Management consultancy

Gain or maintain certification in ISO 9001, 45001, 14001 and Achilles standards.

We help our clients build and maintain a management system that has immediate value: to document change, think strategically, and work optimally. By providing expert management consultancy, we can support businesses to grow and evolve for the future.

We keep our clients focused on their goals, helping them to organise and structure their business for growth. By creating a management system that underpins their own business processes, we can make our clients’ own ways of working both more efficient and effective.

Whether our clients are seeking ISO certification to secure an edge in competitive markets, need support moving from paper-based to digital systems, are recovering from a bad audit, or struggling with skills loss, we can help.

Before we start, we’ll first understand how both our client’s business – and its team – work, and what’s most important to them to achieve. This structured approach allows us to recognise what really makes businesses tick, helping us build a management system that is immediately valuable to every person using it.

ISO

Building and maintaining an ISO management system will help you embed quality into how you work from day to day, meaning that achieving certification does not add to your normal workload, but is ultimately delivered by it.

Our process

Gap analysis – First we assess how our client’s business operates – we look at what is being done well already, what doesn’t meet requirements, and any areas where additional processes or a change of behaviour might be needed, to demonstrate compliance.
Present findings – We make suggestions and actions in a detailed report.
Audit – We use our isCompliant platform to manage the process.
Workshop – We facilitate a workshop with the client and document all processes and written procedures in flow chart form.
Record – We build the records our clients need to demonstrate to their auditor that items like risk have all been evaluated.
Objectives – We set objectives for what our clients want to achieve and how we will measure this.
Internal audit – We undertake an independent audit of work to ensure our client gets through an external audit with a certification body.
External audit – We support our clients through audit stages 1 and 2 – the overview and evidence stages.
Certification complete – But our clients are not on their own. We can support with annual surveillance audits and the re-audit every three years.
Handover of documentation – Our clients then own all the software that has been implemented and the documents that have been created. At this stage we can either hand over to the client, or continue to assist with the system or ongoing audits.
Ongoing surveillance consultancy – We can offer 1-3 days per month of ongoing surveillance consultancy to maintain the standard of compliance needed to continue meeting the expectations of certification, and keep on top of change and growth.

Our ISO Services

ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems (Business process management)

We have a wealth of experience in helping our clients to improve their company processes, to either maintain their existing ISO 9001:2015 certification or achieve certification for the first time.

One of the major benefits of the new ISO 9001:2015 standard is that it now uses a risk-based approach. Gone are all of the predetermined documents associated with the usual ‘bolt-on ‘management system. In their place are risk-based documents; i.e., if it can go wrong because it isn't documented, document it.

ISO 140001 Environmental Management Systems

Many companies do not fully understand their legal obligations with respect to waste management, pollution prevention and emissions reduction. Talking to QEM Solutions and implementing an ISO 14001 compliant management system helps to dramatically reduce the risk of breaching environmental legislation.

For example, many organisations don't know that:

it is a legal requirement in Scotland to segregate your recyclables.
it is a legal requirement for organisations with over 250 employees to comply with ESOS (Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme).
it is a legal requirement to have your waste removed by a registered waste carrier.

We have helped lots of organisations gain certification to ISO 14001:2015, the internationally recognised standard for environmental management.

ISO 14001:2015 is a risk-based standard, so it focuses on the high-risk areas of your business. Unlike the previous version of the standard, it is no longer achievable with a ‘tick-box exercise. Instead, the standard actively promotes reducing your impact on the environment and the impact of your suppliers, too.

ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systems

ISO 45001:2018 is the latest addition to the commonly recognised ISO Business Management System compliance standards. Replacing OHSAS 18001:2007, the standard is designed to ensure safety of stakeholders as well as improving health and wellbeing of staff.

ISO 45001:20018 is a risk-based standard, so it focuses on the high-risk areas of your business. ISO 45001 can help organisations create a framework that ensures they risk assess all of their activities, applying the correct proportion of mitigations.

We have assisted numerous clients across varying sectors, (ranging from construction to bomb disposal and IT services), gain certification to ISO 45001:2018 and OHSAS 18001:2007 and reduce the risk to employees' health or safety.

We have also given our clients peace of mind by confirming that they are legally doing everything they can to protect their employees and stakeholders.

Achilles

Being a verified member of the Achilles UVDB or other compliance portals is now becoming a part of everyday business. Whilst it may be frustrating at times, it is often a prerequisite to getting access to essential tenders and frameworks.

We have assisted our clients on numerous Achilles audits, whether it is starting from scratch with a new verification or boosting those all-important % scores.

To date, we have helped many of our clients achieve clean sweeps of 100%s, using our cloud-based software www.iscompliant.com

Benefits of using isCompliant for Achilles include:

Improved scores
Improved processes and development of realistic processes and policies
Reduction in resource disruption during audit prep
Reduction in resource disruption during audit
Increased tender opportunities
Increased tender scores

Software solutions - isCompliant

isCompliant is a cutting-edge software solution that enables organisations to achieve compliance with numerous international standards and to actually improve processes and profitability.

Running a business or project can be tough at times. Even if other people are managing activities for you, there is no way of knowing how those activities are progressing without asking or having a meeting to check up on them.

Built on best practice for ISO 9001 for Quality, ISO 14001 for the Environment, and ISO 45001 for Health & Safety, isCompliant is a cloud-based business tool that puts all those tasks in order, online, where everyone that needs to see them, can. Example tasks include: holding staff appraisals or making sure fire extinguishers are tested, writing minutes of meetings, checking processes are working etc.

isCompliant takes care of all the critical things that genuinely affect business performance and profitability, like risk management, asset management, auditing, and meetings; helping organisations to see the areas of their business that are affecting profitability or slowing growth or improvement.

isCompliant is an HR Manager, Assets Manager, Risk Manager, Environmental Manager. If something needs managing, isCompliant has a module for it.

We have implemented isCompliant into numerous clients throughout the UK and abroad to analyse their information and demonstrate how their business is performing, ultimately helping them operate more efficiently and more profitably.

Why QEM?

We choose UKAS

We always get our clients through certification with a UKAS-accredited certification body because without the UKAS tick, more often than not, their customers won't recognise it as a valid certification.

We can do as much or as little as our clients want

Our clients are in charge of the budget and the actions. If they don't have the resource time we can weave ourselves into their organisation. If they do, we can watch and advise where required.

We created a cloud-based management system

isCompliant was designed for SMEs; proven to make certification simpler and faster, it automatically monitors business and process performance to help our clients’ businesses improve, whilst reducing the cost of implementation.