Continuous Improvement

Whereas a product standard is about producing the same product year after year, the point of any management standard is that an organisation should use it to identify opportunities for improvement. Our practitioners all have their eyes on future improvements, not just on continuity.

When an auditor identifies an observation, this is not a failure – it’s an opportunity to be even better (safer, healthier, more productive) in the future. For McAleer and Rushe, Declan encourages anyone considering certification to regard the external auditor not as “someone to hoodwink” but as “an extra pair of eyes to identify opportunities for improvement, and to avoid complacency in-house.”

Sarah Roper agrees that the auditor should be a critical friend. “I changed our auditor. Our previous auditor wasn’t critical enough. I wanted to know how we could improve, and our current auditor pushes us more, to get real benefits.”

As a result of the certification process, Declan has identified risk assessments as an area they want to improve on, while Graham is focusing on improving management of the plant and the control of contractors. For Sarah, some of the benefits will come from sharing their experience with sites in other parts of the world, where environmental, and health and safety standards are not as high as those in Europe.