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Putting it together: PAS 99 integrated management
20 Oct 2010
Topics: Integrated mgt, PAS 99, Quality management, ISO 9001, Environment, ISO 14001, Health & safety, OHSAS 18001
As organizations continue facing pressure to find more efficient ways of working, PAS 99 Integrated Management provides a welcome route through which important processes can be harmonized holistically.
Efficiency remains a key concern for the private and public sectors alike as countries leave the recent recession behind them. All organizations are now keenly focused on developing strategies that will steer them successfully through the initial economic recovery, but some signs of strong growth cannot justify any return to wasteful spending or inefficient policies. Indeed, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently revised its international growth projections for the second half of 2010 significantly. Although its Interim Economic Assessment found that financial conditions had stabilized, and a sudden second downturn is now unlikely, expected growth across all the G7 countries in 2010 - including the US, UK and Japan - has been lowered from 1.75 per cent to just 1.5 per cent.1
Businesses and other organizations will therefore continue to exercise caution in reaching new spending decisions, while simultaneously seeking out new synergies for making savings by adapting current procedures. One of the most obvious places to begin here is to eliminate any tasks that are being duplicated, and which are therefore taking up extremely valuable time as well as money.
BSI devised the standard PAS 99 Specification of common management systems requirements as a framework for integration to provide just these savings, avoiding duplication of management aspects such as management reviews, internal audits, document control and administration. Clients working through the standard are able to integrate two or more of their management systems creating a holistic "umbrella" with a central set of key documents, policies and processes for common requirements.
PAS 99 can be adopted by any organization, regardless of size, sector or location. In addition to saving time and money, managers report benefiting from sharpened business focus, reduced internal conflict and greater clarity surrounding sets of responsibilities. Communications and assessments are also simplified, and the holistic approach helps to establish and grow a team-oriented and quality-focused working culture that can drive continuous improvement.
The standard can also be achieved across multiple sites, or in any country. For example, marketing director Tomoyuki Suzuki reports "strong interest in integrated management" at BSI Japan.
"More organizations are handling more than one management system today, so interest in integrated management is growing," he explains.
"It's natural, because if an organization has more than one management system but needs to handle them differently, it can cost a huge amount of time and effort. But if they can integrate them it can cost much less in terms of preparation and resource."
Telecommunications business Softbank Telecom is just one example of a Japanese company that has achieved certification, while BSI group product manager John Hele says other countries displaying increasing interest include China, Italy and parts of the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Since launching just over four years ago the standard has attracted some 220 registrations worldwide.
Keeping your cool
One example is UK and Ireland-based vehicle and storage manufacturer Gray & Adams2, a family-run operation, which has grown into a £100m turnover business through a recent partnership in the Netherlands to service the Benelux region. The company's core range of products includes refrigerated trailers for transferring products in the food industry. It has also expanded into refrigerated storage generally, as well as designing mobile shops and panel vans that can be converted for use in particular temperature-sensitive projects.
Serving the sensitive supply chain for large food companies and supermarkets, product quality is obviously of paramount concern. In 2007 Gray & Adams Ireland therefore acquired certification to ISO 9001 Quality management systems which has since been extended to group-wide certification.
In 2010 Gray & Adams Dunfermline then decided to adopt PAS 99, expanding certification to encompass both the ISO 14001 Environment and BS OHSAS 18001 Occupational health and safety standards.
"Achieving an additional two standards and implementing a single integrated management system in just under a year required a leap in the knowledge level of our management team," admits quality, health and safety manager, Andy Nairn.
"Our only concern regarding the certification process was that by striving to gain compliance in so many areas of the business our efficiency would drop and our operating costs would rise.
"However, our efficiency actually improved during implementation and now that the system is in place and regulatory compliance has been met, we have significant improvements in our efficiency and long-term sustainable cost reductions."
