The ISO 27000 family of standards helps organizations keep information assets secure. Using this family of standards will help your organization manage the security assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details or information entrusted to you by third parties. ISO 27001 is the best-known standard in the family providing requirements for an information security management system (ISMS).
In general there are two approaches to manage the quality of a product or a service. Product quality deals with the quality of the final product, while process quality deals with
the quality of the processes required to producing goods and/or services. According to Heizer and Render (2009) quality has become so important that the world is uniting around
a single quality standard which is the ISO 9000. Poksinska et al. (2002) define ISO 9000 as a family of standards which relate to QMS and are designed to assist organizations in
meeting their customers’ and stakeholders’ needs. ISO 8402 defines the quality of a product or a service as the totality of its features and characteristics that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs;
The stated needs represent those needs that are described explicitly in the product or the service specifications. Implied needs are not explicitly declared by the customer since they exist implicitly by the product or service specifications. Poor planning of implementation programs coupled with the lack of internal expertise often leads to organizations grappling with details on how to run implementation programs resulting in frustration and delays in execution and implementation of the Quality Management System.
Consultancy and training programs for Absolute Intergration Management Systems Limited are tailored with the aim of imparting pertinent skill necessary to achieve certification within 6-8months unless serious problems and lack of commitment are identified within your systems, people, or facilities. We will draw up an implementation plan before we embark on the project to help you achieve certification easily.
Does your organization need an EMS? Well, ask yourself the following questions:
Is your organization required to comply with environmental laws and regulations?
Are you looking for ways to improve your environmental performance?
• Is the state of your organization’s environmental affairs a significant liability?
• Does a lack of time or resources prevent your organization from managing its environmental obligations effectively?
• Is the relationship between your organization’s environmental goals and other goals unclear?
If you answered YES to one or more of the above questions, an EMS can help your organization. As one of your organization’s leaders, you probably know that interest in environmental protection and sustainable development is growing each year. You might hear about these issues from customers, the public or others. Like many, your organization may be increasingly challenged to demonstrate its commitment to the environment. Implementing an EMS can help you meet this challenge in several important ways.
Organizations of all kinds are increasingly concerned with achieving and demonstrating sound occupational health and safety (OH&S) performance by controlling their OH&S risks, consistent with their OH&S policy and objectives. They do so in the context of increasingly stringent legislation, the development of economic policies and other measures that foster good OH&S practices, and increased concern expressed by interested parties about OH&S issues.
Many organizations have undertaken OH&S “reviews” or “audits” to assess their OH&S performance. On their own, however, these reviews and audits may not be sufficient to
provide an organization with the assurance that its performance not only meets, but will continue to meet, its legal and policy requirements. To be effective, they need to be conducted within a structured management system that is integrated within the organization.
The OHSAS Standards covering OH&S management are intended to provide organizations with the elements of an effective OH&S management system that can be integrated with other management requirements and help organizations achieve OH&S and economic objectives. Absolute has consultants with expertise to help organizations implement these standards.
Both “Environment Impact Assessment” (EIA) and the “Environmental Audit” exercises have received international recognition as vital tools for establishing, appraising and measuring
both the merits and demerits of proposed and ongoing projects, plans, policies and programs the world over (Lohani, 1986). These techniques form key tools and instruments for ensuring sustainability of the projects when utilized during planning and management of the project activities and operations during decision-making. They hence form major components towards enhancing conscientious environmental management and conservation (World Bank, 1993; World Bank, 1999; UNEP, 1998). This important benefit affiliated to the two has been identified worldwide as a key component in new project implementation, not excluding routine monitoring, review and evaluation to ensure sustainability and commitment to sustainable development in the project cycle/life-span (IFC, 1998). Locally, Kenya has established and gazetted various regulatory legislations and provisions
that necessitate certain projects and development plans/programs to undergo either an Environmental Impacts Assessment (EIA) or Environmental Audit (EA) in course of the
project initiation and implementation phases, depending on the project status and type (Tole, 1997). EIA is recommended for all new projects with the potential to pose environmental impacts/risks at the onset, while EA is for the ongoing projects, which have either undergone an environmental impacts assessment before or during inception, or those projects, which have been operating, and an Initial Environmental Evaluation (IEE) has been conducted (Ahmed and Sammy, 1985). Environment Assessment (EA) as a tool for environmental conservation has been identified worldwide as a key component in project implementation. Major international financial institutions including the World Bank, FAO, European Union, ADB, IFAD, UNDP and main donor agencies (SIDA, ODA, USAID etc.) have also adopted EIA as one of their funding criteria. In this regard appropriate guidelines have been developed for EIA executions on projects under their respective funding programs.
At the national level, Kenya has put in place necessary legislation that requires EIA/EA be carried out on every new and existing project. The Environmental Management and
Coordination Act, 1999, direct that the proponent of a project undertake an EIA/EA study and prepare a report thereof for presentation to the National Environmental Management
Authority (NEMA). To facilitate these regulations on EIA and audits have also been established under the Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 56 of 13 th June 2003 [The Environmental (Impact Assessment and Audit) Regulations, 2003]. Absolute has trained and experienced experts to carry out environmental impact assessments and audits.
Food safety is related to the presence of food-borne hazards in food at the point of consumption (intake by the consumer). As the introduction of food safety hazards can occur at any stage of the food chain, adequate control throughout the food chain is essential. Thus, food safety is ensured through the combined efforts of all the parties participating in the food chain. Organizations within the food chain range from feed producers and primary producers through food manufacturers, transport and storage operators and subcontractors to retail and food service outlets (together with inter-related organizations such as producers of equipment, packaging material, cleaning agents, additives and ingredients). Service providers are also included. ISO 22000: 2005 specifies the requirements for a food safety management system that combines the following generally recognized key elements to ensure food safety along the food chain, up to the point of final consumption:
interactive communication;
system management;
prerequisite programmes;
HACCP principles.
Communication along the food chain is essential to ensure that all relevant food safety hazards are identified and adequately controlled at each step within the food chain. This implies communication between organizations both upstream and downstream in the food chain. Communication with customers and suppliers about identified hazards and control measures will assist in clarifying customer and supplier requirements (e.g. with regard to the feasibility and need for these requirements and their impact on the end product).
Recognition of the organization’s role and position within the food chain is essential to ensure effective interactive communication throughout the chain in order to deliver safe food products to the final consumer. The most effective food safety systems are established, operated and updated within the framework of a structured management system and incorporated into the overall
management activities of the organization. This provides maximum benefit for the organization and interested parties. ISO 22000 has been aligned with ISO 9001 in order to enhance the compatibility of the two standards.
This International Standard can be applied independently of other management system standards. Its implementation can be aligned or integrated with existing related management system requirements, while organizations may utilize existing management system(s) to establish a food safety management system that complies with the requirements of this International Standard. This International Standard integrates the principles of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system and application steps developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. By means of auditable requirements, it combines the HACCP plan with prerequisite programmes (PRPs). Hazard analysis is the key to an effective food safety system, since conducting a hazard analysis assists in organizing the knowledge required to establish an effective combination of control measures.
This International Standard requires that all hazards that may be reasonably expected to occur in the food chain, including hazards that may be associated with the type of process and facilities used, are identified and assessed. Thus it provides the means to determine and document why certain identified hazards need to be controlled by a particular organization and why others need not.
During hazard analysis, the organization determines the strategy to be used to ensure hazard control by combining the PRP(s), operational PRP(s) and the HACCP plan. This International Standard is intended to address aspects of food safety concerns only. The same approach as provided by this International Standard can be used to organize and respond to other food specific aspects (e.g. ethical issues and consumer awareness).
This International Standard allows an organization (such as a small and/or less developed organization) to implement an externally developed combination of control measures. The aim of this International Standard is to harmonize on a global level the requirements for food safety management for businesses within the food chain. It is particularly intended for application by organizations that seek a more focused, coherent and integrated food safety management system than is normally required by law. It requires an organization to meet any applicable food safety related statutory and regulatory requirements through its food safety management system.
Absolute Intergration Management Systems also has experienced Consultants in the
following Business Management Area:
Strategic Management (Including Formulation and Implementation)
Marketing Management
Human Resource Management
Production and Operations Management
Total Quality Management
Project Management (Including Performance Management and Monitoring and Evaluation)