Partner Article

Hartlepool firm flies the flag for international quality standards

A North East training company which secured internationally recognised quality standards in just a few months is now helping others to do the same.

C & A Safety Solutions, of Hartlepool, launched in 2012 to provide vocational work-based courses specifically to the region’s engineering and manufacturing sector.

But after attaining all three of its ISO accreditations in just six months, it started advising other firms to help fast-track them through the process.

So far, C & A has provided consultation for six businesses seeking to gain the accreditation including those in the waste management, transport and engineering sectors.

And now it has helped recruitment specialist Adept to achieve the ISO-9001 benchmark for quality management with flying colours.

Alan Roberts, managing director of C & A Safety Solutions, said: “Unfortunately, a lot of companies try to complete the ISO accreditation themselves and get a bit tied up in knots.

“But after being through the process ourselves, we knew exactly what is required and how every business is different. I am delighted for Adept because it is the first business that I have ever heard of that has achieved ISO accreditation with zero non compliances.”

C & A Safety Solutions was set up as a spin-off from engineering company C & A Pumps to deliver highly specialised health and safety and management courses for North East companies including Camerons Brewery, Cleveland Potash and Clarion Homes.

But when the firm sailed through all three ISO accreditations – ISO-9001 for quality management; ISO-14001 for environmental management; and OHSAS-18001 for health and safety – it identified a gap in the market to provide local firms with the know-how, processes and procedures to achieve the standards.

ISO accreditation delivers many benefits for organisations including opportunities to win new business, improve efficiency and reduce costs, improve staff morale and establish professionalism and credibility to internationally recognised standards.

C & A’s tailored approach which encourages businesses to adapt their existing procedures rather than start from scratch, has won admirers including Teesside University which set up a partnership with C & A to identify and support local businesses looking to make the ISO grade.

Mr Roberts added: “Make no bones about it, achieving ISO accreditation is not a simple process. Businesses often struggle because they don’t have the resources available to see it through.

“For some organisations – especially larger ones - there’s an element of fear because they think they have to re-invent the wheel. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s essentially about creating a system that people can pick up and follow.”

Recruitment specialist Adept, which is based in Hartlepool, achieved its quality management ISO accreditation with a perfect score in its assessment.

Managing director Kelly Adamson said: “We knew we were good enough, but we didn’t know where to begin. C & A guided us in a very consistent and professional manner.

“They didn’t attempt to sell an off the shelf, one-size-fits-all solution. Working with me, they took a very prescriptive view of our business and identified processes already in place, before applying the standards to them in a recognised way.

“As a business, ISO accreditation will strengthen Adept’s commercial proposition, whilst highlighting our ability to provide services of the highest possible standard.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .