[Big Al]

Hi

I've just been asked by an office that we should have ISO9001! What's involved? Can we refuse? How many of you have it?   

[richywilts]

it can be pricey mate reckon around 2grand its bascially systemising all your procedures and systems from start to finish so that you can operate safe operating procedures well along them lines

[JSMC]

walk away now mate. i ama qualified I~SO auditor and you will need a papertrail for everything and i mean everything.

you must have pricedures for everything you do. for instance i am a window cleaner and i would have to provide a procedure for the filling of water tank and also the testing of water and then have waste disposal transfe rsheets for old resin i used. That's the tip of the big iceberg coming your way.

you will need training records, environmental records, H&S records. Procedures coming out of yer ears, also you will need a manual stating managemnt procedure sif you employ and then  an audit program which has to be kept up to date. Also you cannot audit yourself so you will also have to pay for auditing to be done.

iso is the biggest papertrail you will ever encounte rin your life mate. wanna know more just ask away.

[Big Al]

Hi Mate

Thanks for the imput, but i cant really walk away as ive been cleaning this site for 3 years now and its worth £1000 per month, big chunck to lose  :

[mike roberts]

How many services do you provide   If it is simply office cleaning I would reg, But if you offer numerous services it will be a nightmare - takes us forever just to gain SAFEcontractor accreditation and thats yrly!


Story time  .......local company had been working for a large organistaion for yrs... they were told that as this company had introduced ISO9001 stds....... they had to do likewise...... 
Local company director reminded this organisation, that they had provided their services for x years working to set procedures / guidelines / RAMS providing a first class service ... But unfortunately they would no longer be able to provide this service as they were unable to achieve ISO9001 accreditation at this moment in time, due to the costs involved.

The smaller company was then granted a type of 'dispenstaion' so they were able to continue to provide their services without becoming reg.

Maybe worth approaching the company and explain your situation - I think they will be hard pushed to find a cleaning company offering numerous services which is ISO9001 reg.,

[BDCS]

The trouble is that nothing is unified - do you go 9001, safe contactor or some other. I don't see it myself - its like Cscs cards and what do they actually achieve if any dimwit can achieve it. One local ground works firm have or did have 9001 and they are the most disorganised shower you'll ever meet with one very organised chap in the back office. It took my missus about 3 months to fill out KCC registration papers just to jet the odd drain on Gypsy camps - they never asked for 9001. Who decides what you need or do they just do it to be awkward

[mike roberts]

I think alot of it is nonsense.... what we actually gain from Safecontractor is questionable to say the least - never been asked to prove it..... that said it has made us more aware and introduce certain procedures,  sounds posh


With ref to ISO9001 when i was contracting in design house many yrs ago, they gained ISO accreditation muppet that run it was a grad .....no kidding if he can do it anyone can

[trevor perry]

we had ISO9001 for a few years and as already been said you need paperwork for everything and to be audited regularly, we where audited every six months they would come to office drink our coffee and eat our biscuits check all paperwork was in order and charge us £500 for the priveledge of the mornings work, not once did they visit any of the jobs to see if procedures where being followed correctly, as with most these schemes safe contractor. constructionline etc they are only interested in paperwork ticking the boxes and not checking the practical element of the operations

[JSMC]

companies with iso are meant to have an approved contractors list who are also iso approved. It doesn't always work like this., Go speak with the quality manager and explain to them.

[Big Al]

Some cool points, cheers guys 

[Denise l]

ISO9001 would be very hard and agree with all the above comments. With SafeContractor and Constructionline its all about procedures for H&S and you have to log all the data online . When accredited you are given a number then any potential clients can log onto the system and check all the details their H&s require. Saves them from asking you for a load of paperwork. Thats all it is but they do check, they also check CSCS cards as well. They are all money rip offs.

Denise

[Kev Martin]

Have a look at this link below

http://www.altiusva.com/

This is the latest scam.  We have been told by one of our clients if we do not get approval from this bunch we will no longer be able to work for them after February 2012.  I rang this lot it is about a £1K to join and get assessed providing everything is OK then it's about £500 a year to keep it.

Result I told the client concerned we will no longer be working for them from February 2012 unless they were prepared to pay all the fees for something they want me to join.

Kev Martin
Marble Life

[trevor perry]

Have a look at this link below

http://www.altiusva.com/

This is the latest scam.  We have been told by one of our clients if we do not get approval from this bunch we will no longer be able to work for them after February 2012.  I rang this lot it is about a £1K to join and get assessed providing everything is OK then it's about £500 a year to keep it.

Result I told the client concerned we will no longer be working for them from February 2012 unless they were prepared to pay all the fees for something they want me to join.

Kev Martin
Marble Life

 i think this is something we should all start doing, why should there be so many organisations taking our money to ensure we are working to correct standards they all ask for same info so being a member of any one should be enough. Well done Kevin

[idealrob]

Big Al, when you say its £1000 a month to you, is this all profit ?

If it isnt, i would not bother with ISO 9001, i walked away from  job that made me £2000 a week, and still found it was the right decision, it is a great policy for large organization ,where anyone could walk into a job, read the manual and understand what needs to be done, but we dont need a manual, its all up here.

We did get an iso 9001 mentor , spent thousands, and this was in the early 90`s, and then decided to walk away, just my oponion

idealrob

[Denise l]

Forgot to say that SafeContractor and Constructionline realy take their time on assessing the paperwork you send in; months by the time they ask you for one more thing then you wait to get that assessed and so on. In the end it you will be having to renew your yearly subscription before you know it. They use outside temps to do the assessing.they all ask the same questions so as said by someone previous if you are accredited with one then that should be enough. We are accredited and I made sure we got through within weeks as I knew the strokes they would try and pull.

D

[jasonl]

I have had this in the past , albeit as part of Chem dry , for a small ( 10 employee or less) organisation there are several companies who will walk you through the paperwork , which will fill a couple of lever arch files .

The checklist for audit times is 2 sides of a4 , so not too onerous.

Most of the paperwork is good practice and a sensible way to operate a business .

May cost 2k to start up then 500 a year to maintain , depends if you want to invest in it, it does get you in doors with certain large companie if that is what you want.