The Safe365 ISO journey

Nick Engelmann, General Manager Technical Services, Safe365

 

As the first Tōtika accredited prequalification scheme on the New Zealand market, Qualify365, a Safe365 product, has already helped hundreds of New Zealand businesses achieve some great results under the Totika prequalification framework. To become accredited, Safe365 was subject to an audit against the Totika scheme requirements. It was during this process that we discovered the similarity between the rules and ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems.

 

Although our initial Totika audit related purely to the prequalification side of our business we could see the immense value in applying the principles of 9001 across the entire business. ISO 9001 gave structure to our quality control processes and laid the foundation for the next step in our ISO journey.

 

As the Safe365 and Qualify365 products gained traction outside of New Zealand we decided to also incorporate further certifications. Certifications that were universally recognised, hence the ISO 45001, Safety Management Systems, shortly followed by an excellent reflection of our sustainability and environmental credentials, ISO 14001 – Environmental Management Systems.

 

Unlike the older 4801/4804 standards, all three of the newer standards are underpinned by Annex SL, meaning that they are all structured identically. This made initial systems development a breeze compared to utilising the older safety standards.

 

No question it was a long process, incorporating all three standards into the business. I felt that document development was the easy part of the process, the real work comes when a business implements the new systems and processes. Ensuring effective change is a balancing act between implementing best practice but also reflecting current methodologies and ensuring that you don’t bring in additional burdensome processes that clog up your productivity.

 

And yes we also use our own product internally! Watching our Safety Maturity Rating hitting new highs with our new accreditations and processes was supremely satisfying!

 

Can we help you and your business with your safety systems development? Or perhaps we can help with your next Totika Prequalification? Email me to discuss your needs: nick.engelmann@safe365global.com or visit www.qualify365.co.nz

 

@SAIGlobal @Safe365 @Qualify365