Specifically, the company has seen reductions in areas such as workplace absence, accidents, downtime and the amount of rework required. BSI also provided it with lead auditor training in ISO 14001 Environmental management systems, ensuring the business could take responsibility for the continuous monitoring and improvement of its own carbon and environmental performance.
"Each management system standard has some requirements that are common to all standards," concludes BSI's Hele. "It's a good idea to look at those common requirements and see which you can put together. If you're clever you can do just one audit or management review, but include different standards' requirements."
Showing metal
Another company that picked PAS 99 is Steelcase Inc, the global leader in office furniture design.
With origins in Michigan in the US in 1912, this business has since expanded to open manufacturing facilities in 12 different locations. Steelcase UK recently became one of the very first furniture manufacturers to work with BSI to achieve certification to PAS 99.
Steelcase was already certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and BS OHSAS 18001, but it decided an integrated management system would optimize operations and enable more efficient internal and external auditing. Its UK sales, marketing and after-sales "support" procedures all now follow the PAS 99 principles.
"Employees have become more aware of our environmental policies and as a business we are achieving our targets in this area," adds Gerry Kavanagh, the company's continual improvement manager, who led the qualification process.
"We have also noticed increased interest from both existing and potential clients."
Concrete manufacturer H+H UK Ltd, meanwhile, felt that certification to the same three business standards had helped it to form lucrative new trading partnerships with developers and housebuilders. They served as clear demonstration that the company took its environmental, energy and health and safety responsibilities very seriously. In 2008 H&H even became the first UK precast concrete and aircrete manufacturer to achieve certification to the Carbon Trust Standard, demonstrating an annual carbon footprint reduction in excess of 2.5 per cent.3
However, maintaining the three separate management systems was proving increasingly time consuming, and integration seemed an appealing prospect for securing efficiency gains.
Colin Cook, the business's chief scientist, explains: "BSI is perceived as the leading certification body and H+H therefore wished to have its management systems certified by such a reputable organization."
Certification was rendered straightforward "by the professionalism and approach of the auditors", he explained. "No real difficulties were encountered."
Indeed, Hele suggests the only real problem that might be encountered by companies considering PAS 99 is if they are a "very silo-based organization", with many managerial "empires". It can then carry the potential for conflict.
He adds, however, that the standard includes detailed discussion of different "responsibilities and authorities" to mitigate this tendency.
Indeed, one of the reasons for introducing integrated management is to reduce the potential for conflict because of separate management systems operating in competition with one another.
For example, a chemical required to improve a particular product's quality might also have health and safety implications that need monitoring, Hele continues. Disposal of products at the end of their life will also carry environmental implications, but an integrated approach increases the likelihood of working together to find feasible solutions.
"If you're all working together there's a better chance you can reach an agreement that will also help others," Hele concludes.
Other standards that might be integrated in a typical integrated management system include ISO/IEC 27001 Information Security, ISO 22000 Food Safety and ISO/IEC 20000 IT Service. The potential range is even larger though. In all cases, integration can offer opportunities to avoid duplicated workload and inefficiency, cutting through complexity while still ensuring full compliance and continual improvement.
For further information on the PAS 99 standard.
For further information on PAS 99 certification.
1 http://www.oecd.org/document/60/0,3343,en_2649_34109_45967548_1_1_1_37443,00.html
2 http://www.bsigroup.co.uk/en/Assessment-and-Certification-services/Management-systems/Standards-and-Schemes/PAS-99/PAS-99-Integrated-Management-Case-Study
3 http://www.hhcelcon.co.uk/hhuk/integrated-management-system
Business Standards © 2010. Editorial produced by Caspian Publishing in association with The British Standards Institution. Editorial opinions expressed on are not necessarily those of BSI Group or Caspian Publishing. Neither Caspian Publishing nor BSI Group accept responsibility for advertising or editorial content, nor for that appearing on linked third-party websites. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden without written permission from BSI Group or Caspian Publishing.
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