Management System Maintenance Services.
We can help you to maintain your new or existing management systems by supporting your maintenance activities such as internal audits and management review.
Time
You’ve got a business to run and doing the admin side of maintaining your management system can take up a considerable amount of time, which could be spent with clients or winning new contracts. Appointing us to manage all, or some of, this on your behalf keeps your resources focussed on your business activities, while we can work with them to better understand, and improve, your organisation.
Perspective
Having an external third party from outside your organisation can provide input from different experiences, giving you a perspective which may not have been considered by internal resources. When it comes to auditing, being too familiar to an auditee can cause problems. Overfamiliarity can result in either inadvertent leniency or excessive scrutiny. We also know what the certification bodies are looking for at external audit, so we can help you identify nonconformances ahead of external assessment.
Support and Flexibility
We know management systems and we’re here to support your needs. Whether that means reviewing documents, responding to nonconformances or maintaining registers, we work with you to design a plan that is best for your organisation. Helping you get on with work while knowing we’re working with your management system to help you be the best version of your organisation, maximising efficiency and seeking opportunities to improve.
What do we offer?
These are some of the key activities we can support you with, but can do more to suit your needs:
Internal Audit
Internal auditing is a requirement of both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. This is where you interrogate your management system and its procedures, to assess the degree to which they have been implemented. This includes document review, interview and observation. Some organisations choose to appoint a consultancy, such as ourselves, to perform internal audits on their behalf.
Auditing is more than just checking if something is being completed correctly. The best auditors also check whether the procedure is appropriate, take representative samples and ask the right questions to get the answers they need to help identify improvements, not just what the auditee thinks the auditor wants to hear. We also audit for certifying bodies, so we know what to look for to help you stay compliant.
Management Review
Another requirement of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 is to complete management reviews. This is a meeting of individuals responsible for the content and implementation of your management system to ensure the strategic direction of the organisation is considered in the system, and to get an update on how well it is performing. It has to be held a minimum of once per year. It is usually attended by directors and senior management and is sometimes incorporated into a board meeting. Other organisations choose to have more frequent management review meetings, these may be at operational or project level, depending on the type of organisation.
Some organisations choose to appoint a consultant to chair these meetings. While the management review meeting probably isn’t too big a draw on time it can help to have someone ensure you are covering the standards requirements and to write up the meeting minutes. If you appoint us to chair your management review meetings we are happy for you to use an internal resource to document the meeting or we can write them and disseminate them on your behalf, saving you time.
Document Maintenance
Document maintenance isn’t one of the most glamorous sides of running a business, but it is important. Reviewing documents and keeping them up to date can mean the difference between breaching legislation or winning a client. We can help you keep on top of document maintenance for you, so you know you’ll always have the most up to date information, and it means your employees can get on with delivering products and services to your clients. This can include all your documents, or a selection of specific documents. This may include the risks and opportunities register, compliance obligations (risk register), approved suppliers list, supplier evaluations and data collection and reporting.
Training
Training is an integral part of your management system. You are required to demonstrate your employees are competent to perform their roles, and training is the main way most organisations demonstrate that. Furthermore, if your employees don’t know what is expected of them, they can’t comply with the management system and they can’t help you identify improvements. We offer a wide range of training, for management systems we offer the following:
Training on your implementation – We include basic training on all the system implementations. This is specific to your organisation and your procedures. Duration varies dependent on your organisations complexity and size, but start at 1 day.
Introduction to ISO 9001/14001 – This course gives an overview of the chosen standard, taking you through the clauses, what they mean and how to comply. This course takes 1 day per standard.
Internal Auditing – This is an optional extra day which can be added to the Introduction to ISO 9001/14001 which teaches the attendees about the skills and approaches to effective internal audit.