Many people may think that Health and Safety is the cause of many unneeded rules and regulations. Whilst Health and Safety has a bad reputation in the media, it is in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people, whether it’s in an office or on a building site.

A health and safety policy is often associated with jobs that are high risk such as construction or factory work, but a policy is equally needed in low risk environments such as offices.

Here are 5 reasons why your workplace should have a policy in place:

1. Prevent Unnecessary Leave Due to Illness or Injury: if you have a well thought out policy that covers areas such as seating and equipment, you can provide the right working environment for your employees and thus can reduce the risk of work related injuries or illness. This will have a positive impact on your business and your employees by preventing lost work time taken through sick leave.
2. Create a Good Company Reputation: By having good procedures and health and safety policies in place you will create a reputation that is professional and also caring. Employees are a vital investment to your business, and if they feel well looked after they will offer more loyalty and feel motivated to do well in their roles.
3. Save on Legal Costs and Potential Lawsuits: By ensuring your employees are well protected during work and are trained to use their equipment correctly, you will greatly reduce the risk of legal action being brought against you, which in turn saves time, money and great stress.
4. Help Stabilise and Improve Productivity and Profits: By having efficient systems in place your employees can go about their duties with more confidence, and when a job can be done safely and efficiently you can find ways to increase productivity/output without endangering employees.
5. Offer your Employees more Responsibility: by making one employee or several responsible for health and safety in the workplace, you can help to offer them a greater job satisfaction whilst helping your other employees to remain focused on their own work and projects.

There are many positive reasons why you should have a health and safety policy in your business, and if you don’t have an up to date policy that is tailored to your business type, you could face hefty legal charges and even criminal convictions by not having the correct procedures in place. More so it is a legal requirement to have a health and safety policy, but not everyone is knowledgeable or might have the time to research and put together a competent policy.

Outsourcing to third party such as Prince’s Consultancy Services Ltd is a great option, you can let the experts do what they do best and you can focus on the other important aspects of your business. Here at Prince’s Consultancy we can visit you at your premises and do all the work for you, or just be a phone call away to guide you through the whole process. Contact us at info@princesconsultancy.com or visit our website at www.princesconsultancy.com

Quality Management System

A quality management system is a set of activities to enhance the performance of the employees and productivity of an organisation. An organisation that has an effective quality management system is likely to gain more profits and success.

The criteria for the quality management system is set by ISO 9001. It is a standard that is based on the quality management principles. It focuses on customers’ requirements, the efficiency and productivity of an organisation and the performance of the workforce. There are over one million organisations in over 170 countries that are certified to ISO 9001.

A professional organisation is the one that focuses on the mutual understanding between the suppliers and the customers. A quality management system ensures that the suppliers and the customers’ requirements are met. It plays a significant role in developing a bond of trust between them.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the process of providing services or performing tasks for another company.

Most organisations opt for outsourcing to manage the important services and serve customers. They consult outsiders to do work on their behalf instead of performing the same activities at their workplaces.

How outsourcing effects quality management system?

As the technology is getting advanced, it has become easier for professionals to work from anywhere in the world. Outsourcing is beneficial for both small and big organisations. It is an impactful strategy to enhance the value of an organisation. Outsourcing has a positive impact on the productivity and profitability of an enterprise.

Organisations that have an in-house staff also find it essential to outsource their services or tasks. They need a consultant to manage and supervise their day-to-day activities. Consultants play a prominent role in providing the entrepreneurs with the skills that are needed to achieve organisation’s goals. They make their expertise, knowledge and skills available to the organisation.

Here are some of the reasons to opt for outsourcing for a better quality management system:

Reduces workload

Organisations that go for outsourcing are likely to have better performance of employees. The workload is reduced and they tend to perform their tasks with fresh mind and concentration.

Outsourcing helps in providing the organisation with a healthy working environment. Employees that are freed from hectic tasks are less likely to switch their jobs. It also assists an organisation in providing development opportunities to the employees.

Better Focus

Outsourcing helps entrepreneurs to focus on their competencies. It allows them to focus on their abilities instead of giving their time to the time-consuming tasks. With outsourcing, an entrepreneur might establish his or her start-up efficiently.

Financial Stability

Organisations that outsource may gain financial stability. The consultant keeps guiding and supporting them and helps in raising the sales of their products or services. Increased sales result in more profits and revenues.

Saves Time

Outsourcing helps in saving time. An organisation may spend time on other core processes. The employees of that organisation can meet the deadlines without much pressure. They can perform their tasks more quickly and efficiently.

