Standards

Quality2000 can provide any British, European or International Standard, usually within 7 days of receipt of order,and often at a discount to published prices.

Quality Management (ISO9001)
Environmental Management (ISO14000 & BS8855)
Occupational Health & Safety (OHSAS18001)
Information Security Management (BS7799)
Customer Complaint Management (BS8600)
Laboratory Management (ISO/IEC17025)
Phamaceutical Suppliers (PS9000 & PS9100)

ISO 9001:2000 is an international standard that gives requirements for an organization’s Quality Management System (“QMS”). It is part of a family of standards published by the International Organisation for Standardisation (“ISO”) often referred to collectively as the “ISO 9000 series”. For this reason, you may sometimes hear your suppliers refer to being “ISO 9000 certified”, or having an “ISO 9000-compliant QMS”. This will normally mean that they are claiming to have a QMS meeting the requirements of ISO 9001:2000, the only standard in the ISO 9000 family that can be used for the purpose of conformity assessment.

The objective of ISO 9001:2000 is to provide a set of requirements that, if they are effectively implemented, will provide you with confidence that your supplier can consistently provide goods and services that meet your needs and expectations, and comply with applicable regulations.

The requirements cover a wide range of topics, including your supplier's top management commitment to quality, its customer focus, adequacy of its resources, employee competence, process management (for production, service delivery and relevant administrative and support processes), quality planning, product design, review of incoming orders, purchasing, monitoring and measurement of its processes and products, calibration of measuring equipment, processes to resolve customer complaints, corrective/preventive actions and a requirement to drive continual improvement of the QMS. Last but not least, there is a requirement for your supplier to monitor customer perceptions about the quality of the goods and services it provides.

ISO 9001:2000 does not specify requirements for the goods or services you are purchasing. That is up to you to define, by making clear your own needs and expectations for the product.

Business benefits of ISO 14001
Business today is not just about selling a product or service to a customer around the corner. In the rapid evolution to a global market-place, having a set of common rules is critical to facilitating trade. At the same time, these rules have to be flexible enough to be as applicable to a company in Hokkaido, Japan or Salvador, Brazil, as they are for one in San Francisco, USA, or Reykjavik, Iceland.

Increasingly in this single world market, an organization needs to be able to demonstrate sound business management that includes concern for the environment.
There is growing evidence that this results in advantages in financing, insurance, marketing, regulatory, and other areas of operations. An Environmental Management System (EMS) provides a solid framework for meeting environmental challenges and realizing the above benefits.

The International Standard ISO 14001 is used as a model for implementing an EMS by nearly 37 000 organizations in 112 countries at the end of 2001. There are many reasons for implementing an EMS. Businesses recognize that a focus on “command and control ” by itself does not provide the bottom line results desired.

ISO 14001 has proven to be a useful tool to evolve from maintaining regulatory compliance to a position of improved productivity and enhanced competitive advantage. There is mounting evidence that companies which manage not only the standard economic factors but also the environmental and social factors affecting their business show financial performance superior to those which fail to manage all three.

Furthermore, experience has shown that ISO 14001 is a framework that inspires and channels the creativity of all members of an organization, making them active agents of change promoting environmental protection, resource conservation and improved efficiencies. When all members in an organization are challenged to think differently, it leads to the creation of innovative products and services. Innovation is a primary economic driver of economic growth. This makes ISO 14001 a powerful tool in which to invest.

How quickly and how effective the return for investment by an organization in ISO 14001 occurs is a function of a variety of conditions that include : ! the status and level of sophistication of its existing management system; the degree of environmental challenge it faces, including the past, present and future situations; the amount and quality of resources it has access to, both internally or externally its state of preparedness – such as existing environmental management practices; the knowledge, skill and ability of its staff with responsibilities relating to environmental management and their relationship with those in other departments; 1 Environmental Management – 2002 7 the expectations that stakeholders have in relation to the EMS; the current status of compliance with legal requirements; other requirements to which the organization may have made a commitment, and the level of verification required by the organization to meet market requirements or the expectations of stakeholders.

By design, ISO 14001 is flexible: it is as applicable to the small business as it is to the multi-national organization, enabling access to a global market-place where business and environmental performance go hand in hand.

BS 8555:2003
Building on BS EN ISO 14001 and the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), this British Standard provides guidance to all organizations on the phased implementation, maintenance and improvement of a formal Environmental Management System (EMS).

BS 8555 makes particular reference to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) but is applicable to any organization, regardless of the nature of the business activity undertaken, location or level of maturity.

It outlines an implementation process that can be undertaken in up to six separate phases and allows for phased acknowledgement of progress towards full EMS implementation.

It also includes advice on the integration and use of environmental performance evaluation techniques during the implementation process and the co-ordination of an EMS with other management systems.

BS 8555 will help all organizations improve their environmental performance and their supply chain relationships with the following guidance:
Describes a six-phase incremental approach to implementing an EMS using environmental performance evaluation
Provides information to organizations on environmental performance management and the use of environmental performance indicators
Helps organizations satisfy the environmental criteria increasingly being set in contract tenders by new and existing major clients
Can be used by organizations who may wish to self-declare or seek voluntary phased recognition throughout the implementation process.
Beyond this, those using the standard can:

Choose to engage in environmental performance management to the level commensurate with the risks they face
Identify and maximize the areas of greatest potential return on investment
Demonstrate to interested parties that progress is being made towards the target level of environmental management.

OHSAS 18001 is an assessment specification for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems. It was developed in response to the need for companies to meet their health and safety obligations in an efficient manner.

There are distinct similarities with ISO14001:1996 enabling organisations to build an integrated management system for Environmantal and health & safety Management.

What is BS7799-2?
Part 2 of BS7799 specifies requirements for establishing, implementing and documenting information security management systems (ISMS). It specifies security controls to be implemented by an organisation following a risk assessment to identify the most appropriate control objectives and controls applicable to their own needs. This part of BS7799 forms the basis of an assessment of the information security management system (ISMS) of the whole, or part of an organization and is used as the basis for BS7799 certification.

The 2002 revision harmonized it with other management system standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, enabling a fully integrated management syatem to be implemented.