We recently launched the “Heartbeat Assurance Specification”, a new, integrated and refreshing approach to management system and risk control. Purchase the Specification and contact Qualico to obtain guidance for its use in your organisation and your supply chain.

At some time, most of us involved in implementing, maintaining and auditing management systems encounter barriers, frustration and other difficulties often caused by Top Management amongst other colleagues. Here at Qualico we have long term and in depth knowledge and experience of these issues, which is why we offer “Qualicoach” as a new service. “Qualicoach” listens, questions, challenges and helps you create your path to a better place for achieving your objectives. “Qualicoach” – somebody to talk to.

This was Nigel’s first trip to Manila and says he found all the delegates and people  working in the training facility, hotel and restaurants absolutely delightful and couldn’t do enough to help.

On getting back to the UK Nigel met up with Susan and they flew to Venice. The visit coincided with acqua alta, which provided an unexpected aspect to a meeting in St Mark’s Square.

Qualico continues to develop its training offerings, the latest project being a bespoke five day auditor training course for a major train operating company.

Keep up with our website for information and advice about next year’s revisions to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

Contact us here.

Qualico’s Nigel Wickens is keeping abreast of developments to the principle international management system standard, ISO 9001 that will result in important changes in 2015. Nigel is finalising an update seminar and will also write an auditor transition course when the criteria are known.

Although some organisations are already offering update seminars, Nigel feels this is premature and that any time and money spent attending these events will be better spent once the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) is published. This is expected in July 2015. Once published in September 2015 there will be a three year transition period in which to conform to the new requirements and achieve certification. Certification to ISO 9001:2008 will cease to be valid three years after the publication date of the new version.

The new standard will place greater emphasis on the role and importance of auditing. More knowledge regarding risk and business processes will need to be added to traditional procedure based auditing. The need for audits to be used in driving improvement and ensuring compliance with standards and regulations will mean additional time and resources being assigned to meet requirements. In a world of rapidly increasing and changing legislation, the auditor will be in the vanguard of protecting the business.

We shall keep you up to date and notify you of Qualico’s events when they are available. Look out for our special guests! These blogs and our website will also hold a flow of useful information about developments in the revision to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, which will become an international standard with the number ISO 45001.

Our 2 minutes assessment is FREE and will provide an instant indicative report on the status of your management system arrangements and requirements.

You will be able to diagnose your need for assistance to implement or revise your system, perform audits and train auditors.

You will be presented with a series of questions to which you are asked to respond as honestly as you can. The whole thing takes under 2 minutes.

We spend a lot of time and energy thinking about the future of the quality professional through our expertise in delivering IRCA approved courses.

The article is worth reading, and can be found in full here.

For us, as a leading auditor training course company, the main points to note from the article are:

• Has the quality professional lost touch and a sense of purpose?
• Should they be more involved in the promotion and practice of quality – not just inside an organisation, but also throughout society in general?
• The role itself ranges from those performing end-of-line inspection, to a boardroom executive involved in major discussions and decisions about the business.
• How can the role of a quality manager be explained if quality professionals cannot agree what it actually is amongst themselves?
• Many quality professionals are invisible to the general public as a relevant and useful improvement agent, and seen as unhelpful by other managers.
• The quality profession needs to demonstrate the value it brings to business.

If you’d like to find out more about quality, environment and health and safety auditor training, or internal auditor training courses, please contact us here.

Having been released for comment and ballot at the start of the Summer, the next stages are: -

• Draft International Standard (ISO DIS 9001) – April to August 2014
• Final Draft International Standard (ISO FDIS 9001) – July to August 2015
• Publication of ISO 9001 – September 2015.

ISO 9001 will adopt the high-level structure, identical core text and common terms and definitions of Annex SL – in fact, approximately 30% of each new and revised management system standard will be identical text.

Annex SL helps us to think in terms of organisations having a single business management system, built on the organisational core activities and processes that are covered by the common text of Annex SL.

With the adoption of Annex SL, the potential for radical change is significant.

Qualico Director Nigel Wickens says:

“ISO management system requirements are not written solely for the purpose of audit and certification: however, an important part of the development process is to ensure standards are auditable.

“Many auditors have never applied the process approach introduced by ISO 9001:2000 and have never been properly audited by certification bodies for the last 13 years.

“There is a need to start addressing this now, through additional Qualico training – before the next version of ISO 9001 is released.”

If you’d like to find out more about quality, environment and health and safety internal or external auditor training, please contact us here.

So, it’s with great pleasure that we announce we’ve been awarded official status as an Approved Training Organisation by the International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA).

You can view our full IRCA certification details here.

Our first certified course is Internal Quality Management System Auditor: using the four phases of an audit namely, Preparation, Performance, Reporting and Follow-up, delegates develop the ability to perform valued audits and effectively communicate findings – including good non-conformity writing.

Internal audits are a requirement of all management system standards. They are used to determine conformity with the management system requirements, establish effectiveness of processes in achieving objectives, and seek opportunities for improvement.

Qualico Director Nigel Wickens says:

“The IRCA process for the assessment of Qualico has been comprehensive and stringent. The new course requirements involve more delegate assessment through practical work, and this increases the opportunity to make the course enjoyable as well as a good learning experience.”

To find out more about Qualico’s newly-certified internal auditor training course, please visit here.

If you’d like to find out more about quality, environment and health and safety auditor training, or internal auditor training courses, please contact us here.

As the Mid-Staffordshire example has shown, the culture of an organisation has a significant impact on quality – regardless of the industry sector.

Effective management requires control of behaviours before issues arise, to ensure preventive and protective measures are implemented whenever possible.

We provide four workplace health management courses, to prevent and manage employee healthcare issues.

Through integrated management system auditor training we can help identify risks, ensure effective controls, and determine root causes when things start to go wrong – and, more importantly, prevent recurrence of the same issues in the future.

If you’d like to find out more about quality, environment and health and safety auditor training, or internal auditor training courses, please contact us here.

The International Standards Organisation recently announced that ISO 9001 for Quality Management Systems is progressing through its revision stages – as it does every five years to ensure it remains a useful tool. We feel this is a good time to highlight the relevance of ISO auditor training and internal auditor training courses.

Whilst we’re keeping abreast of the current revision process for ISO 9001, it’s worth remembering that at the Committee Draft stage there is still potential for many changes before the Final Draft is approved and issued.

The revision period for ISO 9001 is nominally every five years, but the actual period can be greater.

We’ll be advising clients and arranging seminars once the Final Draft stage is reached.

If your company is considering ISO auditor training, or updating your in-house knowledge with an internal auditor training course, we advise that a good time to do this is when revisions to ISO 9001 are underway, to maintain awareness and ensure continued conformity.

Maintaining certification to ISO 9001 is a critical consideration for many organisations. Qualico can help ensure you are working with a Certification Body suitable for your needs.

If you’d like to find out more about ISO auditor training, internal auditor training courses, integrated management system auditor training, and advice on Certification Body selection for ISO 9001 certification, please contact us here.