While flip-flopping is not a big deal in politics, at the workplace level consistency is everything. Erratic management, business decisions contradicting one another and work expectations that change all the time devastate any establishment. With consistency, employees will feel secure concerning the responsibilities of their work a well as workplace demands. Lack of consistency at the work environment means practices, procedures and policies in an organization are chaotic. However, consistency comes with its fair share of benefits.

Satisfaction at all levels

Consistency at the workplace ensures there are robust processes and procedures put in place ensuring both the customer and staff are well catered for. For employees, keeping up with procedures and policies that change all the time can be very taxing. With a workplace plan that is consistent and followed to the letter or with minimal deviations, employees will understand what their duties are including their expectations.

Customers on the other hand can be sure the same great management that served them last time is still the same. Changing behaviours among employees towards customers and changing customer treatment can bring a lot of problems to a well performing business.

Consistent consultants

When it comes to health and safety audits, you deserve to have a consultant able to deliver what you seek and much more. However, if you are not consistent in the consultancy you are always using, chances are you will have to deal with failing audits, unsatisfactory measures and inconclusive results. Consistent use of the same consultant at your workplace will breed familiarity and trust as well as great rapport with your staff.

 Soaring comfort levels

It is possible that some changes here and there might not be too bad but consistency on every level is hugely preferred. If procedures and practices remain consistent, you will find the workplace is not chaotic but under control. Both customers and workers will definitely remain comfortable and positively attached to a company that is consistent.

 Respect

Consistent and respect are soul mates. It means that those who voice their opinion consistently will always command respect in contrast with those who might not be brave or courageous enough to say what they mean or express their stand. Consistent values upheld, long and short term priorities maintained and strategic communication will always be helpful to supervisors, subordinates and co-workers. At the same time, respect is earned and through consistency you can prove your dependability without a problem.

It is also clear organizations that are consistent have a better outlook among their customers and employees. For instance, if workers have a consistent platform of requesting time off or logging their completed jobs, it will be obvious to them that the company management is in control of things.

Consistently affordable, engaging and friendly audits can beget top level safety and healthy systems.  Having the same bespoke policies in position as well as regular audits ensures the organisation remains compliant and safe. Regular risk assessments will also ensure the environment at work remains healthy and safe for everyone, as well as consistent support and appropriate training.

For consistent audits and checks for your organization, contact Prince’s Consultancy main office through 01245-225-556 or check out their contact us.

It is very important for a company to minimise workload and get outstanding results at audits, especially because the consultancy you’ve decided to use will do all the work for the company while a representative within the workplace can be asked to internally work with a consultant. The benefits of an audit are very clear right from the start and not just cost savings and increased management effectiveness.

Using a consultant

Without a doubt it is hard to minimise input and hope to get great results if a consultant is not used to make the process a success. A consultant ensures the organisation is perfectly managed by highlighting weaknesses on the structures of a company giving the organization to be on top of its operational processes and procedures. An audit reveals structural weaknesses and once they have been rectified the management will be confident nothing of importance is being overlooked and a negative outcome on any level is not expected to take place. Anything uninspected will undoubtedly deteriorate.

An audit ensures management personnel know the diverse issues, internally and externally an organization is facing, which they might have been uninformed about before.  If the company has giant manufacturing operations and multiple facilities and senior directors and managers are located further away, for instance in the headquarters or head office, a consultant from outside will do a lot of good.

Since managers might not have been on the sites where various challenges including equipment, workforce, performance and environmental risks issues are manifested, the organization can expect a lot of things to fail. A consultant will identify risks and offer training and appropriate information on diverse issues.

At the end of the day, audits will give everyone in the company the surety that potential and actual risks are dealt with and identified. Government regulatory bodies will also not close the company’s operations due to health and safety issues, for instance.

Cost saving

Audits are perfect chances of minimising workload and saving in more ways than one. Through an audit, improvement opportunities are identified in the management of an organization, something that leads to less spending. For example, an audit aimed at reducing personal injury will lead to low insurance cover and minimisation of funds spent in awarding injured employees. A consultant is able to help in more ways than one by ascertaining areas where the organization is losing money and exact areas that could bring the wrath of government regulators into the company, leading to fines, closures and other negative measures.

A safe and very productive workplace will be created as insurance premiums are reduced. Compensation claims risk is also lowered as the reputation of the business is enhanced. Employee morale, particularly knowing they are eking a living in safe surroundings will boost it as employee turnover is also reduced.

Prince’s Consultancy can help bring such benefits through personalised audits in any organization. For free consultation on all areas related to audits, quality, safety and health assurance contact Prince’s Consultancy or call 07765 250 810 now.

