Construction Certification helps Gworks Construction to achieve their goal of an integrated management system for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & OHSAS 18001
Gworks Construction is a young and ambitious company that provides groundworks and civil engineering services throughout the South and South-west. The company takes ownership of all aspects related to groundworks and associated civil engineering including planning, labour, plant and materials:-
- Bulk excavations
- Floor slabs
- Foundations
- Retaining walls
- Drainage systems
- Surfaces & paving
The case for an integrated management system
The Directors identified that an integrated management system based on ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & OHSAS 18001 had the potential to deliver a competitive advantage, arising from internal business process improvements and support for tender applications to work on large infrastructure projects in the region. The core team was busy building the business, but they all wanted to be involved and decided to split the role of Management Representative amongst them.
How Construction Certification helped set up the integrated management system
An Associate put together a detailed audit program for quality, environment & safety management and developed a gap analysis against the three standards. The Construction Certification model for ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & OHSAS was adapted to take account of the company’s existing processes and new ones were added to fill any gaps. The three Management Representatives received training on all three standards and were supported through their first Management Review. The systematic approach allowed the company to identify a number of business benefits ahead of certification and contributed to the formation of their strategy for growth. Construction Certification was even able to source EU grant funding to help with the costs.
What Gworks had to say about Construction Certification
“As a company, we always strive to be the best we can and aim to be the “go-to” ground works contractor in the South-West. As a step towards our goal we set out to achieve the triple certification of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & OHSAS 18001 for 2012. Our previous experience of certification led us to expect a huge amount of work and anxiety but, when we came across Construction Certification at a workshop, we were impressed by their pragmatic and organised approach, so asked them to guide us through the process.
Our consultant, Richard Shearwood-Porter, worked around our busy schedule and proved to be reassuring & systematic, but he also challenged our thinking & kept us on track. Richard showed us where our existing systems fitted the standards and guided us to develop procedures to fill any gaps. This was no paper-work exercise and some of our new procedures have reaped dividends from day one. In the end, it was far less work and much easier than we’d feared.
Richard didn’t try to tell us how to run our business and we’d certainly not try to tell him how to set up management systems. Gworks would have no hesitation in recommending Construction Certification to anyone involved in construction.”
Peter Roberts – Director
