CPA GROUP ISO UPDATE

As many of you know, CPA Group has third party certification in:

• OHSAS 18001:2007 Safety management system
• AS/NZS 4801:2001 Occupational health & safety management system
• ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System

In order to maintain this accreditation, we undergo regular reviews and audits of our systems. This can be an exhaustive (and exhausting!) process.

In June 2018 we are scheduled for a major audit which will involve an upgrade to new standards:

• OHSAS 18001:2015 Safety management system
• ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System
• AS/NZS 4801:2001 Occupational health & safety management system

The Quality standard was revised in September, 2015 and the new version incorporated some vital changes after major version of the standard published in 2008.
Key changes in ISO 9001 version 2015 include the following:

Building a quality management system that is well matched to each organisation’s particular needs.
Top management must be involved in the management system in order to make comprehensive enterprise strategy.
The prevalence of risk-based thinking across the standard enables the entire management system to be used as a preventive instrument, which will continually boost improvement.
Less enforcing requirements for records and documentation. The enterprise can now decide independently what documented information it requires and what is the appropriate format.
Integration with other important and widespread management system standards.
The set out and terminology used in the updated standard is very similar to the most recent update of the Health and Safety ISO standard (ISO 45001) which was released in March of this year so now that we are compliant with 9001:2015 it will make the transition to ISO 45001 quite easy.
Although you may not be affected directly by the audit process, everything we do and every CPA Group staff is affected in one way or another by our ISO systems. Just as we know every one of us contributes to safety and quality, this is reflected in our systems, processes and procedures. Every one of you can contribute.

The CPA Group commitment to quality includes a philosophy of continuous systems and we are excited about the opportunity provided by the new quality standard (9001:2015) as well as maintaining our certification to the relevant Health and Safety standards. We will keep you informed of the progress of the audit process.