Quarterly maintenance checks on quality management systems are very critical in the review of the effectiveness of current maintenance processes, suggesting improvements to the set up and content of any management system in place, completing objective review of maintenance, checking information stored, calibration of tools and even customer feedback.

One of the benefits is ascertaining what is hampering maintenance, such as lack of knowledge and training in the maintenance and management of the computerised maintenance management system in the organization. As a result, formalised processes of maintenance and procedures are probably not being followed.  The objective of the maintenance audit includes answering a number of questions in major areas of maintenance management, such as materials management, reliability improvement, maintenance improvement processes, cost control and budgeting, scheduling and planning, information technology, materials management as well as tactical delivery maintenance for contractor and work management processes.

Quarterly maintenance checks are also critical in ensuring that the authored documents for customers are cost-effective, updated and continues being compliant as required. This means the service has to be comprehensive as the documents are continuously monitored so that they can remain in tandem and within regulations, old or new. It means that a continuous regulatory management and monitoring service has to be in place to updates and validate so that everything is at par with modifications, especially if local regulations requests such a proof. Minor modifications are also a part of quality maintenance checks as the information will help formulate adjustments and address changes. With quarterly updates the data received can be updated accordingly.

Quarterly maintenance offers an organization a chance to ensure calibration of tools is done well. This can be calibration of force measurement tools, calibration of various balances brands, and calibration of various industrial scale types such as explosion proof and check weighing. Calibration of crane scales and dynamometers might also be critical, something that quarterly maintenance checks on quality management systems will definitely do.

Equipment should be calibration for many reasons, such as continuous use because a weighing element usually does not return to the initial position after use, quality control purposes to ensure that the right weight is what the company has, ISO verification where quarterly checks ensure ISO requirements are met and equipment protection since scheduled checks ensure the equipment lasts longer.

Another benefit of quarterly maintenance checks is the fact that customer feedback is not just received but put into use. User complaints and suggestions are looked into so that customer retention and brand protection can take place. Without customer feedback it is hard for a company to improve and change its operations for the better, or even know what users think about a service or product.

Maintenance checks, quarterly or otherwise are critical and can bring a lot of benefits to any company. You can seek a free consultation about how a quarterly check can be done and enhanced on your organization by contacting Prince’s Consultancy via the contact us page or simply give them a call at 0800 211 8848.

For those who have employed over five people in their business it is important to remember safety and health legislation are a concern the organization must think through. This is because it affects them hook, line and sinker. Avoiding these vital safety concerns means it is just a matter of time before any of the enforcement authorities gets on your case.

Nonetheless, it makes every sense to ensure the workplace is a safe place to work in, not only to avoid heft fines and criminal charges but also to lower the risk of injury on valued employees and avoiding personal injury claims by ensuring great safety and health standards have been maintained.

Apart from compliance, you will find that great safety and health management ensures that the workplace remains a very productive and safe place amidst reducing insurance premiums for the business. Compensation claims risk is also reduced, business reputation is enhanced while transforming the employee morale. You can also reduce the staff turnover just by having proper health and safety audits at your workplace.

Beyond that, expect reduced risk, fewer accidents, reduced legal action threats, improved standing of your business among partners and suppliers including a wonderful corporate responsibility reputation across communities, customers and investors. Since your employees are catered for in terms of health and safety, they will be highly motivated, happier and healthy.

In fact, Health and Safety Executive have observed that if health safety audits are not done the financial and human costs every year are humongous; working days in their millions are lost due to injury and illness related concerns. At the same time, occupational diseases are killing thousands of workers with millions of workers annually in their self reports indicating they have suffered from illnesses related to their work while hundreds of thousands of employees across the UK are injured in their place of work. Workers are also reported as being injured fatally on each working day. At the same time, if health and safety audits are not carried out companies will also incur further expenses such as loss of their good name and reputation and uninsured losses.

To ensure top health and safety standards are maintained at your company, getting impartial expert advice from a consultant who has helped lots of organizations meet their safety and health obligations is critical. Regular audits such as through Prince’s Consultancy will ensure the organization remains compliant and safe while periodic assessment of risks carried out will ensure the environment is healthy and safe for everyone.

It also goes without saying that you will meet or work with other companies that are always demanding some proof of greater quality level. The professionals you use such as Prince’s Consultancy need to have a lot of experience that will guide you effectively throughout the assessment. The result will be a dynamic hands-on approach that seeks to meet the 9000 ISO requirements including additional manufacturing quality standards like HSO and VQM.

