in your business and if followed, will provide you with valuable management information to prevent risks in your organization.