Prince’s Consultancy can always be reached in case of any queries related to health and safety audits and how your organization is affected by calling, writing, emailing or catching up on their social media pages from the details provided on their Contact Us page.

The 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act indicate that employers have to ensure safety and health measures are effectively in place. This is to make sure every visitor and employee at the organization’s premises is not at any risk. It also indicates that the employer is responsible for the costs of not implementing health and safety systems in their business. As a result, lots of organizations see the safety standards as one huge task without knowing that if the right health and safety approach is followed a very productive environment for everyone can be created. Essentially, if these standards are not implemented by businesses, the cost can be humongous in many ways.

Cost is huge

If health and safety concerns are not addressed your organization should expect a lot of expenses. This includes high costs of running the business, heightened risks for everyone, from the employees, managers to the visitor on site. Simultaneously, employee absence will increase as a result of injuries and work related sickness, including an increase in turnover rates.  Accidents should also be expected to go up at the workplace since no one cares and it will just a matter of time before another employee or visitor is taken to the hospital critically injured and corporate manslaughter might just set in.

The threat of legal action and heavy costly fines also increases with every day that follows zero implementation of health and safety standards and audits in the business. It should also be expected that the great standing existing with partners and suppliers will be lost while the warm reputation among customers, investors and communities dies down. The productivity of the company goes down as the employees become less healthy, unhappy and de-motivated. They have no motivation to wake up early every morning to come to work and give their all since they do not know whether they will be injured next.

These costs can be avoided

Through a proper implementation of health and safety audits and management any organisation can avoid all these costs. This includes a health and safety policy tailored for your business including provision of recommendations and reference material if needed, for instance signage in case required. Risk assessment is done by a trained eye able to spot any anomaly or danger while constant professional effectiveness and efficiency reviews of the health and safety systems ensures the company has complied perfectly with the current law and improvements done if needed.

Implementation of health and safety also comes with training for every employee who is taught how to maintain safety and to work safely through bespoke training programmes. In case of policies and procedures for the organisation you can have it with the implementation of health and safety systems in your business.

Through a qualified health and safety auditing services such as Prince’s Consulting, an encompassing service is provided to ensure the company has complied with every relevant safety and health legislation with very little stress and inconvenience,  while informing the business of any legislation change.

Prince’s Consulting Services can be inquired upon through their Contact Us information.

A quality management system is a system that is completely focused on meeting customer quality requirements on design, development and delivery of a product or service through a set of standardised business processes. Implementing a quality management system demonstrates to your employees, customers and other stakeholders that you are committed to quality and customer satisfaction as well as continuous improvement.

Does your company have a quality management system today? If not, there’s no time like the present to get started – and little time to waste.

ISO quality management systems

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) quality management system standards are the most widely recognised in the world. An ISO certified quality management system will benefit your company in a multitude of ways. Internally, you will have increased efficiency, better supplier relationships, consistent documentation and increased customer satisfaction. Externally, you will have a stamp of approval to tell the world that your quality management system is top-notch in an internationally recognisable way.

Part of the certification for ISO quality management is documentation of your company’s processes and procedures. That means you will have to look at them, and think about them – and in many cases, you will see flaws and improve them. Better processes lead to increased efficiency and increased efficiency leads to increased profit.

Another part of the ISO quality management system is increased testing of materials and evaluation of suppliers. The feedback you are able to give your suppliers through these new processes will clarify expectations and increase communication, leading to mutually beneficial improvements in your supplier relationship.

An ISO quality management system is all about quality and today’s customers demand quality from the products they buy. Implementing a system that ensures a higher level of quality will increase your customer satisfaction beyond measure.

Implementation

A quality management system is, without a doubt, something any company can benefit from and every company should have. Although certification is the right direction to go, the road can be complicated if you are not familiar with it. Standards are complex and frequently updated. Certification requires frequent compliance audits and immense amounts of documentation. Seeking help from a proven consulting firm that has expertise in quality management systems simplifies the process exponentially.

Firms that specialise in quality management systems know what you need to do and will expertly guide you through each step. Some firms will even handle the entire system for you from implementation to compliance audits. They make it easy for you to be the best.

Not only will outsourcing your quality management system to a consulting firm simplify the process for you, but it will also save you money both long and short term. In the early stages, you won’t have to go back and re-do work as you learn more about the regulations during implementation. Later, you won’t have to worry about the cost of losing certification due to incorrect maintenance because you will have a team of experts to ensure your continued success.

You’ve decided to outsource some of your work to a consulting firm. This is a big decision and it’s one that you did not come to lightly. You didn’t just wake up one day and decide to outsource; there was planning and researching and evaluating. The next step is to decide where to send the work to. It may sound like a simple task, but choosing the wrong consulting firm can quickly undo all of the careful planning that was put into the initial decision to outsource. As you are evaluating the options, consider things like skills, knowledge, experience and references.

Skills and expertise

The knowledge that you need your consulting firm to have will depend upon the nature of your project. For example, if you are interested in outsourcing your Quality Management System, you will want a company that specializes in international standards and documentation. If you are interested in outsourcing your company’s safety program, you’ll look for a company that specializes in Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) regulations and emergency medical knowledge. Keep your project in mind when you compile the list of consulting firms that you want to investigate.

Some more general skills to look for are attention to detail, clear communication, project planning, deadline management and timely follow up. The list is very similar to what you would look for in a direct employee for a position that does not have much direct supervision.

Experience and references

A proven track record is key when it comes to evaluating experience. A consulting firm can say they are experts in anything and everything. Make them prove it to you by providing a list of customers that they have worked for in the past as well as the nature of the projects that they worked on with them. If the firm is good at what they do, the will have no problem with providing the name and phone number or email address of their key contact for the project as a reference. When you contact the customers of the consulting firm, ask specific questions about turnaround time, communication and their satisfaction with the results.

When to keep looking

Choosing the right consulting firm for you can be hard, but there are some red flags that help make it easier to spot the wrong one. A consulting firm that does not return your calls promptly or is habitually late for meetings is one to strike from your list. These are clear signs that they are unreliable. If they are not responsive during the interview phase, it will only get worse after they are hired and it will cause problems for your project.

A consulting firm that consistently presents ideas that do not fulfill your clearly defined needs is another one to remove from consideration. A good consulting firm will listen to your needs, take notes, ask intelligent questions and come back with solutions for you, not for them.

One final red flag is a consulting firm that is all smiles and roses throughout project discussions. If they are not helping you identify potential problems, they’re not really taking ownership in the project. A consulting firm that really wants your project to succeed will point out possible issues and take time to make sure you both agree that the solutions are the most profitable for your business.

Prince’s Consultancy Services Ltd is there to serve any organization in any industry to implement health, safety and even quality systems. Write or call them here.

Compliance to ISO (International Standards Organization) quality management standards such as ISO 9001: 2008 and ISO 14001/18001 become increasingly necessary in today’s business world. Customers and stakeholders consider it a sign that a company is responsible and forward-thinking. Companies use it to make sure they meet the needs of their customers with the highest possible quality level. Is your company ISO certified? If not, there is no doubt that you should be. But where do you start? A good consulting firm can answer your questions and even manage the entire quality management process for you. There are several benefits to outsourcing your quality management system.

Knowledge

ISO standards are complex and frequently updated. If you do not know exactly what you are doing, the implementation process can be arduous and maintaining compliance can be a nightmare. ISO certification requires frequent internal and external audits to ensure correct compliance. It makes sense to have a team of dedicated and specially trained individuals making sure you hit the mark. They will know where to start, how to document, what to audit and when to update. If you already have a quality management system in place, a consulting firm can help you improve and refine your processes as well as perform all of your internal audits and supplier audits in the future. Remember: more knowledge equals less risk.

Resources

If you are thinking about implementing a quality management system, you are probably part of a business. If you are in business, you are good at something – maybe even the best at something. Your competitive advantage lies in your core competencies and outsourcing your quality management system will allow you to focus on them. Allowing a consulting firm to handle the system for you will provide a better overall value for your customers.

Cost savings

It may sound counter-intuitive, but outsourcing your quality management system has significant cost advantages. Outsourcing the work eliminates the need to provide intense ISO training to your staff or hire a high-priced, full-time staff of ISO experts. You do not have to worry about employment turnover and maintain competency in a specialized area. Using an off-site consulting firm will eliminate the overhead of additional equipment and office space.

In addition to the obvious hard cost savings, outsourcing your quality management system will give you the benefit of a known, set price. Implementing a complex and specialized system such as ISO 9000 without skilled, experienced individuals means unexpected delays, costs and setbacks. When you hire a consulting firm, you agree to a price up front, so there are no surprises and you can plan your budged accordingly.

The benefits of outsourcing your quality management system are abundant. Utilizing an outside consulting firm ensures less risk, faster implementation, fewer hassles, lower cost and overall better results. Delivering quality is what keeps you in business and its imperative that you manage it well. Who better to do that than a company who focuses on it all day, every day?

Visit us at www.princesconsultancy.co.uk or email us at info@princesconsultancy.co.uk